Owen Read online

  Not wanting to interrupt the two women as they visited, he looked over at them. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll work my way slowly back to my room.”

  “Are you sure?” Dennis asked, arriving to take his plate. “There’s apple pie and ice cream.”

  He stared at him, and then he raised his eyebrows to Dani.

  Dani smiled and nodded. “Sure. Have some. There will be a meal in a couple hours, so you eat as you need to eat.”

  He sank back down again. “Okay, that would be lovely. Please, not too big of a serving though.”

  Dennis nodded and rushed away. Owen stared at his retreating back.

  “What’s that look on your face for?” Penny asked.

  “He seems to be, I don’t know, happy to do this.”

  “Dennis is a special person,” Penny explained. “Also I think that he’s truly somebody who loves people and loves making them happy.”

  Dani agreed.

  “You better be ready for your piece of apple pie then,” he told Penny, chuckling, as he watched Dennis approach them both with two plates in his hand.

  “No, no, no, no,” she told him. “I don’t have room for that too.”

  “If you sit here a while,” Dennis explained, as he placed the plate down in front of her, “you will.” Then he took off again.

  “We’re lucky we don’t have to deal with ice cream too,” Owen suggested.

  Penny groaned. “You probably should not have said that out loud. Because he’ll come back with the gigantic bucket of ice cream, and then you’re in trouble.” Then she turned to Dani. “And how come Dennis is not giving you apple pie?”

  Dani laughed. “Because I already had a slice about an hour ago. I couldn’t resist it.”

  Sure enough, not five minutes later, Dennis reappeared with a large bucket and his serving spoon. “How much do you want?” he asked Penny and Owen.

  Immediately Owen smiled and said, “I’ll take one scoop, please, and then I’m heading back. I might need this sugar to make it there though.”

  “We can get a wheelchair for you,” Dani offered immediately.

  He gave her a one-arm shrug. “If I have to, I will.”

  “Funny how that statement rolled through this room, like a great big blaring horn.”

  He looked at her, startled, and then he gave her a wide grin. “I get that. Sorry, I guess the stubbornness is very prevalent at the moment.”

  “Not a problem,” she replied. “We’re getting to know who you are pretty fast.”

  “Now, is that a good thing though?” he asked curiously.

  “It absolutely is,” she stated, with a smile. “Because none of this happens without your participation, and, if we don’t know what’ll get that participation from you, then nothing will really be helpful.”

  “I guess,” he said doubtfully. “Still sounds a little bit suspicious.”

  She just smiled like she had a big secret.

  As soon as he was done with his apple pie, he pushed back from the table and stood. “Now I’ll go crash.”

  “Do that, but make sure you reach your bed first,” Dani teased. “We’ll check on you at dinnertime.”

  “I doubt I could eat again,” he said, with a headshake. “That was a lot of food.”

  “That was nothing,” Dani told him. “Wait until you see dinner.”

  He smiled at that thought. “Thank you, ladies. That was lovely to have company with my meal.”

  “Hey, you’re the one who accepted my invite,” Penny pointed out. “So don’t be a stranger, stranger.”

  He grinned and slowly reached for his crutches and left the dining room.

  Chapter 3

  Penny looked over at Dani. “Now, he’s an interesting character,” she noted. “I should spend more time here. You have such interesting people.”

  “We do, indeed. And you just made another friend, who could probably benefit from your social work knowledge,” Dani smiled. She nodded in the direction that Owen had disappeared to. “I’m really surprised to see him in the dining room and on his crutches too,” she said. “He just arrived today.”

  “He looks like he wants to start the way he means to leave from here,” Penny suggested quietly. “If it causes him pain, it’ll cause him pain, but it’s not about the pain. It’s about being determined to do the right thing.”

  “Or determined to make the most of this, whatever that is,” Dani noted equally quietly. “It’s not always the right thing to push oneself like he’s doing. He could really set himself back.”

  “Is he hurting himself?”

  “I’m hoping he has enough wherewithal to make that decision on his own,” she replied. “It certainly helps if we have patients who are more aware of their physical status. However, some are not. In his case, I don’t know yet. We’re still working on who he is, his condition, still waiting for some of his files to arrive actually. He came because of Nash.”

  “Nash …” Penny tilted her head, as she thought about him. “Oh, I remember him.” She asked Dani, “He’s still here too, isn’t he?”

  “Yes, he is,” she said. “He’s doing incredibly well.”

  “Good. Then we have to wonder who else these people are telling about your place here.”

  “Hopefully they’re telling everybody,” Dani replied. “We’re certainly busy enough. We have a six-month-long waiting list.”

  “In some ways, that’s just sad, isn’t it?” she asked.

  “It is. I would love to help everyone and to tell them to come on out here now.” Dani sighed.

  “So, how did Owen get in? Do you give bonus points for people who come with a referral?”

  “Nope.” She shook her head. “He just happened to get lucky with his timing. We had three beds open up—within our new wing—and right after that, things got crazy busy.”

  “I don’t suppose you like it that way, do you?”

  “No. Once I know about somebody,” she explained, “I do my best to try to get them in as soon as I can, because every day when they’re in this healing stage counts. But I can’t accommodate everybody. One of the hardest things about running this place is that there’s just not space for anyone and everyone, using their own timing.”

  “Even with the new wing? You just finished that expansion too, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, and you were a big help with that,” she acknowledged, with a nod. “We’re still not quite there yet, but we’re getting there.”

  “You probably aren’t ready for another expansion at this stage anyway.”

  “Nope, we’re still absorbing all the new staff, getting everybody into the new system, and that takes time. I wouldn’t want to talk about another expansion for a bit yet because it’s not just an expansion of the physical space. It’s staff. It’s logistics. It’s travel. It’s trips to town. It’s medical. It’s food. It’s, well, everything,” she said, with a wave of her hand.

  Penny nodded.

  Dani went on, “I know that there’s a future need for it, so it’s not something that’s off the table. I just was hoping for a little bit more of a break between each one, before we went to the next stage.”

  At that, Penny smiled. “You see? That’s one of the reasons why I don’t mind helping Hathaway House with any of its goals.” She nodded. “You don’t do things mindlessly. You’re very concerted in your efforts to do this in a logical process. I think you allowed for an eighteen-month process, to adapt to incorporating the thirty new beds.”

  “Exactly. Maybe at the end of that fully operational stage in the new wing, if we think we still need more, and there’s still this too-long waiting list, we could look at another expansion again. I’m not even sure what that would look like at this point,” Dani admitted. “So we won’t worry about it right now. I was thinking that Stan might need to expand too. Though, boy, is he busy already.”

  “It seems like the animals never get quite the same money or care or time and effort that people do,” Penny noted. “And
I understand that, but you’re right. Stan could use a bigger space down there too. Even if it’s only to add more pens outside.”

  Dani frowned, thinking about that. “I was wondering about putting in a new set of barns. We’ve got some, but they’re really not barns. They’re more like shacks or lean-tos.”

  “I know. He’s mentioned that a couple times, but I don’t think he’s put anything down in writing as to plans for it, has he?”

  Dani grimaced. “I think he’s too busy, too strapped for time, too overworked to get into proper planning mode. I look forward to Aaron being home, but I bet Stan is as anxious to have Aaron here as I am.”

  Penny knew Dani was missing Aaron. And, as a benefactor, Penny was always curious what plans Dani was working on here because Penny was a huge supporter of this place and did put the funds behind her interest. At the same time she loved the working business aspect and the mind-set of the people here, who were helping everybody they could.

  Therefore, expansions were always done with the idea of helping more people and less about decor or fluff or superficial nonutilitarian items—but, without trying to sacrifice care at the same time, which is why these expansions had to happen slowly. “Maybe you should talk to Stan about it?” Penny suggested.

  “I can do that,” Dani agreed. “He also has to anticipate what he needs, and I’m not sure if he’s there yet.”

  “Maybe that’s something Aaron can talk to him about, when he gets back.”

  “That will be nice,” Dani said, with a bright smile. “It’s hard when he isn’t here all the time.”

  “Oh, I can imagine,” Penny sympathized.

  “Absolutely.” She sighed. “Long-distance relationships suck. But he’ll be here soon.” She shook her head, smiling. “He’s back and forth now quite a bit more,” she noted. “And that’s really lovely because we get to spend a lot more of our time together, but, as soon as he’s done with his education, now that will be fun to have him here full-time.”

  “And he’ll work with Stan?”

  “Yep, the two of them already have a lot of plans for the business.”

  “So then, that’s something that maybe we need to take a look at, before he gets here.”

  “Good point,” Dani said, with a nod. “That would be something to consider ahead of time, and then at least whenever they’re ready for the expansion, they’ll have the infrastructure in place. I’ll mention it to Stan and to Aaron.”

  “You do that.” Penny stood and stretched. “I need to move around now that Dennis has made me fat.”

  Dennis called out from the far side of the counter, “You need at least fifty additional pounds before anyone would call you fat.”

  She shook her head. “I’m only skinny right now because I got so sick.”

  “You’ve got to watch that. Just being underweight makes you susceptible to every germ,” Dani said worriedly. “Then add on all your worries, piled onto your shoulders, which just cause you further stress. Don’t tell me that it’s not there. You’ve got to watch that. You care too much.”

  “Look who’s talking.” Penny bent down, gave Dani a big hug. “I’ll see you in a few days.”

  “Did you just come to bring animals?”

  “Seems to be the big reason I go anywhere these days,” she said. “You know what it’s like with the charities right now.”

  “There’s always so much need for animal help,” Dani agreed.

  Saying goodbye, Penny walked out of the cafeteria and headed down the hallway, her mind consumed with the idea of what an expansion would look like for downstairs. She knew Stan needed a larger cage area for the current animals that came in because she often overwhelmed him with numbers. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to give him more pens outside, considering he was doing large animals as well. But that was definitely something that Dani needed to talk to both men about, to see what their ideas and plans were.

  As Penny headed down one of the side hallways, she saw a man leaning against the wall, his crutches keeping him propped up, his eyes closed.

  She immediately recognized Owen. She walked around the corner, and, in a gentle voice, she asked, “Are you okay?”

  He opened his eyes, and she saw such pain in them.

  She shook her head immediately and stepped up, putting a shoulder underneath one of his arms. “Come on. Let’s get you into bed.”

  “I would,” he said, “but I’m lost.”

  She nodded. “So, we’ll figure that out. Do you know what room number is yours?”

  He gave her the number, which she knew immediately, and she nodded again. “You’re down the wrong hallway. Do you want a wheelchair?”

  “I’ll be okay, with the crutches.”

  She gingerly stepped back a little bit, letting him get his balance again; then he situated his crutches under his arms. She understood it was probably easier that way, than her trying to help him. She led him back down the short hallway, up a little way, down to another short hallway.

  As soon as she got him to the right room, he groaned with relief. “Thank God for that,” he whispered, half under his breath.

  She walked with him up to his bed. As he sat down, she took the crutches from him. He slowly crashed onto the mattress, and she could see the shudders working through his system. She murmured a strangled exclamation and reached for a blanket and covered him up; then she sat on the nearby chair, staring at him in concern.

  “I’m okay.”

  “Baloney,” she shot back to him.

  That startled him. He smiled and added, “I will be okay, put it that way.”

  “I’m sorry you got lost,” she said. “It never occurred to me, but I should have thought of it. I know it took me a while to figure out where everything was here.”

  “It’s not so much that,” he explained. “I just got turned around somehow.”

  “Easy to do.” She frowned at him. “I think I should get you a nurse.”

  “If you want to,” he replied, and she heard the exhaustion in his voice. “I think I’ll just lie here and go to sleep.”

  “You do that.” She stood, tiptoed to the door, took one last look to watch his chest rising and falling in an even manner, and he looked like he’d already dropped off. She raced back to the dining room, where she caught Dani walking back toward her office. Penny quickly explained everything to Dani.

  Dani had a concerned look on her face. “Thanks for letting me know. We’ll handle it.”

  “Good. In that case, I’m taking off.” Penny lifted a hand and left. She could only hope that Owen would have a much easier time of it, when he woke up again. And it was hard to not think about the man, as she headed into town. She resolved to check in with him in the morning, to see how he was doing. It’s the least she could do.

  When Owen woke hours later, he felt groggy, and a soreness encompassed his whole body, something he hadn’t experienced for a while. He lay here without moving, until he heard footsteps walking into his room. He opened his eyes to see a large man in what looked like sports gear.

  “Hey,” he said. “My name is Shane, and I’ll be working with you while you’re here for physio.”

  “As long as I don’t have to do anything today but crane my neck to see you,” he said. “I don’t think I have any energy at all.”

  “I heard you overdid it,” Shane noted.

  “Bad news travels fast.” Owen yawned. He snuggled deeper into the blankets and just let his eyes close again.

  “It’s not so much bad news,” he explained, “but we’re a family, and we look out for each other.”

  At that, Owen’s lips twitched. “That sounds good in theory, but I don’t really know anybody here.”

  “You’ve already met some very important people,” Shane stated. “Penny found you and helped you back to your room.”

  “She’s part of this somehow though, right?” He vaguely remembered the beautiful woman who looked almost gaunt and way too weak to have helped him, but she’d imm
ediately stepped up to try. He appreciated the thought. Even as broken, and as weak as he was, he was pretty sure his strength right now was greater. Hard to imagine but true.

  “Penny is a special person,” Shane said, with a smile. “And a good friend to have in our corner.”

  “She looks like she’s been ill.”

  “As she tells everybody, she has battled some pretty major issues all her life,” Shane explained. “So she knows what it is to struggle. Now she devotes her life to helping others.”

  “That’s very noble,” he muttered.

  “She’s one of the good people in the world. The fact that you got to have lunch with her is pretty cool. I’ve been trying to break free of this place long enough to share a meal with her for quite a while.”

  “My schedule is kind of open, whereas you are probably booked.” Owen chuckled.

  Shane nodded. “So is Penny. With her master’s in social work, we have her exclusively for Hathaway House.”

  Owen frowned. “I thought the Major was joking. How does that work?”

  “And you’ve already met Dani and now the Major. That’s pretty sweet for your first day.” He paused to study Owen, then answered his question. “Penny and Dani entered into a standard HIPAA-Compliant Business Associate Agreement, covering PHI—protected health information—regarding a patient—who can share it and with whom.” At Owen’s ongoing stare, Shane added, “Some of our patients prefer to talk to her than our psychiatrists. Plus, she can give us her insights to add to that which the docs and the physical therapists offer.”

  Owen softly shook his head. “She did say that she had many interests.”

  “I don’t know if you’ve met our therapy dogs and cats yet. They are a big hit, too, with our veterans.” Shane paused. “Want to tell me how you got in trouble?” Shane asked. “How you overextended yourself earlier?”

  Owen carefully shrugged. “I woke up from my nap and thought I should get out and walk around and explore a little bit and ended up having a late lunch with her. Then I got lost on the way back. Thankfully Penny’s path crossed mine again.”

  “All good now?” Shane asked cheerfully.