Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Noelle took a long, leisurely sip of her coffee as she looked over her PT schedule. She was sitting at her desk, blinking complacently, until she noticed an appointment on her schedule for the day that hadn’t been there earlier in the week.
“Dean!” she mouthed, feeling suddenly excited.
She told herself that her excitement was due to the fact that she was glad that he was taking his physical therapy work so seriously. He’d been scheduling extra appointments lately, and she was always glad to work with him. She thought the world of him and she wanted to see him improving in his symptoms.
She did busy work in her office for a little while longer, and then it was time for Dean’s appointment. She sat at her desk, glancing expectantly at her door every few moments as she tried to work on going through her emails.
Then all at once there was a soft knock on her office door.
“Come on in!”
Dean pushed open the door to her office, smiling. Noelle grinned when she saw him, and then she noticed that he had something in his hands. It was a beautiful bouquet of pink carnations.
“Hey, Dean! Good to see you.”
“Hey.” He walked up to her desk and handed her the bouquet. “These are for you.”
“I—why—they’re beautiful,” she stammered, feeling as though she might be blushing. “How did you know I love carnations?”
“Well, when we were in the general store during our Rosewood Beach tour, you were admiring the bouquets of carnations. And as far as pink goes, that was a lucky guess.” He chuckled.
She took a deep breath of the bouquet, enjoying the way the smooth, delicate flower petals felt against her nose. The bouquet made her happy in a way she wasn’t used to feeling—she felt almost lightheaded, and although she felt special, she also suddenly felt self-conscious.
“These are very beautiful. I hardly know what to say. What’s the occasion?”
“Just a thank you for being such a great physical therapist. I really feel as though my symptoms are improving, and I’m grateful.”
“I’m so happy to hear that.”
For a moment, they stood there smiling at each other, neither of them seeming to know what to say.
“Thank you. I know just where I want to put these in my apartment. There’s a spot on my kitchen counter that catches the light beautifully. I’ve got a blue glass vase I can put these in.”
“Sounds lovely.”
“And thank you again for showing me around town. I feel like I know Rosewood Beach so much better than I did before.”
“I had a great time, truly. It was a really fun day.”
“I’m glad. Speaking of which…” Her posture straightened and her manner became more brisk as she switched over into work mode. “That brings me to the first item on our agenda for today. I want to ask you about how your symptoms have been improving and about your progress with at-home exercises. How was your fatigue after our very long hike around town?”
“Not too bad. I slept soundly that night, let me tell you.” He laughed. “But overall, I didn’t feel particularly tired the next day. I felt a little more achy than usual, but it was like I was tired and had more energy at the same time.”
She nodded. “Yes! The difference between just feeling tired and fatigue caused by factors other than physical exertion. I’m so glad to hear that. How have your at-home exercises been going?”
“Good. Really good. I’ve missed them here and there, but for the most part I’m making sure to get them done. They really seem to be helping.”
“Amazing.” Noelle smiled as she jotted down notes. “Tell me more about that.”
As Dean told her more details about his exercising and the symptom relief that was resulting from it, it became clear to her that he had made significant progress since his first session.
“That’s wonderful,” she said, clasping her hands enthusiastically. “Look at this chart here. Based on what you’ve told me, your symptom improvement is correlated to your participating in the exercises in this way. Does that look right to you?”
She turned the screen of her computer toward him, showing him the chart she’d made. It showed in clear details the improvement that Dean’s symptoms had made.
“Yes.” He grinned, his eyes lighting up. “That does look right. It’s really exciting to see it in a clear picture like that.”
“It really is exciting.”
For a moment, their eyes met, and she could feel the shared excitement arcing between them like an electric current. In that moment, Noelle realized that she shared a connection with him like she’d never shared with anyone before. And she knew that she was attracted to him. Her heart began to beat wildly in her chest and her smile faded, but she couldn’t look away.
Dean held her gaze as well, also looking suddenly starstruck. For a few wild moments, she felt as though she couldn’t breathe, and then she forced herself to snap out of it.
This is a professional setting, Noelle, she reminded herself. You need to keep romance out of your office.
“But of course it’s important that you keep up the good work,” she said, tearing her eyes away from Dean and smiling briskly. She took a deep breath, willing her heart rate to go down. “You seem to be well on your way to making these at-home exercises a regular habit. That’s the best thing you can do for yourself—put in the work, and put it in enough that it becomes part of your regular routine. Then you’re less likely to miss the exercises.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Dean nod. “Makes sense.” He seemed to still be smiling, but she didn’t look directly at him. She suddenly felt extremely shy.
“Do you usually do your exercises at a specific time of day? Or rather, at a specific point in your regular routine, such as before you brush your teeth before bed? That’s the best way to solidify a habit.”
“No, I haven’t been. That’s a good idea.”
She turned her gaze back to him with a smile, and was relieved to find that she could look at him without feeling as though she was turning three different shades of red. He made her feel comfortable in a way that quickly put her at ease, despite her jitters from realizing that she was attracted to him.
They continued with his physical therapy appointment, neither of them making any kind of a comment on the moment that they’d shared.
Hazel watched her family members walking ahead of her on the sidewalk and her heart stirred with happiness. It was a brisk, sunny autumn day with a pale blue sky. She felt alert and alive and full of energy, and happy to be spending time with all of the women in the Owens family—but at the same time, her heart kept twisting with twinges of worry.
Hazel, Vivian, Julia, Alexis, and Samantha were out shopping for a dress for Samantha to wear to the dance. Samantha seemed absolutely giddy with excitement, and her aunts and grandmother were being supportive and cheerful, making sure the pre-teen felt special as they wandered from store to store.
Hazel wished that she was as carefree as everyone else seemed to be feeling. She was enjoying herself, that was without question, but she kept thinking about the boy that Samantha had confessed to having a crush on. She worried that Samantha would get hurt if he didn’t ask her to the dance, and she worried that if he did ask her, he would end up treating her badly and she would get hurt anyway.
“Let’s go in here!” Alexis said eagerly, stopping in front of a little antique store. “They have all kinds of vintage dresses in here. I remember some of them being really beautiful. And I bet a lot of them will have the kind of full skirts that you’re looking for.”
“Sounds great to me!” Samantha grinned eagerly. “I love old stuff.”
They pushed open the door of the little shop, which jangled pleasantly. The antique store was clean and cozy and offered a beautiful display of whimsical and charming old objects.
“The clothing section is in the back of the store,” Alexis said, leading them toward a doorway at the back of the room. “Follow me.”
“I just know this is going to make me feel old,” Vivian said, laughing. “I’m sure they’ll have the kind of stuff I wore as a teenager on these racks. I guess that makes me an antique.”
“Never,” Julia said, laughing and kissing her mother’s cheek. “Things only become antiques when they stop being the current fashion. You’re always in fashion.”
Vivian chuckled, looking happy. “Oh, tut.”
“Gosh, this place is amazing!” Samantha scampered ahead, gazing up in delight at the two tiers of clothing racks. “I bet most of it won’t fit me, but there’s so much pretty stuff here.”
“It might.” Alexis grinned at her. “You’re pretty tall for your age, and they made plenty of petite dresses back in the day. Let’s see what we can find.”
For a while, they all split up, going through the dresses one by one and cooing in delight over all the beautiful ones they found. Most of them looked too big for Samantha, but then Julia found a beautiful yellow satin dress that looked as though it might have been from the nineteen sixties.
“It doesn’t quite fit with your Glinda theme, but it’s so cute,” Julia said, holding up the dress eagerly. “You want to try this one on?”
“I’d love to.” Samantha looked at the dress as though it was made out of pure gold. Hazel felt an ache of nostalgic happiness in her heart, knowing that Samantha was about to experience so many of the joys of growing up.
They found the small changing room and Samantha went inside to put the dress on.
“Be sure to come out and show us,” Vivian urged. “Even if you don’t choose this one, I want a picture of you in it.”
“I do too,” Hazel said.
A moment later, Samantha stepped out of the changing room, wearing the yellow satin dress and practically glowing. She gave a twirl as her mom, grandmother, and aunts applauded.
“Here,” Alexis said, handing her a pale blue dress with a tulle skirt. “Try this one on.”
Samantha continued to try on dresses, even a few that were definitely not her size, just for fun. Hazel couldn’t stop thinking about her daughter wearing one of the beautiful dresses to the dance, accompanied by the boy she had a crush on. Samantha looked so beautiful. She was sure to have many young men interested in her as she grew up, and Hazel didn’t know how she was ever going to trust any boy or young man with her sweet girl.
Finally, she felt so overwhelmed she knew she was beginning to look as concerned as she felt. She didn’t want to ruin everyone else’s happy time together, and she decided to make an excuse so that she could slip away to have a moment to herself.
“I’m going to see if they have any cute shoes here,” she said. “We’ll need some good, comfortable shoes to go with the dress.”
It was a flimsy excuse, since an antique store was not a good place to find shoes unless one was looking for some kind of novelty high heel, but she slipped quickly away before anyone could question her statement.
She turned a corner, looking for the shoes display she’d seen earlier. She took a deep breath, hoping her nerves would steady themselves. She felt jittery and almost close to tears. She loved seeing Samantha grow up, but it was also difficult for her because it made her think of all the different ways her daughter might get hurt.
She faced the charming rack of antique shoes, looking at it without really noticing what was in front of her. Her mind was spinning and she didn’t know what to tell herself. She knew that pain was a natural part of life and that she couldn’t protect Samantha from everything, but she still felt as though she wanted to make sure that nothing bad ever happened to her daughter.
“These are cute.”
Hazel almost jumped as she realized that Julia had stepped up beside her. She turned to her sister with surprise, and saw that Julia was smiling at her sympathetically.
“Everything all right?” Julia asked gently. “You seem a little upset.”
“I—I’m okay.”
Julia shook her head. “Come on, Hazel, you can tell me. You were frowning back there whenever Samantha was in the changing room, and you looked like your smiles were kind of forced whenever she came out. And now you’re off by yourself. Is something bothering you?”
Hazel sighed, grateful that her sister was so insightful. “You’re right. Something is bothering me. I keep telling myself to let it go and just not think about it, but it seems I’m not really capable of doing that.”
“What is it?” Julia asked gently, placing a sympathetic hand on Hazel’s arm.
“It’s this dance, I guess.” Hazel took a deep breath and let out a long exhale. “She said that she’s hoping—well, she wants this boy to go with her. And as far as I know, he hasn’t asked her yet, and I’m worried she’s going to get her hopes up and get hurt. Or what if he does ask her to the dance, but then he does something that hurts her later? I guess—it’s just hard for me to see her growing up like this. I didn’t realize we’d reached this stage yet, you know? The liking boys stage. I thought I had a little while longer before I would have to guide her through this.”
Julia nodded. “But you’re going to be so great at guiding her through this, I know you are.”
Hazel found herself tearing up a little when she heard her sister’s confident words. “Thank you for saying that. I know I’m going to do my best, but there are so many things to think about—I guess it all kind of came crashing down on me at once. I think I’ve been avoiding thinking about it. I’ve been wanting her to stay my little girl forever.”
“Oh, I think she’ll always be your little girl.” Julia smiled as she wrapped an arm around Hazel. “I think we’re all still Mom’s little girls, and we will be no matter how old we get. But I know what you mean.”
Hazel nodded, feeling comforted by Julia’s encouragement. “Thank you.” She laughed breathlessly. “How did you get to be so wise?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say I’m wise.” Julia shook her head. “I’ve just been thinking about parenting a lot lately.”
“Yeah? How come?”
“Well, I’ve been wanting to take more care of Macey—you know, take care of her on my own sometimes or do things like make her special snacks. Cooper is always grateful when I offer, but he’s been having a hard time letting go of how he’s always raised Macey and accepting my help. We finally had a good conversation about it, and I think he’s reached a place where he’s going to trust me more.”
“That’s great.” Hazel smiled at her sister, glad she was sharing her heart with her. It made her feel less alone in her parenting struggles. “I’m sure he’s going to continue to trust you more and more. You’re a responsible, caring person, and I know you really love Macey. And I know that he really knows it too.”
“Thank you.” Julia gave her sister a hug. “But I guess my point is that even though I don’t have a child of my own, that experience gave me insight into all of the hard things that parents have to do. I know how carefully Cooper takes care of Macey, and I know it’s because he loves her so much. But at some point, he’s got to learn to trust, you know? Trust me, and trust that everything will be okay if things start to be different. When Macey starts getting older, that’s going to become even more true as she starts to want to make her own decisions. And I think the same applies here. You just need to trust. You raised Samantha to be a responsible, confident young woman and all you can do now is trust that she’s learned her lessons well. You know?”
Hazel nodded, feeling a surge of relief. “You’re right.” She heaved a sigh. “It isn’t fair to not trust my daughter. It’s not like I’m the only one who can protect her, she can also protect herself. At least to an extent.”
“That’s the spirit.” Julia nodded. “And you can always talk with her about these things before she has to face them, you know? Remind her that she needs to be careful with her heart.”
“Good point.” Hazel smiled, feeling better already.
“Besides,” Julia added with a smirk, “you still have a few more years of having Samantha almost totally under your care. And then she gets to get her driver’s license in three years. Won’t that be fun?”
Hazel groaned at the thought, which made both sisters erupt into laughter.
“It’ll be fine,” Julia assured her, chuckling. “Again, she’s a smart young woman. She can handle herself. And that’s one of the most important parts of growing up—learning that we can make good decisions. But you’ve got to let her make those decisions in order for her to learn that, you know? Remember how Mom and Dad let us do things? They gave us good advice and they raised us well, but then they gave us a reasonable amount of freedom. That made us all grow up into the truly remarkable adults that we are.”
She waved a hand to gesture between the two of them, and Hazel laughed.
“You’re right. Thank you, Julia. Thanks for the advice, and also for noticing that I was worried and coming to find me. I appreciate you.”
“Of course.” Julia gave Hazel another hug, rocking her back and forth a little. “You can always come to me or Alexis or Mom when you’re feeling worried. You don’t have to face your fears all by yourself.”
“That’s a good reminder, thank you. It’s like I know that, but sometimes I get so caught up in my own head that I don’t think to reach out to you guys. And in this case, I guess I feel kind of silly to be worrying so much about this.”
Julia shook her head. “It’s not silly. You care about your daughter. We can all relate to feeling worried about someone we love. But just you remember that she’s going to be more than fine.”
Julia wrapped her arm around Hazel’s shoulders and together they walked back to their group. Samantha was just stepping out of the changing room, wearing a darling pale pink dress with a full skirt, and tears sprang into Hazel’s eyes.
“You look amazing, honey,” she said, hugging her daughter.
“Aw, thanks.” Samantha spun around. “I think this might be it. I would love to dance in this dress.”
“I can imagine! And it looks like something Glinda might wear,” Vivian said, beaming at her granddaughter.
Hazel smiled, knowing her daughter was going to have an amazing time at the dance and that she was well-equipped to take care of her own heart.