Owen Read online

  Owen shifted on his bed and rolled over to look at him, his body completely screaming at the movements.

  “Everything hurts, huh?”

  “Everything,” he confirmed.

  “How about a soak in the hot tub?”

  Owen stared at him in shock. “Seriously? You have one?”

  “We do,” Shane stated. “Normally we wouldn’t be starting with a hot tub, but every part of you seems to be in pain. And it looks muscular, versus anything else.”

  “Yes,” he uttered fervently. “Yes, yes, yes, to a hot tub, if that is an option.”

  “Do you have swim shorts? Can you get into them on your own?”

  “I do have some. Nash told me to make sure I brought them. But I don’t remember him mentioning a hot tub, yet he did say something about a pool.”

  “They’re beside each other, downstairs.” Shane brought over the wheelchair that came with Owen’s room. “Where are your shorts?”

  “I didn’t unpack yet, so they’re still in my kit on the floor there.”

  Shane lifted it onto the bed and helped Owen to sit up, while they dragged through his clothes to find what he needed. Shane said, “I’ll be back in a minute. Get yourself changed and into the wheelchair.”

  At that, Owen hesitated, as he looked over at Shane.

  Shane shook his head. “I get it. You hate that wheelchair. It’s not what you want to use. It’s not how you want to be seen. And it’s not how you want to physically move around. Just remember that it is temporary. However, there are times, when doing anything other than giving your body the break it needs, that you’re hurting yourself.” With that, he stepped outside the room.

  Owen mulled over Shane’s words, as he dressed, and what should have been a quick process ended up taking much longer. By the time Shane came back, Owen was just getting to his feet. He took one look at the wheelchair and slowly made his way over. “I was hoping to leave the wheelchair behind.”

  “And you can one day,” Shane muttered gently, “but not yet. When you’re ready, you won’t struggle to do it. You’ll not even think about that wheelchair as being part of the equation. You’re not there yet. It’s a mind-set you shift to because you’re putting your brain and your former self ahead of where your physical body is right now. It’s good that your mind wants to improve and go forward, but it’s not good if you let the price of that stubborn disconnect from the past just slow the progress of your physical ability in the present.”

  “That sounds harsh,” he muttered.

  “I can sugarcoat things for you, if you want,” Shane said. “But, I guarantee you, you’ll do much better if I don’t avoid reality. I can also tell you that sugarcoating won’t change anything.”

  “Got it,” he said, with a long exhale. “I also figured I missed dinner.”

  “Are you hungry?” Shane asked, as he wheeled Owen down the hallway.

  That was another thing about the wheelchair that bothered Owen. Normally when in a wheelchair, he pushed himself, but Shane wasn’t even giving Owen that option. He sat back and gave in, realizing that he gained a certain amount of relief coursing through his body, knowing that he didn’t have to put out any physical effort right now.

  As he had heard Shane’s earlier question, he replied, “I did have fried chicken with Penny midafternoon. “So I’m not sure that I should be hungry.”

  “If you’re hungry, you need to eat,” Shane stated. “Don’t ever turn down your body when it needs food.”

  “What about when it just wants food, and it doesn’t necessarily need food?”

  “The state you’re in,” Shane said, “chances are your body is looking for something, nutrients to help heal it. Speaking of which, I’ll start you on a regimen of shakes. Straight nutritional value. I don’t care if they taste good or not to you. I want you to get them down.”

  “Can you at least make them palatable? Add some honey or fruit or something?” Owen asked, with humor in his tone. “Because you’re already gearing me up to think it’s absolutely mind-crunchingly terrible.”

  Shane burst out laughing. “Nope. They aren’t terrible, but some people are not a big fan.”

  “If it’ll help me get some strength back, I don’t really care.”

  “And that’s the right answer,” Shane said approvingly. “Once we get you in the hot tub, I’ll go get you one.”

  There wasn’t much Owen could say against that, surely nothing that would stop Shane. With a sigh, Owen longed for the day to come where the same could be said for him. Unstoppable. As they exited the elevator, Owen looked around with interest. “I don’t know where we are.”

  “You’re on the ground floor now,” Shane explained. “With the wheelchair ramp up to the main entrance of Hathaway House, you really enter on the second floor. Then to the left here is the vet clinic, and to the right is the pool. We’ll go through these big double doors, and you’ll see the hot tub beyond the pool.”

  As Shane pushed Owen closer toward the pool, he sniffed the air and smelled his destination. “Nothing quite like heat, chlorine, and the smell of a pool,” he muttered.

  “It’s the best rehab equipment we’ve got here,” Shane said. “And you’ll be very happy to get into it, once that’s an option for you.”

  “When will that be?”

  “Not for a bit, not until we’re sure you don’t need an attendant the whole time.”

  “Right.”

  “And we haven’t even had a chance to do any testing on you,” Shane added, a humorous note in his voice. “So I don’t have any answers for you yet.”

  “I kind of jumped ahead, didn’t I?”

  “Eagerness is great but not if it hurts you.”

  “I didn’t think I was hurting me,” he said. “I woke up and felt like I was supposed to be doing something, so I thought I’d explore.”

  “And that’s all good too,” Shane replied. “It’s just that we’ll slow down your progress ever-so-slightly and give you a chance to adjust. In your current state, you won’t get the pain feedback until it’s way too late. So we’ll keep that in mind as we work with you. But you also must note your limits and not exceed them. So let us get some testing done. Meanwhile, you’re welcome to walk around, but only as long as you stay within your energy levels. Don’t deplete them halfway into your exploration.”

  “I thought I had that covered,” he said, “until I got lost.”

  “Exactly.”

  Reaching the hot tub—which was huge, could probably hold fifteen, maybe twenty people—Shane locked the wheels of the wheelchair. “Now, let’s see if you can get in there on your own.”

  “I should be able to, no problem.” Owen stood and tried to take the steps.

  “Use the railing,” Shane admonished.

  Shane had parked Owen right beside the railing, so he put out a hand and felt some of his shakiness firm up with that bit of support. He took the last few steps to the edge of the hot tub and then slowly walked down into the hot tub. As soon as the warm water encased his knees, his body wanted to flop right into it. He sat down on the step and just sank even lower.

  “I know it’s still warm outside, what with the Texas heat,” Shane said, “but there’s just something about having your body encased in that warm vibrating water that will help ease some of the pain.”

  “That’s good,” he replied, “because I could use that.”

  “Now, while you’re there, I’ll walk around here and check on a few other things. Are you okay to be alone while I get your shake?”

  Owen looked up at him in surprise and then nodded. “Yes, I am.”

  “So you’ll stay there then, right?”

  Owen smiled. “I can see I’ve got you worried.”

  “Not necessarily. I just don’t know your full measure,” Shane said seriously. “And I don’t want to make a mistake at this point.”

  “I’ll stay here,” Owen promised. Almost as if to prove his point, he closed his eyes and sank back into the water, just until his neck rested against the edge, and his body completely sank into the heat. “I really don’t want to be anywhere but here right now.”

  “Perfect. I’ll be back soon.” And Shane disappeared.

  At that, Owen closed his eyes and relaxed further, feeling some of the stress and strain easing already. He could just stay here until his skin got all pruney. He’d be totally okay with that.

  Chapter 4

  The next morning, Penny woke up and wondered almost immediately how Owen had handled his first day there. She picked up her phone and saw that it was not quite late enough to phone Dani. So Penny got up and had a shower, as she worked through what was on her day’s schedule. That varied from one day to the next and could be any number of things. Today she had a meeting with the family, then a meeting with her board. Afterward she had some phone calls she needed to make, some people she needed to check up on.

  Mentally she added Owen to her list. No point in spending time with somebody and helping them when they get into a pickle, if you didn’t follow up afterward to ensure that they were okay. Too many people reached out a hand and then pulled away, long before the person was actually self-sustaining.

  It’s one of the things that she was determined to keep up with and to keep on top of, when she worked with each of her projects—to ensure that these people got to the point where they didn’t need her again. And it didn’t always happen; sometimes more money was needed, which they didn’t necessarily get at the beginning, yet they needed to. Like psychological services, which so many needed and yet didn’t think it applied to them.

  Some had misconceptions of lying on a couch, being hypnotized or something. People needed to know that during times of stress, they all need relief. For Penny’s more artistic people in need, she’d send them to an art therapist who she knew. For pet lovers, she’d sign them up to be foster pet parents, even suggesting they hook up with a seniors’ home or a hospital and see if they were allowed to bring in animals to cheer up the people there.

  Penny knew psychology could open doors for many people that she alone couldn’t do. Even addressing anger issues that could lead to criminal acts of violence if not countered early on. In Penny’s opinion, it literally started at home and with the community. And she was doing as much as one person could. At times she wondered if she needed an assistant—or a business partner.

  As soon as she got out of the shower, her phone started ringing—about her charities, tying her up for most of the morning. She didn’t get a chance to even think about Owen again until it was almost 11:00 a.m. By then, she immediately grabbed her phone and called Dani.

  When Dani answered, Penny asked, “Hey, just checking. Is Owen okay this morning?”

  “He’s doing fine,” Dani replied. “He did a stint in the hot tub last night to help ease some of his muscles, and I know his testing started today.”

  “Oh, good.” She sighed with relief. “It was really hard to see him standing against the wall, like he was hoping for a rescue but not wanting to ask for it.”

  “Not knowing how to ask for it is another issue,” she stated calmly. “Not only was he around a corner where he couldn’t just yell out for help, he hadn’t taken his tablet with him, so he didn’t have all the numbers available.”

  “Hopefully he’s being a little bit more cautious today,” she said.

  “He is.”

  “I’ll run by anyway later today and pick up the cats,” she told Dani. “I might stop in and say hi to him.”

  “You do that,” Dani said warmly. “I’m sure he’d appreciate it.”

  “Or he would just rather forget all about the fact that I saw him at one of his weakest points.”

  “In which case, you definitely should come,” Dani said, with a laugh. “You never want to let these guys forget something like that. We don’t want to rub it in their faces, but they need to know that it’s okay to show weakness. Otherwise they tend to brush over it, and you’ll never get them to admit it afterward.”

  “Right,” she agreed. “I’ll see if I have time this afternoon, then I can run through.”

  “If you can, great, but I know you’re busy.”

  “I’m always busy.” She sighed. “Sometimes I need to be out there, gathering up strays and hurt or abandoned animals, but then I have this pull to be there at Hathaway House. People don’t make appointments to see me but will stop me in the halls and just need a moment to share. So I try to show up every few days to give them that chance. Yet it doesn’t mean that I don’t stop in just to say hi to you at times.”

  “It’s always good to see you,” Dani stated. “Stop by, if you do drop in again. You know you’re welcome to visit, even when it’s not business.”

  On that note, Penny hung up, and she thought about Owen for the next couple hours. By the time she got into her vehicle and headed toward the vet clinic, she figured he would have been put on his PT schedule now. She remembered meeting certain people, and then trying to find them later when she had dropped by, but a quick check of their schedules had revealed they were busy with their rehab program, and the programs tended to dominate all else. Still, she’d check on Owen when she got there, and, if it worked, it worked—and if not, well, not.

  Penny arrived at the vet clinic, yet she’d run up first and look for Owen, so that she didn’t have the cats sitting in the vehicle. As she walked to Owen’s room, it was hard to forget it now, she knocked on the closed door. When he called out, “Come in,” she opened it and poked her head around the corner. Then she gave him a bright smile. “Hey. Just stopping in to make sure you are okay.”

  “Ah.” He groaned and gave her a twitch of his lips. “Not exactly how I want to be remembered.” He cringed. “Memorable, yes, just not in this way.”

  “Nope, none of that,” she said. “I think it’s great.”

  “What, that I got lost?”

  She laughed at him. “Great that you were trying to do as much as you could.”

  “Apparently not to the benefit of my health though.” He groaned, with a smile.

  “Maybe not, but that’s not the point.” She walked in and looked around his room. “Nice room. Look at you. You’ve got a view of the horses.”

  “I haven’t really had a chance to even see very much,” he admitted. “I hear we have therapy animals.”

  She laughed. “Even a bunny. A very large bunny.”

  “And you too,” he said.

  “It’s nice of you to say. All I really do is listen to people. That’s what most of us want. To be heard. To be understood.” He stared at her for so long that she wondered what he was thinking. “And how was your second day so far?” she asked.

  “Today has been all about appointments, meeting others on my team, and starting some testing.”

  “Good.” She nodded. “Once they figure out the testing, they’ll be all over you, setting up your new PT program.”

  “I know,” he agreed, yet seemed hesitant. “I should be grateful for having the break while I’ve got it, but it’s one of those funny things that you kind of worry about at the same time.”

  “Of course you do,” she said. “You’re looking so much better.”

  “Wow, I must have looked really bad then yesterday,” he teased, with a smile.

  “Nope, not at all. Have you eaten?” she asked, looking at her watch. “Because, as far as I remember, lunchtime is almost over.”

  “I had an early lunch, before it got busy. But I didn’t have much. Dani told me that you would try to stop by. I wasn’t too sure if you had eaten, so I didn’t eat very much.” Just then his stomach growled.

  She looked at him and shook her head. “You’re as bad as I am. Come on. Let’s go have a coffee and check out what else is there.”

  He frowned. “Are you sure? I don’t know if I’m allowed.”

  “You’re allowed,” she said. “Crutches or wheelchair?”

  He groaned. “Shane would definitely tell me wheelchair, but I would prefer crutches.”

  She stared at him steadily. “So, stop thinking with your brain. Think with your body. And what should it be?”

  He wrinkled his face up at her. “That’s cheating.”

  She laughed. “I guess that means wheelchair, huh?”

  “I guess, but I can push myself,” he stated quickly.

  “I’m okay with that,” she said. “I don’t have a problem with you getting there on your own, if you can.”

  “I hope I can,” he added. “The lack of independence is hard.”

  “There’s such a thing as a lack of independence,” she noted, “but then there’s also being stupid.”

  He laughed. “Here at Hathaway, I think I have that last part nailed down.”

  She grinned. “Yeah, but you don’t have it all to yourself. Plenty of others have made the same mistake.”

  As they walked slowly down the hallway, he asked, “What are you doing back here again?”

  “I came to pick up the cats I dropped off yesterday,” she explained.

  “And what will happen to them?”

  “They’ll go to a rescue, and we will see how they do there. With any luck we’ll get them adopted out.”

  “I hope so,” he said. “It’s a tough time for animals, whether stray or domestic, what with the economy this year.”

  “It’s always a tough time for animals,” she replied. “If people have only so many dollars in a day, animals almost always end up being shortchanged.”

  “True,” he agreed. “It’s kind of sad though, because people could certainly make it better.”

  “They could, indeed.” She added, “That’s what we try to do. But, as you know, that’s one of the reasons I won’t just drop them off at a rescue and ignore them. I’ll see to it that they get homes.”

  “Good.” He nodded. “I’d hate to think of the alternative.”

  “No, I’m very much a believer in happy endings.”

  Inside the cafeteria he saw a couple tables were full of people, papers, and food, plus lots of discussion. “I guess it’s a convenient place to have a meeting, isn’t it?”

  “It is.” She looked down at her watch. “It’s three o’clock, so in between the lunch rush and the dinner run.”