Percy: A Hathaway House Heartwarming Romance Read online

  “You have a good heart,” Dani noted quietly.

  “Everybody who’s here does,” she added. “I’m nobody different, nobody special.”

  At that, Dani burst out laughing. “Man, if only we saw ourselves as others see us. I see a woman who saw a need and who filled it without question. You spoke to a new patient, made him feel better, arranged to get him food, besides your job to ensure we get all the supplies here into the center that we need.”

  “It helps me a lot if I walk around and see what people do need.”

  Dani chuckled. “Whatever helps you and the others is fine by me. Also I have an apartment here, available soon, if you want to move onto the campus.”

  “Nope, that’s okay,” she replied. “I’m okay in town. Besides, it’s just ten minutes out.”

  “I know.” Dani looked a little troubled. “But you realize that so many other employees get that perk. And I can’t compensate you for not getting housing here.”

  At that, Giada laughed. “You’d break my brother’s heart if you persuaded me to move here.”

  “Right, but he’s getting married soon.”

  “Not for at least six months,” she said cheerfully. “So I have six months to figure it out.”

  “Just say the word, and I promise that we’ll have a place for you in six months.”

  At that, she nodded. “You’ll only have a place if somebody quits, moves, or if you build another building.”

  “Believe me. I do think about adding more living spaces,” she stated, with a heavy sigh. “But I’ve got so much else going on right now.”

  “And you’ve just done an expansion, getting in more beds and all the equipment.”

  “I know. If we didn’t have all the grant money, we would be really hobbled.”

  “Don’t you worry about it,” Giada noted. “I’m working on keeping us on a budget.”

  “Wouldn’t that be nice,” Dani muttered, as she went back to her paperwork.

  Giada headed back to her office, sat down, and buried herself in her work. About an hour later she lifted her head and realized that she herself had skipped out on lunch and hadn’t even gotten coffee. Frowning at that, she checked her watch and noted she still had an hour to go before dinner was served. She headed to the dining room and poured herself a coffee. Dennis caught sight of her, with a hail. “Hey.” She smiled at him. “Thanks for the help earlier.”

  He shook his head. “De nada. Everybody deserves help in this place.” He looked at her coffee. “I don’t remember seeing you at lunch today.” He frowned.

  “How can you possibly have a photographic memory and keep tabs on all of us?”

  “Because I like to see everything running perfectly, and that means you guys all need to be fed,” he scolded.

  “I’m staying late and working,” she shared, “so maybe I’ll have dinner here.”

  “Definitely have dinner here. You know your meals are covered anyway.”

  “I know, but my brother is back at home,” she mentioned, “so I like to go home for him too.”

  Dennis nodded wisely. “Family’s important. Besides, isn’t that brother of yours getting married?”

  She burst out laughing. “You and Dani are busy keeping tabs on even my family, but you’re right, he is.”

  “So you should move here,” he said instantly.

  She rolled her eyes. “And again you sound like a Dani parrot.” He almost looked offended at that comment. And then she rushed forward to say, “Meaning that you’re both very caring.” He looked somewhat mollified by that. He looked down at her coffee again and asked, “Are you sure you don’t want something to eat with that?”

  “I don’t want anything sweet,” she replied. “It will ruin dinner.”

  “How about some cheese and crackers or some fruit and cheese?” At that, her spirits lifted, and her stomach growled on cue. “Give me a minute.” Dennis disappeared into the back.

  She stood here waiting, looking around at the massive space and the outdoor patio. A meeting was going on in one corner inside; several people were outside seated at the tables. When Dennis showed up again, Giada’s eyebrows shot up, and her smile beamed. “Now that’s gorgeous. Berries, grapes, and watermelon.”

  “Yep. Here’s a few crackers and cheese to go with it. That’s just to keep the nibblies down, while you work.”

  She snorted at that. “If I let you feed me all the time, I’ll gain twenty-five pounds.”

  “Ha! You could use it.” Then he waved at her. “Go on, back to work with you.”

  “Do you think Percy will make it down for dinner?” she asked, after she got a few steps away, turning back and frowning at Dennis. “I got the impression that he was trying for the tough guy act but wasn’t doing very well.”

  “I know, but day one’s brutal.”

  “I heard day two’s worse.”

  He laughed. “It can be, and it can take them three or four days before they’re ready to get started with their rehab routine.”

  “It seems so sad that just the trip here should take the stuffing right out of them.”

  “They’ve got a lot of things to adjust to,” he noted quietly. “Don’t you worry. I’ll go back and ensure he’s got dinner.” Then he stopped and added, “Unless you want to take it to him.”

  “Naw, probably better that you do.”

  “Nope,” he stated firmly, “much better for a guy like that to have a beautiful woman bring him a meal. Believe me. He’ll eat more if you take it than if I do.”

  She shook her head. “That’s baloney.”

  “Prove it to me,” he dared her.

  “Nope,” she said, as she headed to the double doors. “If I’m still around, you can always tag me.” And she escaped back to her office. Her tray was full, and, when she walked past Shane, he took one look at the fruit and cheese platter, and he almost crowed.

  “Oh, my,” he said, “I keep forgetting that we can ask Dennis for specialties like that.”

  “I didn’t even ask,” she cried out in protest. “He just wouldn’t let me have straight caffeine.”

  “That’s probably a good thing. Did he grill you as to whether you’d eaten yet today?”

  “Did he ever, and, of course, he didn’t see me at lunchtime ’cause I worked through lunch,” she admitted, with a heavy sigh. “So this is in lieu of.”

  “And you’re staying for that meeting tonight, aren’t you?”

  She nodded. “So I told him that I’d show up for dinner.”

  Shane laughed. “And he probably already knows exactly what your favorite dish is, and you can expect it for dinner.”

  “Well, I don’t even know that I have a favorite dish,” she shared, “so that’s pretty easy.” And she kept on walking.

  By the time she lifted her head for the meeting, she was already running behind. She grabbed her pen and paper and her iPad and raced into the boardroom. Twelve of them were participating right now. And the meeting was intense, regarding lots of budgetary issues, and she was one of the ones intent to send items to the chopping block so that they stayed within the proposed numbers. By the time she was done with her portion of the meeting, she sagged beside Dani in relief.

  Dani reached over, patted Giada’s hand, and said, “You did really well.”

  And the only reason Giada did so well was because she was trying to keep things in check. But some of the supplies needed to be pulled back a bit. How did one do that when cleanliness was paramount? And of course the grocery budget? She would not be the one to tell Dennis or Ilse that they needed to cut back in the kitchen. They’d already done that several times in the last couple years, and they were doing really well to stay as top-notch as they did now.

  By the time the meeting was over, and the rest of the staff members got up and left, Dani looked at Giada. “Come on. Let’s go have dinner.”

  “What? Did you get the memo that I was staying too?” She laughed.

  “Dennis told me.”

  “That man.” Giada shook her head. “He’s so busy looking after us all that surely he needs somebody to look after him.”

  “He so does,” Dani agreed. “I keep hoping he’ll find a perfect partner.”

  “For that matter, so does Stan.”

  And Stan, who had just been packing up the rest of his meeting papers, looked over, and smiled. “I heard my name.”

  “We’re going for dinner,” Dani stated. “Why don’t you join us?”

  Stan looked at them with interest. “You know what? That’s not a bad idea. These meetings tend to wear me right out.”

  “Me too,” Dani agreed. “Anything to do with the budget makes my skin crawl. I know we’re always short on funds, and I keep looking for any influx of money to help make things meet, but I refuse to cancel the charity beds, and I refuse to cut back any more on the groceries.”

  Stan smiled. “And you can tell that all of us appreciate not cutting back on the groceries.” He patted his stomach. “The trouble is, there really isn’t any particular area that we can cut back.”

  “And we’re holding,” Dani stated firmly. “We are holding, and we’re good for two more years at the rate we’re going.”

  “And two years is a boon,” he noted. “I remember when we didn’t have six months locked down.”

  Laughing, the three of them headed toward the dining area. As Giada walked inside, the bulk of the rush was over. Dennis still manned the front counter. When he caught sight of her, he asked, “Are you busy?”

  She shook her head. “No. What’s up?”

  “Percy.”

  “Give it to me,” she said. “I’ll take it down right now.” She turned to Dani. “Hold me a spot at the table.”

  Dennis passed her a large tray filled with food, and she quickly bee-lined around the railing and headed to Percy’s room. The door was open, and she called out softly, “You awake?”

  A mumble came from the other side of the room. As she stepped forward, she noted his eyes completely glazed in pain, staring back at her. “Oh my God.” She rushed to him and placed the tray down on the small bedside table, then moved it out of the way. “Put your arm around my shoulders.” His pain was bad enough from whatever position he’d slumped into that he immediately did so without argument, and she half lifted and half shoved him into a different position.

  “How did you know?” he asked, gasping for breath.

  She stared down to see if he were serious. “The look on your face. The pain must have been extreme.”

  He shrugged. “Sometimes I get back muscle seizures, but it’s much better now.”

  She shifted the angle of the bed, until he was completely stretched out.

  “Oh, that’s even better.” And moving his arms and legs, he stretched and rolled. “Good timing on your part.”

  “Now you make me feel like I should have been here earlier.”

  “I’m not even sure why you’re here now.” He sniffed the air and nodded. “Oh God, food.”

  “Let me see if we can get you into a better position for eating, or do you want to get up and maybe move around a bit and come down to the dining room?” she asked.

  He immediately shook his head. “No, it’s too early for that.”

  She wasn’t sure what made it too early. “A wheelchair is here beside your bed. You want to sit in that to eat, and I’ll lower the table?” He looked at her and looked at the wheelchair, and she could tell that was the last thing he wanted. “Keep in mind,” she noted, as she brought the wheelchair around, “it really would be a complete change of position for you. Might be better for you, at least for a little while.”

  With that, he used her arm to sit all the way up, and afterward she shifted him into the wheelchair, so he was upright in a proper position, then she lowered the tray. “How’s that?”

  “This is much better. Thank you.” As she turned to leave, he asked, “Who asked you to bring this?”

  “I saw Dennis in the dining room. I was just joining Dani and Stan, our vet from downstairs, for dinner,” she explained, “when Dennis asked if I’d bring it to you.”

  He looked up in surprise. “It’s much appreciated.”

  “I’ll be back after dinner,” she offered, “and I’ll pick up your tray for you.” And, with that, she skedaddled.

  Percy stared at the food, but his mind was on the woman who even now raced down the hallway to meet up with the others. He used to race too, from point A to point B. He missed it. According to Aaron, Percy would get there. Even if at a funny clumping and limping run, he could still get to something a heck of a lot better than where he was right now. It was just so new to him, being here. He checked out the dinner plate—fried chicken and fried shrimp and a big veggie stir-fry. It was a bit of a jumbled menu, but it was dense in nutrition and hot and tasty. By the time he finished the second piece of fried chicken, he was almost ready to push the tray aside, but it was so good that he polished it off, right down to the end.

  Resigned, he got up, grabbed the crutches, and slowly made his way to the bathroom. With his face washed, he returned and changed into his pajamas, made his way to the bed, and sat down gently. He felt like roadkill, but the full meal had helped a lot. Dessert was on the tray too, and now he thought maybe he could handle a little bit more. He had just picked up the dish of apple pie when he heard laughter in his doorway. He looked over to see Giada walking toward him.

  “I just finished my piece of pie,” she noted, rubbing her tummy. “I tell you, the cooks here …”

  “Well, I hope your business meeting won’t cut back on the groceries,” he noted, as he savored the apple pie. “Because that’s the best meal I’ve had in months, if not years,” he admitted.

  “They’re really good here.” She surveyed his tray and looked him over. “Well, I’m glad to see the earlier spasms didn’t hurt your appetite.”

  “I’m always hungry,” he noted. “It seems like I can never get full.”

  “Well, that’s a very good sign. Too often the medication here affects appetites, and people can’t eat.”

  “That’s not my problem,” he stated, “but I have to admit I really struggled to finish this meal.” He slowly replaced the empty dessert plate. She handed him the milk on the bedside table and asked, “Are you a milk drinker?”

  He looked at it, frowned. “I am, but I don’t know how they knew.”

  “I would think that your particulars would have traveled with you,” she suggested.

  He took a big healthy slug, draining it in one gulp, and handed it to her. She looked at the empty glass and shook her head. “It would take me two days to get through that.”

  “Not me. I’m an old farm boy, and milk was something that I grew up on.”

  “I didn’t.” She laughed. “My mother was into Grape-Nuts and non dairy milk. So real milk was something I never got a taste for.” She picked up the tray and asked, “Now are you good to go for the moment?”

  He nodded. “Do you know if I’m to expect any other people tonight?”

  “Check your iPad,” she noted, “for how many others on your team are left to see you. Some of them may have sent you emails too.”

  He frowned. “I didn’t even think of that.”

  “If nobody is coming, and you want me to shut the door, I can also put up a sign. But it is still early, not even six.”

  “Oh, gosh. No, we’ll leave it open for a while. Maybe some more will come tonight, and then I don’t have such a busy day tomorrow.”

  “I just hope you have a good night,” she said. “At least a full tummy will be a help.” And, with that, she disappeared.

  She was right in the sense that a full tummy would help, but he was also sore. That muscle spasm? He hadn’t been completely honest because they’d been happening all afternoon, off and on. But when she had walked in on him, he had slowly slipped to one side and couldn’t straighten on his own.

  A knock came at his door not ten minutes later. Percy looked up from the iPad he’d been trying to figure out to see a man in a white lab coat.

  “I’m Dr. Wilkinson.”

  “Nice to meet you, sir.”

  “I was looking over your file. Came to check on that stump of yours.”

  “You mean the stump that never seems to heal?” he muttered. He pulled back the blanket he had tossed over his stump and pulled up his pant leg for the doctor to take a look at it.

  He gave it a good inspection and then noted, “I also heard you had some muscle spasms. And, yes, she was right to tell us,” he added gently. “Do you need muscle relaxants? That trip was obviously a little rougher on your body than we would have hoped.”

  “It was just sitting for a long period getting here,” he muttered. “It’s not that bad.” But the doctor wouldn’t be appeased, and he gave Percy a thorough check-over.

  “I’ll change your medications for the night. I want you to get a good night’s sleep, as that helps healing as well. Do you need anything for pain?”

  Immediately Percy shook his head. “No, it’s not pain anymore,” he replied. “It’s more stress, the muscles that won’t work when I need them to work.”

  “Can you explain that a little more?”

  He explained about trying to grab the water when Dani was here and then about the spasms earlier.

  “Okay, we’ll take a good look at that over the next few days. I’ll order some blood tests to see what’s going on, to fix some nutritional deficiencies, along with getting some really nutritionally dense meals into you, even some green shakes maybe. Then we’ll let Shane get at you.”

  “That sounds almost like a threat,” he said, half joking.

  “And some people would say Shane is a threat, but he isn’t. He’s all about getting you to be the best you can be,” Dr. Wilkinson replied. “You’re lucky to have him.” And, with that, the doctor left.

  And, like a typical hospital, about another hour passed when a nurse came around with a tray and medication in a small paper cup. Percy smiled as she handed it to him. The nurse said, “This will help you sleep and should calm down the muscle knots.”

  He nodded and took it with a little water she provided. “Am I done for the night?”