Chapter 8
"Are you mad at me?"
Gabe pulled his gaze away from Sam who shuffled sideways with Luke's help and looked at Paige. "No, why do you ask?"
"You've hardly talked to me since last Wednesday at the pool. I'm sorry if I offended you when I asked—"
"You didn't offend me."
It was easy to overhear others' conversations in the small gym, and Gabe didn't need everyone wondering why Paige asked him if he'd ever cheated on a woman.
He was still trying to figure it out himself, but every time he thought about the events leading up to her questioning, he decided it was best to let it go.
Yes, he'd kept his distance on Friday—and again today—until it was time to help her stretch and massage her. It seemed like the best way to keep his attraction to her in check. It didn’t seem to be working though.
"I'm relieved to hear that. I had no right to question you like that, and I'm sorry for assuming you would ever—"
"So, how does it feel to be able to bear full weight on your left leg?"
His phone vibrated on his small desk by his computer for the second time as he changed the subject. Whoever it was would have to wait, because he didn’t answer personal calls and texts while he worked with patients.
"It feels good,” Paige said. "I've been waiting for this day forever, but I'm leery of ditching the crutches altogether. I still feel unstable sometimes."
"Understandable. It might help you adjust if you use only one. Like this…" He grabbed one of her crutches from where they leaned against the wall and demonstrated. "It will give you support until you learn to trust yourself again."
"Learn to trust myself." Paige made a scoffing sound then gave a small grin. "Do they make crutches for life?"
He replaced the crutch and resumed rubbing her shoulder. "They're called therapists."
"Well, aren't you cocky." She quirked an eyebrow at him.
"I don't mean physical therapists." He smirked back at her. "I mean psychologists."
"Are you saying I need mental help?"
Gabe feared he’d offended her until he spotted the teasing gleam in her eyes. "I'm not saying anything. You're the one who admitted to having trust and judgment issues.”
"I did, didn't I?" Paige grimaced.
“Aren’t you seeing Dr. Emily Anderson…uh Winters?" Gabe had learned that despite the door plate saying Dr. Anderson, the psychologist went by her married name of Winters in her personal life.
"After Emily realized I wasn’t suicidal, she told me her door was always open if I wanted to talk, but I haven’t taken her up on it.” She shrugged. “I’m not sure why, other than…I don’t want to talk about what really happened with Phillip.”
Gabe didn’t blame her. However, he was curious how she’d found out the truth about her ex. Was it a humiliating, public scene? Had she overlooked the same red flags he did with Harper? He bit his tongue. Such a conversation was too personal for the physical therapy office.
“I’m not sure you need to talk to a licensed professional, but it might be good to talk to someone you trust and feel comfortable with. A friend or parent perhaps.”
He considered her father’s efforts to set up this office and her mother's hovering. Paige might find their concern overbearing. Even though he was close to his mom, he wouldn't blame Paige if she didn't want to go to her parents with her problems.
A thoughtful look filled her face as she nodded. "I suppose the important thing is to talk to someone, even if it’s not Emily."
Gabe clamped his jaw shut to keep from volunteering to be that someone. There was so much he wanted to know about Paige, but he was having a hard enough time remaining professional as it was. Being her confidant would only make it harder.
"I’ll have to see if my cousin is busy this weekend.” The grin that filled Paige's face made her look radiant. It was the kind of smile that lit up the room.
To distract himself from her hundred-watt smile, Gabe turned his attention back to Sam, who now did a seated march. His phone vibrated on the desk again as he finished up with Paige. Longer this time, signifying a call. Someone sure wanted to get a hold of him.
As curious as he was about the call and texts, he resisted the urge to check his phone until Paige was gone, and he’d finished working with Sam. It buzzed with yet another text before the office was empty and Gabe was able to check his messages.
All the texts were from Grace.
Call me ASAP.
You need to come home tonight.
Seriously, Gabe, answer your phone.
Gabe's gut twisted with the urgency of each message. Something was wrong. Grace was rarely this impatient and prone to melodrama. He was about to hit the phone icon to call his sister when he noticed a voicemail, also from Grace.
With tightness gripping his chest, he tapped the voicemail and raised the phone to his ear.
"Darn it, Gabe. Pick up your phone. Mom got her test results back—" Grace's voice broke. "And they aren't good."
Gabe's stomach plummeted. His already tight chest hardened to stone, trapping the air in his lungs. The results must be really bad to make Grace cry like that.
"Luke, cancel my afternoon appointments." Thank goodness there were only three. Gabe was halfway out the door before Luke called his name.
"Gabe, wait! What's going on?"
He turned to find Luke on his feet; his face filled with concern and confusion.
"I have a family emergency. Clean up and lock up please.
" He wished he could give Luke more information, but he couldn't. Even if he had more information, he wasn't sure he'd be able to articulate words around the lump forming in his throat.
That's why he waited until he was in the privacy of his car to call Grace.
Paige walked out of the dressing room on Wednesday with the aid of a single crutch, like Gabe had shown her, and stopped short. Her stomach sank as disappointment swamped her.
Gabe wasn't waiting for her near the pool. Instead, she found a large, barrel-chested, dark-haired man with bronzed skin, who looked to be in his late thirties.
"Hi, you must be Paige." He held out a massive hand that engulfed hers. His gaze raked over her before his lips turned up in a smile that looked both appreciative and predatory.
A shudder of revulsion rippled through her, causing her skin to break out in goosebumps. "Yes, and you are…?"
"I'm Kelekolio Tuatagaloa, but everyone calls me Toa. Gabe couldn't make it today, so he asked me to fill in."
Couldn't make it? Or didn't want to?
He said he wasn't offended when she questioned his fidelity last week, but maybe he'd decided she was out of line with her questioning. Or maybe he realized she’d been ready to kiss him and decided it was safer not to be alone with her.
"Gabe told me a little about your accident and your subsequent surgeries." Toa’s thick eyebrows dipped as he grimaced. "Sounds like you've had a tough recovery. He said you only started bearing full weight this week."
He didn’t phrase it as a question, but Paige nodded anyway as she lifted her crutch. "Yes, but I still feel a little unsteady sometimes, so I'm weaning myself off the crutches one at a time."
"How's your balance in the water?" He stepped to the stairs and motioned for her to precede him into the pool.
Paige couldn't help comparing Toa's lack of concern for her well-being with the way Gabe always preceded her into the water so he could catch her if she slipped.
"It's been a little rocky." She laid her crutch on the cement and used the handrail to steady herself as she stepped into the pool. "But I'm improving with each session."
As the chilly water enveloped her body, she prayed she didn't get a cramp in her hamstring again. Toa was certainly strong enough to catch her and support her until it subsided but talk about awkward.
Her mind jumped to last week's Charlie horse. The way Gabe held her secure in his arms while he rubbed out her hamstring hadn't felt uncomfortable at all. It felt amazing and somehow right, even though it should have been wrong.
Funny how a little over two weeks ago, Gabe's one-on-one attention made her self-conscious, but now she missed it. From day one, she'd felt comfortable and safe with him.
"Let's warm-up with a high knees jog in place, then we'll stretch before we start your exercises." Toa started pumping his legs up and down.
Gabe never started with a jog. His warm-ups were more gradual and catered to her limited abilities.
As she started to jog, Paige immediately felt the pinch in her low back and hip. It took every ounce of her concentration to stay on her feet while jogging, especially with Toa's bulk creating extra movement in the water.
Gabe should have canceled this morning's session. Or at the very least, give me a heads up.
The pang of disappointment tightened her chest. Where was he anyway? Had he taken the whole day off? Or was he just avoiding her?
She was breathless by the time Toa stopped jogging and shifted to underwater jumping jacks.
Paige only moved half the speed he did and was careful not to lift her right arm too high, but their up-and-down motion rocked the water so much it knocked her off her feet.
She caught herself easily enough, but a sense of panic consumed her for a moment before she was stable again.
"I can't keep my balance when the water is so active," she gasped out after righting herself.
Toa stopped bouncing. "Gabe mentioned that, but I figured we'd give it a try anyway."
She glared at him. "Give it a try? You realize I have two metal plates holding my pelvis together, a rod in my femur, and screws and pins in my shoulder.
After nearly dying and spending two and a half months in a rehabilitation center, I'm not interested in trying things that might cause a setback. "
“Okay." Toa gave an exasperated sigh as he raised his hands in surrender. "Let's go ahead and stretch."
Paige bit her tongue to keep from telling Toa he was doing it wrong every time he asked her to stretch beyond her limits. She silently cursed Gabe for putting her in this position.
Is a simple call or text too much to ask for?
Her heart rate spiked as her disappointment turned to anger.
How many times had she asked herself that exact question while she dated Phillip.
He treated her like a queen when he was with her, but he’d always been slow to return her calls and texts.
And he’d canceled their plans more time than she could count when work interfered.
Except it wasn’t work.
It wasn't fair to compare Gabe to Phillip, but she couldn't help it.
She wasn't in a relationship with her therapist, but she felt let down just the same.
Despite the conversations they'd had and the things she'd learned about him and his family, there was a lot about Dr. Gabriel Rivera she didn't know.
Add his lack of communication about being gone today, and it felt like he was hiding something.
"Gabe is one lucky duck." Toa said as they transitioned into his version of her exercises.
"How so?"
"He gets all the breaks." He raised a hand. "Don't get me wrong, he's a good therapist. One of the best at Summit in fact, but getting this gig in Providence…" He whistled. "The commute's not great, but I'd give my right arm for a sweet gig like this."
Toa's actions slowed when he talked, so Paige was determined to keep him talking. "What makes this gig so sweet?"
"Are you kidding me?" He gave her an incredulous look. "He's got his own office already. Only two years after finishing PT school. And he only sees six to eight patients a day?" He motioned to her with both hands. "Plus, he gets to work one on one with sexy women like you."
Paige's skin crawled, and once again she hated Gabe for standing her up.
"Do you work in the same office as Gabe in Pasco?"
"Only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He works the early shift, and I work the late one, but our afternoons overlap. I also work in the Richland office on Mondays and Fridays."
That explains why he's able to be here in Providence on a Wednesday.
"Gabe and I went to PT school together." His voice grew critical as he continued. "Talk about an over-achiever. He always got near perfect scores and raised the curve for all of us. He made those grueling three years look easy, but some of us actually had a social life."
Paige assumed Gabe was either very intelligent or hard-working. Knowing how good he was at his job and that he spent his weekends helping his mom and sister, she had a feeling he was both.
Toa continued to talk as they worked their way through her exercises, frequently speaking negatively about Gabe and other therapists in the offices where he worked and always painting himself as either a victim or a hero.
Recognizing him for the narcissist he was, Paige did her best to tune him out.
Her irritation with the substitute physical therapist grew each time he tried to change her exercises to a more "challenging version that would make her stronger."
She didn’t hesitate to give him a piece of her mind when the new exercises hurt her. Finally, deciding she'd had enough, she told Toa she needed to use the restroom.
Just before stepping into the dressing room, she looked at the clock then at Toa. "Lap swim will be starting soon, so I won't bother coming back out. And I have a dentist appointment, so I don't have time for you to work on me."
It was a lie, but she was glad she’d fibbed when a look of disappointment crossed his face.
And boy, was she going to give Gabe a piece of her mind on Friday.