Chapter 22
twenty-two
Jeremy
Hey. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“I don’t exactly have a job to go to anymore, so I thought I’d come in and get that application you mentioned.”
“Right.” I cough as I wheel up to meet her at the front desk.
I want to smack myself in the back of the head. What a stupid thing to say. Her brother is also here, so why is it so weird that she is?
No one is at the front desk, which is precisely our current problem. I wheel around the back of the counter and open the filing cabinet to find the application. I wheel back around and see Max standing next to Tristyn.
“Hey, dude. What’s going on?”
“Didn’t realize when we hired a new coach that we also promoted you to front desk secretary.” He chuckles, dropping his bag at his feet.
“Sorry, man. The kids are working on their puck skills with Tucker, and I saw Tristyn up here and thought I’d get her a resume.”
“You want to work here?”
“If you guys will have me.”
“Her brother, Henry, is one of the kids down there right now. I thought it might be the perfect fit for their family.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice.” He snatches the application out of my hands and places it in Tristyn’s. “Just fill this out,” he points at a few spots on the application, “and then this part right here. Let me or Jeremy know when you’re done, and I’ll look over it.”
“That’s it?” She raises an eyebrow.
“Jeremy may or may not have reached out about a friend looking for a job.”
Tristyn’s gaze shifts to me, and I can read all I need to in her eyes. Friend?
Tristyn looks over the application and then pauses, “What’s this?”
“That’s your salary. We don’t do hourly here, which I know a lot of people aren’t fans of, but at least this way, you know going into it that your biweekly paychecks will be consistent.
Our hours are also consistent, so you don’t need to worry about last-minute changes to your schedule.
I’m a dad, so trust me, I know how those changes can cause a disruption in your day-to-day. ”
“Holy shit.” She stares at the paper and then looks up at us. “Oh, fuck, did I say that out loud?”
“Maybe.” I chuckle.
“I know it’s not a whole lot, honestly, if we could offer more, we could, but—”
“No, this is, this is more than I could’ve asked for. This will make a huge difference in my life. Thank you, both, I mean, if I’m to get the job, anyway.”
“Your chances are pretty high,” Jeremy whispers.
“You’ll learn more about the health care and benefits once you get your official employment package.”
“Thank you for telling me about this place. This is a dream come true. Especially, with classes being free for Henry since my family gets class discounts. This is—” She leans forward and hugs me. “Sorry, was that weird? I just, I really appreciate it.”
“Um, we—”
“Can’t wait for you to start.” I cut off Max. There’s a room down the hall that you could fill this out in peace.”
She smiles at me before heading down the hall. Max leans up against the counter and crosses his arms.
“We don’t give free classes to family members of employees.”
“Hmm, interesting.”
“Jeremy.”
“Look, I knew she wouldn’t accept it if I offered to help, but it seems like her family is in a tough spot financially, and a lot of it falls on her,” I argue.
“Henry is talented. Hell, he’s more talented than I was at that age.
I don’t think he should have to stop playing hockey because his family can’t afford it. ”
“What’s your game plan then?”
“I already talked to Jillian about taking the remaining class funds, after his scholarship, out of my paycheck. I’m fortunate to be where I am right now and have the kind of support from my family that I have, so it’s the least I could do.”
“You’re a good kid, Jeremy.” He pats me on the back. “Now get back to work.”
Iguess you’re stuck with me again.” I smile as I meet Lacey at her desk.
“I think you just come up with excuses so you can have me as your therapist.”
“That’s not true.” I place a hand on my chest, pretending to be offended. “Tate is playing at Huntington Bank pavilion tomorrow night, so I would’ve been cutting it close going from the rec center to here, and then getting there before she goes on at seven.”
“But you didn’t want to miss a session this week.”
“I would call that dedication.” I wink. “I finally feel like we’re making progress, and I didn’t want to stop the momentum.”
“Alright, well, if we’re all about momentum, then let’s move to the other side of the facility.” She stands up, holding the clipboard against her abdomen.
“We’re starting with walking?”
My hands start to shake. I’ve been able to do a lot more exercises on my own since I started getting feeling back in my legs and feet, but every time I get to what the facility calls the walking corner, I tense up. Luckily, we usually end our sessions there, so I come up with excuses to avoid it.
Not today.
“Should we warm up first?”
“We will. There’s no reason we can’t do that over there.”
I follow Lacey through the machines. There aren’t a whole lot of people here today. Usually, I’m here on Thursdays after I get out of the rec center, but today I had to miss work at the rec center to get my PT in. Not a whole lot of people come here at noon on Wednesdays. Good to know.
“There’s no reason to be nervous. It’s just us. We won’t overdo it; we’ll take it step by step. Literally.”
“I’m not nervous.”
I’m terrified.
There’s this part of me that thinks I’m going to paralyze myself all over while trying to learn to walk again. As if one wrong move could change everything. Hell, it wouldn’t be the first time. One wrong fall could bring me back to square one… or to a square I can’t come back from.
Lacey goes through a few exercises with me to warm up my back, legs, and arms.
“Alright,” she claps her hands, “let's get your brace on.”
“Do I really need to wear that thing?”
“It helps with stability and support. Honestly, at this stage, I think it’s better for you to wear it than not to wear it.”
“Fine.”
She helps me put on the brace, and then I position my body at the end of the training stairs.
“Just take it slow. I’m right here.”
I take a deep breath, reach up for the edge of the training bar, and pull myself to my feet. My legs wobble. It takes everything in me to not fall right back into my chair.
I move my hands forward just slightly, take another breath, and—
Take a step.
The feeling is almost foreign. Every time I take a step, it’s like an out-of-body experience. I see my legs, and I see them move, but them being my legs doesn’t register in my brain.
“Great, Jeremy. Just a couple more and you’re halfway.” Lacey grins. “You’re doing great.”
I take my eyes off my legs and look forward, sliding my hands along the bar, taking step after step.
Then I reach the halfway mark.
“I can’t do any more.” My legs begin to shake, and my heart begins to race.
“Yes, you can,” Lacey encourages.
“No, no, I can’t. What if I can’t, I, if I—”
I can’t breathe. The room spins and my vision blurs. Then a hand lands on my back.
“You have this, Jeremy.” Then Lacey is standing in front of me. “Close your eyes and take a nice, deep breath.”
Lacey takes a deep breath with me, then she disappears as I close my eyes.
“Just one step at a time.” Her voice seems distant, as if we aren’t even in the same room. “One step at a time.”
Even though her voice seems so far away, I listen to it. I let her words calm me down, get me out of my head, and I just walk.
“Jeremy.”
“Hmm?” I ask, keeping my eyes closed, and my hands gripped onto the bar.
“Open your eyes.”
My eyes open slowly, and I see Lacey standing in front of me, my wheelchair sitting in front of her.
“I’m at the end?”
“You’re at the end.”
I look over my shoulder, see the rest of the training pad behind me, then turn back to Lacey.
This time, the words that leave my lips aren’t a question, but a fact—
“I’m at the end.”