“You guys are way too understanding,” he muttered.

  At that, Robin smiled. “Not necessarily. We’re just waiting for a chance to get back at you.”

  He burst out laughing, and they all grinned. “Fine, I’ll try,” he muttered. “I’m just not really good at this relationship stuff.”

  “Then take an animal with you,” Robin stated bluntly. “They’ve always been some of the best ways that you communicate.”

  He raised both eyebrows and nodded. “You know what? That’s not a bad idea. I didn’t even get a chance to show her some of them.”

  By this time, the rest of his staff nodded and smiled, as they returned to work, leaving Robin behind.

  “So maybe, on a friendship level, take that chance,” Robin suggested. “And give it a try. You never really know what’ll happen until you try.”

  He winced. “It really sucks though. You know that, right?”

  “Yep, I do know that,” she agreed. “One way or another, there’s no true path in love.”

  “Doesn’t even seem like there’s any path,” he replied in frustration. “I was so happy, and now I’m just, well, lost,” he admitted. “I’ve been bolstering up my whole system to make it through the days and now? I … I don’t know. I don’t know what to say.”

  “And that’s because,” Robin noted, “there’s just not a whole lot to say. If you’re hurting, you know what you need to do. You need to grab an animal and find a way to not hurt so much.”

  He winced. “It’s not that easy.”

  “Yes, it is. It’s that easy to begin to feel better.”

  He groaned. “Fine, I will go make an attempt to see if I can fix some of this—but only on a friendship level.”

  “I heard what Shane said,” she murmured. “You might want to remember that Quinton doesn’t believe she deserves a second chance. And, if that’s the case, she might not understand where you’re coming from. On the other hand she might desperately need to know where you’re coming from. So just be a little more open and a little bit accepting.”

  He rolled his eyes at that. “I’m not taking another hit in the head—the heart,” he declared. “That was bad enough. I’m back, and it’s where I need to be. And I get that, for you guys, this was a pretty rough road. And I’m sorry. But I won’t go through that pain again.”

  “So you don’t get a second chance either, huh? And you won’t give her a second chance?”

  He frowned and shook his head. “It’s not that.”

  “It sounds like it’s that,” Robin stated. “And second chances are pretty important in our world.”

  He shrugged, not knowing what to say.

  And she pressed home her point. “You’re entitled to be upset. You’re entitled to be hurt,” she said. “Just remember to not hurt back. That’s the animal in us, which lashes out, wanting to hurt anything and everything around us. But it’s not who we are, and, once it’s over, and you can see the pain and the ripples of pain, you know you feel like death warmed over.”

  “Well, maybe I wouldn’t feel so bad, if maybe, for once, it wouldn’t be that way.”

  “Maybe,” she said cheerfully, “but I doubt it. You’re a big softy. Whether Quinton knows it or not, you’re all heart, and she’s missing out on something very special.” And, with that, she said, “I’ll leave you with that. Sermon’s over. Don’t mind me. I’ll just go back to work now.”

  And, with that, she walked away, leaving Stan to his thoughts. He listened, but everybody appeared to be silently busy. He walked to the outer office. “And, of course, you all agree.”

  As one, they all looked up and nodded. “Absolutely. We all deserve second chances.”

  “And what about my heart?” he asked in a tight voice.

  “Noted. Understood. But you need to go try anyway,” they all rushed to say.

  He frowned. “So it doesn’t matter if I’m hurting?”

  “It does matter. It absolutely matters,” Robin stated, the others nodding. “But it also matters what you do with it.”

  Chapter 10

  When Quinton woke up the next morning, she still wasn’t sure she’d made the right decision or not. But she was here, that much she had committed to. And yet the commitment itself had been so, so hard. She’d talked to several of her staff at work, and they’d all been extremely positive about her staying here—some even going as far as asking her what the other problem was that she would compromise her health at this point. She wasn’t about to share her problems—with her brother or with her job—with her staff at work.

  But then there was Stan. And that was something she would have to face, and it wasn’t something she looked forward to, but it was something that she could not leave in good conscience without talking to him first. She’d never meant to hurt him. She wasn’t even sure how she could possibly have been so difficult that she had done so. It wasn’t like her. Or at least it wasn’t normally her. But apparently she was a completely different person in that all-too-recent scenario.

  She hated it.

  The fact that her brother was here as well—to see her at her worst with him and with Stan—just added to the insult. It shouldn’t. None of it made sense. She loved her brother, absolutely adored him. But it wasn’t that easy to actually live with him. And she knew he knew that too. I mean, how could he not? It was a fact of life in a place like this.

  At the same time she wasn’t being all that easy on herself. That was really the lesson here—she needed to ease up so that she could actually be who she needed to be. And so she could stop worrying about how others looked at her and how others saw her. That was something that had taken her a long time to figure out when she was here the first time. She had that worry that people were judging her, were expecting her to be bigger and better and faster and stronger.

  She suspected her brother thought that she would never be in this situation again, and he was down about it, not just for her sake but for his sake, because, all of a sudden, if she wasn’t perfect and couldn’t handle this rehab, then how could he?

  Or maybe that’s not what he thought at all.

  Regardless it wasn’t her fault if that’s the way it was because nobody was perfect in this world.

  Confused and tired, she stayed in bed, wondering if she even wanted to get up and go for breakfast. When a knock came at her door, she hesitated and then she called out, “Come in.”

  Dani poked her head around the door and looked at her, smiling. “I’m glad you stayed,” she stated simply. “Remember. There’s fresh coffee in the dining room.”

  “I was just wondering if I wanted to go down or not.”

  “Is not even an option?” she asked curiously.

  “Maybe,” Quinton replied. “It just seems kind of hard.”

  “Well, get dressed,” Dani said, “and you can come down with me.”

  She frowned at that. “I don’t really need somebody to walk me down there.”

  “We all need somebody to walk us down there sometimes,” she argued. “And, if you’re thinking everybody here knows what’s going on, you’re wrong. They don’t.”

  Quinton frowned at that too.

  Dani laughed. “You’re going to have wrinkles before you’re forty if you keep that up,” she teased.

  “Like that’s really high on my worry list.”

  “No, probably isn’t, and that’s a good thing,” she noted. “We all know that these injuries play havoc with our physiological age too. But, more than that, it’s the stress and the emotional trauma. You need to come down to breakfast.”

  Quinton groaned. “Fine, give me five.” She shoved back the covers, as Dani stepped outside and closed the door. Quinton slowly got up, figuring out whether it was worth getting dressed or if she should just put on something easy to wear. As tired as she was, easy was probably the better way to go. But it didn’t really sit well. She managed to compromise with a loose pair of pants and a T-shirt, and, when another knock came at her door, she called out, “Come in,” to see Dani opening the door, standing there, waiting.

  “Do you need help?” Dani asked her.

  “I’m here. I’m ready,” Quinton replied. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”

  Dani shrugged. “In a place like this, we’re always waiting on something,” she noted, with a smile. Once Quinton was settled in her wheelchair, Dani pushed Quinton outside her room. Together they made their way down to the dining room. “How are you feeling this morning?”

  “Like warmed-over death,” Quinton replied bluntly. “Again, I feel like …” And then she stopped.

  “Don’t say that you’re not welcome here,” Dani murmured.

  “It’s not the welcome. It’s goes back to that deserving thing. I spent an hour on the shrink’s couch yesterday,” she shared, “and it wasn’t an easy time.”

  “Never is,” Dani agreed, “but more power to you for actually attending that session.”

  Quinton smiled at that. “He did give me a lot to think about, some stuff I hadn’t really considered.”

  “He’s good at that,” Dani said. “They all are, actually. Even Dennis sometimes has the biggest pearls of wisdom, and I often stare at him because his whole outlook on life is so very unique.”

  “I wondered that too. He hasn’t changed a bit,” Quinton replied, with a smile.

  Dani nodded. “It really is quite funny to realize just how brilliant he still is. I hope he never changes.” She sighed.

  “He’s definitely got some special words to give everyone here,” Quinton noted. “And yet he seems to be totally happy here, huh?”

  “I’ve told him that, if he ever wants to change, to do anything else, to let me know,” Dani added, “but he says nope. He’s totally happy. And you got to love that because happiness isn’t something that comes from outside. It comes from inside.”

  “Exactly, and he knows what he’s supposed to be doing. And I don’t really think he cares to be doing anything else,” Quinton stated, frowning, wishing she had that in her life.

  Dani smiled. “And we are blessed to have him.”

  “You are, indeed,” Quinton murmured. As they made their way to the dining area, she sighed. “I don’t even want to go inside because I’m afraid Stan will be there.”

  “And yet,” Dani said, “you cannot spend your time here hiding away.”

  “Are you sure?” Quinton asked, with a teasing smile. “It would be nice if I could.”

  “Nope, not going to happen.”

  As they walked in, Quinton looked around quickly, but she didn’t see Stan. She felt a sense of relief. “I hate to say it because I really do want to see him, but I guess I want to see him on my terms.”

  “Does that work for you often?” Dani asked curiously.

  Quinton burst out laughing. “Right? It hasn’t yet, so I don’t know why it would now.”

  “Exactly,” Dani agreed. “Maybe you should just forget about it and plan to have a talk with him when you get your head on straight.”

  “That’s the plan.” Quinton shook her head. “Doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll work out so well.”

  “Plans are like that,” Dani declared. “Don’t worry about it. Just one step in front of the other.” By the time they had their trays full of food and made their way out to the deck, Quinton felt a little bit more settled.

  She really had been afraid that she would see Stan when she wasn’t prepared for it, and that just made her feel worse because it wasn’t his fault. None of this was his fault; it was her fault. And the fact of the matter was, she didn’t know why she had said what she’d said, and she didn’t mean it, none of it, and she had to tell him that. “My day is full, so how would I set up to meet him?” Quinton asked Dani.

  “Maybe you should call him, text him, say you’d like to have a few minutes and arrange a time.”

  “I suppose that might work,” she muttered. “Does feel odd.”

  “Anytime you’re in a scenario like this, it feels odd. Doesn’t mean it’s right or wrong. It’s just different.” She smiled.

  “Yeah, you have a pretty interesting take on life too,” Quinton acknowledged. “Not just Dennis, or Shane even, for that matter.”

  “I think life here gives us a unique perspective,” she murmured. “There’s always so much that we can’t change or fix that sometimes you’d like to wring somebody’s neck because they could be doing so much more, but, in their mind, they can’t. And you know there’s no reason why they couldn’t except for those negative thoughts. Yet it’s all stuff that we have to let everybody else figure out on their own,” Dani noted, “just like you and Stan.”

  “Well, if there was a me and Stan,” Quinton admitted, “it would be a lot easier. But having kiboshed that whole deal, I’m feeling completely wrecked about it.”

  “It’s not kiboshed if you don’t want it kiboshed,” Dani stated. “Sure he’s hurting. Anybody who took a direct hit like that would be hurting, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a done deal.”

  Just then another physio came and joined them. Soon a nurse joined them too. And very quickly Quinton was engulfed in the camaraderie that surrounded the place. By the time she was done with breakfast and slowly wheeled her way back to her room on her own, she had decided to take Dani’s advice.

  If nothing else, Quinton could text Stan and ask for a chance to talk. When she did get back to her room, she was just tired enough that she wanted to lie down. But first she sent a text to Stan, saying she just wanted a chance to talk with him.

  She didn’t get a response right away, but then he was probably in surgery. It was just one of those frustrating delays that now she would continue to check her phone to see if he had contacted her. Not that he would have or should have, just maybe that he could have. And, with that, and feeling a whole lot worse than she’d expected, she laid on the bed and waited for Shane, who was coming to her. When she heard a knock, she called out, “Come in.”

  And, sure enough, it was Shane. He took one look at her and smiled. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “You’re the second one to tell me that this morning.”

  “Good, now believe us, and we’ll all get along well.”

  She chuckled. “I’m working on it.”

  In a very serious tone he stated, “Work faster.” Her eyebrows shot up, but he wasn’t going there. “Let’s go. We’ve got a full day’s work ahead of us. You’re pushing us on time to get you back to work,” he said, “so we have to push you.”

  And what followed was one of the hardest days she’d had since she’d arrived. By the time she finished the session with Shane, she was shaking inside and out.

  He looked at her, nodded, and said, “Now the pool.”

  “And if I can’t even make it there?” she asked, gasping.

  “Oh, you’ll make it there,” he stated, “because I can get you there, but I don’t know about afterward.” He frowned. “You may want to have dinner in your room.”

  “Yeah,” she agreed, feeling the pain coursing through her, as she settled in her wheelchair. “I think you’re right. I think the pool and maybe the hot tub.”

  “This is not necessarily an easy afternoon coming now either. I’ll work you in the pool. There’s no easy in this world. You know that.” He pushed her out of the gym area and toward her room.

  “Will you be deliberately hard on me?”

  “Nope, but, with your work deadlines being an issue, I don’t have time to mollycoddle you. If we’re going to get you back up and functioning at the level that you want to be at,” he stated, “we have work to do. Your body needs some retraining to get it going in the way it needs to be.”

  “Got it,” she said, still feeling the effects of this morning’s workout, but at least Shane had pushed her chair back to her room. “Okay, give me five to get changed.”

  “I’ll meet you down at the pool deck,” he replied, and, with that, he was gone.

  She groaned, as she closed the door to her room. She didn’t have time to even whine about it, but, man, she sure wanted to. Changed, back in her wheelchair, and feeling the exhaustion leech through her soul, she scurried her way down to the pool.

  She passed several people who were friendly but not anyone who she knew. Just a case of sharing space with them until she got where she needed to go. By the time she got there, Shane waited impatiently. She rolled up toward him and said, “I’m here.”

  “Okay, let’s get you in the water.” He helped her into the pool, and she just crashed, feeling the cool waves close over her head. She almost cried out in relief. Just something about having the water back in her world made her feel so much better. With his coaching, she quickly headed off and did a series of laps, and then she did a bunch of stretches and resistance exercises for her struggling muscles.

  Of course they were struggling. She’d forgotten most of these exercises, if she’d ever learned them back then. When she finally caught a breath, she asked, “Did I actually learn any of this stuff back then?”

  “Some of it’s new,” he replied. “I’ve been upping my training a lot myself. So it’s possible a lot of this is new, but it’s very relevant.”

  “I’m not arguing,” she explained, “just trying to figure out how to incorporate some of this into a daily routine.”

  “And that would be something we have to work on too,” he agreed, frowning. “It depends on how many weeks you’re giving me here to get you back up to where you were before,” he noted. “After that, it’s going to have to be stuff you do on your own at home.”

  “You guys should do classes,” she suggested, “for anybody who lives close who can come back and forth.”

  “There’s a lot of things we should do,” he agreed, with a headshake. “Just not enough time or not enough staff or not enough workout rooms.” And, with that, he got her back to work again.

  Stan got Quinton’s text message, and he was surprised. Delighted, worried, but definitely surprised. He kept pondering it throughout the day. He didn’t answer it though. It was really nice to have her close. But, at the same time, it also meant that he hated to come to work now. He didn’t answer her text until later, and then, when he went to hit Send, he muttered, “This is ridiculous. I might as well just go talk to her.”