And then suddenly they were at these huge open doors. “Wow, where is this?”

  “You’re heading into the dining area,” she replied. And she pushed him up to a line of people.

  “A line-up already,” he muttered, shaking his head.

  “A lot of people are here,” she shared, “and mealtimes are not something most people miss out on.”

  “Well, that’s good news,” Wesley noted. “That means the food’s at least worth eating.”

  A huge man at the counter turned his way and replied in a booming voice, “You bet. Everything here is great food.” His face was split into this massive smile, going from ear to ear. “And look. Somebody new.”

  Dani laughed. “Dennis, this is Wesley.”

  So this was Dennis. Wesley stared up at the man that the paramedic had mentioned and nodded. “I’ve actually heard about you.”

  Dennis’s eyebrows shot up. “All good things, I hope.”

  “They were good things,” Wesley admitted. “The paramedic who brought me over had heard about you. Somebody he knew worked here. Or maybe he went through as a patient,” he added, confused for a moment. He shook his head. “I can’t remember, but he mentioned that you were in the kitchen and that really good food was here.”

  Dennis nodded. “And he is correct. We offer wonderful food here.”

  Wesley asked, “What do you have today? I see lots of choices.”

  “We offer foods you would want or need,” he began, before reeling off some, “and, if you need more, you come back for seconds, you hear me?”

  He looked up at him. “Wow.”

  Dennis nodded. “We know perfectly well that you need food to heal, and you need good food. So tell me what it will be for now.”

  “I hate to say it,” Wesley replied, “but I think I want all of it.”

  At that, Dennis’s laughter boomed out loud and clear. “And hearing those words is a good thing,” he noted.

  At that, the woman in front of Wesley turned to smile at him. “Glad to see you have an appetite.”

  And, sure enough, the beautiful redhead from the horseback-riding scene stood before him. Wesley went silent.

  She looked over at Dani and greeted her. “Hey, Dani. How are you this morning?”

  “I’m good. Alba, this is Wesley. He saw us out riding yesterday, when he came in.”

  “Oh, hey, welcome aboard.”

  “Thanks. Half the reason why I was so fascinated,” he replied, “is I haven’t had a chance to ride in quite a few years.”

  Both of them looked at him with interest.

  He shrugged. “I was raised on a farm in Montana. Horseback riding is second nature—or maybe I should say was second nature.”

  “And it will be again,” Alba declared, eyeing him with an interested look. “We have a horseback-riding program here for our patients as well. Just say the word, and we’ll get you all signed up to it.”

  “I would love to get back on a horse,” Wesley admitted. “I don’t know how that would work though.”

  She looked at his injuries and shrugged. “I think it’ll work just fine.”

  He looked back at Dani, and she nodded. “We run a lot of people through that program, and I can tell you that your injuries are comparable with a lot of what we have dealt with,” she shared. “Obviously we’ll rope Shane in as part of this discussion, so he can work on ensuring that you have developed the right muscles and strengthened up those muscles to handle the ride.”

  Wesley nodded. “That sounds good.”

  And then Dennis placed a full tray of food across his lap.

  Wesley stared down at the food. “Oh my God, I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

  Dennis looked at him. “Were you shorted on food before?”

  “I was given a serving, but it sure didn’t look like this.”

  Dennis once again gave him a fat smile and nodded. “Welcome aboard. You’ll do just fine here.”

  *

  Alba laughed at the look of sheer delight on Wesley’s face. “Come on. Let’s get you to a table. We’re all sitting down to have breakfast too.”

  “Does the staff all eat here?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “No, not all the staff even lives here,” she noted, “but, for those of us who do, the food’s a godsend.” And then she patted her flat stomach. “As long as we keep it in control. Dennis is well-known for lots of food, and good food makes you want to just eat and eat. And, if you ever get a chance to ask for one of his ice creams,” she shared, shaking her head, “be aware that what he considers small is monstrous for the rest of us.”

  “I do like ice cream,” Wesley declared, with a happy sigh.

  “I heard that,” Dennis called back.

  Wesley laughed. As he wheeled forward in the line-up, Dani directed him on, while she hung back to get her food. “Keep going straight and come up to the left side,” she explained. “We’re all heading over to that table over there.”

  Wesley just followed orders, only to realize that they included him. That was amazing in itself, but maybe they did this for guys on their first day. But he certainly wouldn’t argue. First days were bad no matter where you were. And, being here, it looked to be not quite as big a challenge as he had thought.

  Dani motioned to the table, as she set down her tray. “Set up your food and get comfortable at the table. I’ll go get some coffee. Do you want one?”

  He looked at her and nodded. “Thank you, I would really appreciate that.”

  His instinct was to rush and get it for himself, but obviously everybody here was used to helping everyone out. Which, given the kind of center it was, maybe that made sense—although the center he had just come from was different. Everybody had been a stickler for making sure the patients were independent and didn’t become too accustomed to getting help. He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing here, but he really appreciated people helping, without having it hammered into his head.

  As he slowly unpacked his tray, he studied the food in front of him—sausages and eggs and ham and bacon and hash browns. And he even had a fried tomato. That made his heart warm. It wasn’t something he got all that often, but he sure loved them.

  Then as he was settled into place, Alba joined him, placing her tray down with about one-third of the food that Wesley had been given. He stared at her. “So how come I look like I’m a pig compared to your plate?” And then he pointed at Dani’s and added, “She’s even eating more than you.”

  “Because I’ll come back for cinnamon buns in a couple hours,” she shared, with an equally fat smile.

  “Just the look on your face says a lot,” Wesley noted. “It’s an odd thing here to have so much help offered, and obviously I’ll adjust. However, in my last center, everybody was a stickler on being independent, and, if you can do it yourself, you shouldn’t accept any help,” he explained, with a wave of his hand. “And yet you guys all seem to be totally okay to help.”

  “Sure,” she agreed. “You have enough tough times ahead of you in physio,” she noted, “and, even today, it could be tough with testing. So we’re not trying to stress you out. Therefore, if we can help, it’s good for us to remember to offer,” she shared, with a smile. “It would be nice if more people helped. After all, you are here for rehab, and it’s a strenuous program. You’ll be home soon enough and on your own, where you have to do everything. So I understand the need to foster independence,” she admitted, “but there’s also a time when it’s just offered to be nice, to make someone else’s day a little better.”

  He nodded. “And I appreciate that,” he murmured. “Thank you.”

  She laughed. “You’re more than welcome. You’ll find most of us here are friendly.”

  “Oh, I’m certainly seeing that,” Wesley replied, with a smile. “And that’s really good to see.”

  She looked over at him. “Sounds as if you’ve had a hard time at the other place.”

  “I didn’t realize I had, at the time,” he shared. “Yet you never really know sometimes, not unless you get to compare it to another way.”

  “That’s true,” she agreed. “Sometimes what you think works doesn’t necessarily work. You had just hoped that it did.”

  He looked at her and then nodded slowly. “I think that is very true. And just because you hoped it worked doesn’t mean you can make a square peg fit into a round hole.”

  “Exactly,” she murmured. She watched him, seeing that he was still hesitating before starting in on his food. “Go ahead and eat,” she urged.

  “I was thinking I should wait for Dani. She’s been nice enough to come and find me and to ensure I came here and got food, so I feel bad to not wait for her.”

  “Go for it,” Alba insisted, as she picked up her fork. “Around here, waiting is not really an option. Most of us are on schedules of one kind or another, as you’ll soon find out when your own fills up,” she explained, “so Dani would certainly understand.”

  He hesitated and realized that Alba was eating and nodded. “Okay, but I’ll just go on record here and say that I tried.”

  “You tried what?” Dani asked, as she appeared suddenly, setting down coffee cups for them all.

  “I tried to wait for you,” he murmured, “but Alba here is insistent that I don’t need to wait.”

  “Oh my, you definitely do not need to wait.”

  “See? I told you,” Alba noted, with a laugh.

  He just grinned and shook his head. “That’s fine. I just didn’t want Dani to think I was being rude.”

  “And I wouldn’t think that anyway,” Dani murmured, still standing. “You eat, as you’ll have a day of testing and all kinds of fun stuff, so go ahead and get started.”

  “Won’t you join us?” he asked, pointing at her plate, sitting there and waiting.

  “Oh, I’m coming back,” she replied, with a laugh. “I just have more pieces to collect.”

  He watched her as she headed back over again. He looked over at Alba.

  Alba nodded. “She’s probably just getting water now.”

  “You mentioned something about cinnamon buns earlier.”

  At that, Alba looked back at Dani and then stood up to peer toward the kitchen area. “If she’s getting cinnamon buns, you should pay attention because she has, I swear, a direct line to them.”

  “Well, if she runs this place,” Wesley pointed out, with a laugh, “she probably does.”

  “Agreed, and with good reason. She works harder than any of us. She’s done so much for everyone here.”

  “I have heard various tidbits about her, but she’s not what I expected.”

  At that, Alba raised her eyebrows.

  “Well, she’s like thirty years younger than what I thought,” he admitted, with a smile. “And she’s way prettier.”

  At that, Alba laughed out loud. “She is taken too.”

  “Of course she is,” he muttered, with an eye roll. “All the good ones are.”

  “Oh no, no, no, no,” Alba countered, with a laugh. “I’m not taken, and I refuse to think that I’m not one of the good ones.”

  He flushed at that. “Sorry, I guess that didn’t come across all that nice, did it?”

  “That’s okay. You’re forgiven,” she replied. “Just remember that we’re not all taken. And I’m still a nice person.”

  He chuckled. “And you’re beautiful, so I’m not sure what’s wrong with the men in this place that you’re not taken.”

  “When I got here, it wasn’t a priority. I was trying to fit in, to settle in, and to find a clear path in my field to help everybody here,” she shared, with a smile. “And, since then, I just haven’t met anybody.”

  “I still think the men here are missing out on something major,” he declared, staring at her. “Seems to me you’ve got your life together.”

  “But what do you know?” she teased. “You just got here. It could all be an act.”

  “Absolutely,” he agreed, “but being the new guy also means that I can see what other people aren’t seeing,” he pointed out. “And obviously the men around here are blind.”

  She flushed with pleasure and then laughed out loud. “I’ll have to watch out for that smooth tongue of yours,” she said, still chuckling.

  At that moment Dani returned but without a cinnamon bun.

  Alba eyed her friend suspiciously and said, “If you get a line on those cinnamon buns today …”

  “Yep, yep, yep, I know,” Dani replied, “you want one.”

  “Yeah, I definitely want one.”

  “So do I,” Wesley chimed in. “I’m not sure what I’m missing out on, but I’m really not into missing out on very much.”

  At that, Dani chuckled. “Maybe you don’t like cinnamon buns.”

  He frowned at her. “Is that even a possibility?” he asked. “Doesn’t everyone love cinnamon buns?”

  “Lots of people don’t love them,” she stated firmly. “However, I do. And don’t worry. They’re coming out in a couple hours.”

  “So today will be cinnamon bun day,” Alba noted, rubbing her hands together. Then she laughed with joy. “So today will be a good day after all.”

  Chapter 2

  Not only was it a good day, but Alba got a cinnamon bun herself, before they were all gone. However, it did take Dani’s reminder for Alba to get up away from her desk and to follow her friend to the kitchen. “I don’t understand why we can’t just get Dennis to set them off to the side for us,” she complained good-naturedly.

  “Could be because Dennis is a little on the busy side,” he stated, hearing her words.

  She laughed. “Right? And, if you were on cinnamon bun duty, you would have to make so many because everybody would then want them delivered.”

  “Oh, you’re not kidding,” he muttered. “Can you imagine what my life would be like if I only delivered to some people?”

  She nodded. “You can get away with it for Dani though.”

  “Sure, Dani’s the boss, and she deserves delivery.” He looked at Alba pointedly and said, “Yet you, on the other hand …”

  At that she burst out laughing. “Right, message received,” she replied, still chuckling.

  “You know that you can come get one anytime you want one.”

  “That only works,” she murmured, “if I’m on time for getting them.”

  He nodded. “Good point. … Still, it’s up to you to ensure you’re here before the crowd.”

  She sighed. “Which just means that I get one out of every four times that they come out,” she shared, “because, if anybody is five minutes late, they’re gone.”

  He handed her a plate with a big one on it. “This’ll help make up for some of those other days.”

  She looked down at it in fascination. “I don’t know how you guys make them so good,” she murmured. “I have tried an endless number of times, and I just never quite get that same flavor.”

  “It’s Ilse’s family recipe,” he noted, with a chuckle. “Not sure she’s up for passing it along either.”

  “No, she probably isn’t, and you can’t really blame her,” Dani added. “Some of these recipes, we have been blessed to have here,” she stated, with a smile.

  “If you ever needed to make some money—and Ilse too,” Alba suggested, “convince Ilse to share some of the recipes and publish a cookbook because an awful lot of people absolutely love her food here.”

  “And that’s not a bad idea,” she replied thoughtfully. “Something else to think about down the road. I certainly can’t do anything about it right now.”

  “Of course not,” Alba agreed. “Like the rest of us, we’re all just so busy. And it never gets any easier,” she noted. “Hathaway is a busy place, and it stays busy.”

  “Yeah, it does, even when we think it’ll be an easier day,” Dani said, with a smile.

  “And yet it’s never quite that easy,” Alba pointed out, laughing. Then she asked, “How’s the new guy adjusting?”

  “You can ask him yourself,” Dani stated. “He’s on your roster.”

  “Is he? Interesting.”

  “And is that a note of interest?” Dani asked curiously, looking over at Alba.

  “Hey, he was interesting to get to know at breakfast this morning,” she replied. “He seemed a little flabbergasted at all the food and just the way the place operates.”

  “I’ve heard that a few times. Everybody has their own system and how they make things work,” Dani noted. “So it’s a little frustrating when they come here with such low expectations, expecting poor food, small servings, and to be treated indifferently. Yet they generally adapt very quickly.”

  “Oh, I think he’ll adapt just fine,” Alba declared. “He was working on it pretty fast this morning.”

  “I think he was just working on breakfast this morning, afraid some of it would disappear.”

  “Do you think he really did just get portioned-out food?”

  “Lots of places do it that way,” Dani murmured. “I’ve always held the belief that it was more important for people to enjoy their food and to be happy and that having good food was a good way to make them happy and healthier too,” she explained. “And thankfully, Ilse has always agreed with me.”

  “You’re right,” Alba agreed, “particularly people who have a lot of challenges.”

  “Exactly, but, for a lot of them, they see those challenges as something they’ll have to get over, and they might as well just start now,” she murmured. “And that can make for a few other challenges.”

  *

  Alba walked into work the next morning, she came upon Wesley, as he navigated through the hallway. “Are you lost?” she called out to him.

  He turned and flashed her a shy smile. “Yes,” he admitted, holding up his e-tablet. “I know there’s a map of this place, but honestly it’s a little confusing.”

  She nodded. “The new patient wing has added to the confusion. Where are you heading?”

  He looked down at his device. “To Dr. Fendrick.”

  “You’re in luck. That’s me.”

  He frowned at her. “I guess I didn’t catch your last name yesterday. Sorry.”