Chapter 3 #2
“That’s a nice tradition—planning it, I mean, instead of an impromptu ambush,” Teddy said pointedly to his sister, who rolled her eyes. Turning back to Rose, Teddy sipped at his coffee, which was also heaven. “Any reason it’s this weekend?”
“Oh, um….” Rose flashed her eyes guiltily at Finn like she’d said too much, and Finn dropped his gaze to the table.
“No particular reason,” he said—a lie, something personal that he wasn’t ready to share with Teddy yet, which Teddy couldn’t fault him for, but it did leave him wondering.
“In fact, we should get going, but it was nice running into you. I’m sure you have a lot of catching up to do yourselves for brother-sister time.
See you Monday?” He locked eyes with Teddy warmly.
“Right,” Teddy said. “Monday.”
It was only later, after Teddy and Erina were back in the car, that he realized he still hadn’t apologized to Finn for the other day.
Then his sister asked, “So what’s Monday?”
Teddy was excited Erina would be heading back to the city, only for her to announce that since she’d been close to peaking early anyway with her performances and dress rehearsals weren’t until midweek, she wasn’t leaving until Tuesday.
Finn’s “See you Monday?” had led to questions, which meant Erina now knew he was Teddy’s physical therapist and would not leave it alone. Luckily, he’d avoided having her discover that Finn was also his neighbor.
So far.
That didn’t prevent her from offering to bring him to physical therapy, something he agreed to only because she’d be driving again and could get him coffee. The request for caffeine ensured she’d drop him off and leave, meeting him there again afterward. He did not need her coming inside.
After hurrying into the health center before she could change her mind, Teddy checked in with Betsy to make sure Finn was ready for him, then headed directly for the workout room without waiting to be called.
“About last time,” he began without so much as a hello.
“It’s fine,” Finn said, startled initially but then motioning for Teddy to lie on the mat.
“It’s not fine.” Teddy held fast. “I was an asshole, like you said. I did warn you.”
“You did. But I don’t think you’re an asshole. I think you’re frustrated and a little bit of a perfectionist about yourself. Which is probably why you were always hard on your students. Because they were a reflection of you, and if they weren’t performing at their best, why bother?”
“Something like that.” Teddy continued to be amazed by Finn’s insight, even if he wasn’t quite up for adding that a childhood full of not being good enough for his father may have also contributed to his perfectionist outlook. “Still, I’m sorry I snapped.”
“Thank you. Now, have you been keeping up with your exercises with Erina around? Hopefully not pushing too much?”
“With her nagging added to yours, I promise, I’ve been a model patient.” Teddy really had been, following every alert on his phone to tend to his routine.
“Then prove it,” Finn said in good humor.
He looked tired, Teddy thought, maybe from whatever brother-sister bonding he and Rose had gotten up to, but while Teddy was still curious about that, he wasn’t about to push.
Teddy was sore, but nothing like a few days ago. He was able to perform most of his exercises without trouble, though he did have to end a few intervals early on some.
When they were nearing the end of their session, another therapist, the redhead Teddy had seen before, brought a patient into the room who waved at Finn with an irritated sort of flap.
She was young, preteen maybe, on crutches with a magenta-colored prosthetic attached to her left leg.
Judging by the way she hobbled, it must have been new.
“We went overtime a little,” Finn said. “Is it okay to skip the exam room again? You’re doing great. She’s my next patient.”
“Sure. No problem.”
The therapist left the girl at the walking station. She let her crutches fall to the side and hung on to the bars, but walking without them was an obvious chore for her.
“Really tragic. Car accident, no one’s fault, just one of those things.
Her parents are fine, but her leg got trapped, too mangled, got infected later, and had to be removed below the knee.
Kids are remarkably resilient, but even they take time to get to the point of being able to cope, be brave, move forward. She isn’t there yet.”
The somber tone Finn had taken on dug deep right to Teddy’s core, and he had to wonder when he looked at Finn and found dampness in his eyes if it was more than just empathy speaking.
To cut the tension, Teddy had to comment, “Did you just violate HIPAA?”
That snapped Finn’s attention back to him with a crack of a smile. “Oops.” He shrugged.
Teddy would have believed that, but then Finn gave him a swift “See you next session,” and walked over to the girl, only to say he needed to grab something from the other room and leave them alone.
Maybe Finn needed a moment to collect himself, maybe he’d left them alone on purpose, maybe both, but regardless, Finn’s words from before flitted through Teddy’s mind.
Somewhere along the line, everyone needs to save themselves, but we can do better by lending a hand or an ear even when it’s not asked for.
Stretching in the aftermath of his exercises, Teddy moved across the workout room, nearing the walking station and catching the eye of the girl, who seemed to take notice of his mild limp.
“State of the art, looks like.” He nodded to her magenta leg.
“I hate it,” she said, pausing midway along the bars.
“Chafe?”
“No.”
“That’s good. They’re making them better and better these days. Hurt you some other way?”
“No.”
“Prefer to go without?”
“No.”
Teddy smirked at her short responses. “So, complaining for complaining’s sake?”
“I want my leg back,” she growled, “not some piece of me I take off at night.”
There was bitterness in her words that Teddy knew well, though he understood she had more to be angry about than he did.
“Too bad,” he said anyway. “Doesn’t work like that.
I should know. I can wish all I want that I hadn’t had the surgery that means I’ll never dance the same way again, but nothing changes the truth. ” He tapped his hip lightly.
“You danced?” she asked with interest.
“Most my life.”
“Like The Nutcracker?”
Always either Swan Lake or The Nutcracker. “Yes, actually. I played the Mouse King once, before I started teaching. I was always a good dancer, but better at creating dances for others.”
“The Mouse King’s the bad guy.” The girl’s eyes lit up, and she leaned closer across the bars.
“I made a good bad guy.” Teddy leaned right back. “You’d make a good Nutcracker, you know.”
“Isn’t he a boy?”
“I prefer hero, and that has never been gender specific. He’s not all flesh and blood either, but that doesn’t stop him.
Heroes are made of more than their parts.
If you’re going to keep complaining and giving Finn a hard time, maybe I’ll steal that leg from under you and save him the trouble.
He already has to put up with me, and I’m no picnic.
He really can’t handle another tough patient. ”
“You won’t steal my leg.” She pulled away from him.
“Well, I don’t move as fast as I used to, but I am still quite the conniving rat.
” Teddy lunged at her, and she laughed, moving so naturally to get away from him that she forgot to think of her new leg as a foreign extension.
It was only halfway down the walking station that she stopped and realized with a wobble how far she’d gone without trouble.
“Better,” Teddy said. “Maybe you’ll go easy on Finn today.”
The girl stared, amazed at herself and at Teddy, just as Finn reentered the room.
“Look at you!” he called. “Not so hard, right? You’ll get it.”
She grabbed on to the bars as if embarrassed, but Teddy felt a flutter of pride like he hadn’t experienced since he taught his last student.
“Till next time.” He nodded at Finn in farewell, then turned back to the girl with a salute. “Miss Nutcracker,” he said and walked away without addressing Finn’s confused look.
All would have been well if that had been the end of it, but when Teddy exited into the waiting room with a small smile on his lips, he lost it upon seeing his sister not in the car but at the front desk chatting up one of the physical therapists.
This one was more on the petite side with beautiful long dark hair and an endearing smile.
He kept tucking his locks behind his ear in an obvious nervous tic at having such a beautiful woman flirt with him.
Erina never stopped to consider how her actions might hurt someone when she wasn’t actually interested.
Then she licked her lips.
She liked him. Wonderful.
“Your brother lives there?” His eyes snapped to Teddy as he walked up to them. “Oh whoa, you… you’re the one Finn Florence Nightingaled last week. I mean—carried inside.”
“He what?” Erina stared wide-eyed.
This was Finn’s friend—that friend, who’d teased him over text when they disappeared inside Teddy’s beach house together.
“Teddy!” The man snapped his fingers in remembrance. “Right? Finn’s neighbor. And patient.” His face scrunched in thought. “Uh, I think there may be a few too many weird violations going on here.”
Betsy, beside him behind the desk, continued flipping through a magazine. “I didn’t hear anything.”
“Neighbors too, huh? Well, if you’re friends with Finn,” Erina said to the young man, “why don’t you join us for dinner tonight? We can make it a double date.”
“Erina,” Teddy warned.
“Just a get-to-know-your-neighbors sort of thing,” she said without looking at Teddy. “We’ll cook. You convince Finn to come along. Say 7:00 p.m.?”
“Uh, sure?”
Peachy.
It wasn’t that Teddy didn’t like the idea of finally giving in to Finn’s advances; he just hadn’t expected to do so with his sister present.