Chapter 23
The next morning,Naomi had just poured her first cup of coffee when there was a knock on the door. Since Clark was in the shower, she went to answer it. She didn’t know whether she was shocked or not when Tessa Hillard stood there with a file in her hand. Naomi backed away, invited her in, then poured her guest a cup of coffee.
“Is Clark still sleeping?”
“No, he’s in the shower.” Naomi stated as she put the coffee on the table.
“I’m here,” Clark said as he entered the room, and on his way to the coffee pot, he bent down and kissed Naomi. Settled at the table, he looked at his friend. “What’s up?”
Tessa put her hand over the folder she’d brought with her and studied the couple before her. She could tell by looking at Clark that he was happy with Naomi, and she was happy for him. “Dr. Rob came up with a treatment plan.”
“Yeah, Erin didn’t renew her license,” Clark said as he looked between the two women.
“I know,” Naomi said. “She came to me the other day and told me so. What does Dr. Rob recommend?”
“Both he and I would like you to see a physical therapist every day for the next six months. Based on your progress there, then we can reassess everything. Why we want such an aggressive treatment is because you’ve been in that chair for over five years, and you’re going to need extensive therapy to get the muscles working again.”
“You do realize that I live over an hour away from the nearest town. Yes, I drive, my truck is equipped with hand controls, but I’m sure that I’m going to be wiped out after a session. I don’t want to bother anyone to come with me, especially not Clark.” She looked at him with a sappy smile. “No offense or anything.”
“None taken,” he said as he leaned over and kissed the side of her head. He then turned to Tessa. “What you have seen so far of The Broken Wheel, is only part of Erin’s dream for this ranch. Here are all the cabins for the women, and now the men they fell in love with and decided to make a life together. I’m only saying that because I just learned of the second half of Erin’s dream. On the other side of the barn, think the same distance from the main house to here, take that same distance on the other side of the barn, and Erin wants what she calls a bunktel to be built. Further down the road, again, away from those buildings, she’s going to make at least two office buildings.”
“What is a bunktel?” Tessa scowled at her friend.
Clark grinned. “I know you don’t know ranch lingo, but it’s a combination of a bunkhouse and a hotel. Each suite will have two bedrooms and one bathroom. A suite will be available for a family to stay here when they bring their child here as a client.”
“I get it, so they can stay here and not have to stay in a hotel.”
“Correct.” Clark proceeded to fill her in on Erin’s plans, his role in getting them started, and the office buildings and what they would be used for. He grinned when Tessa sat back heavily in her chair.
“Damn, that’s a lot.”
“Yes and no. Yes, it’s going to take a couple of years to get everything built, but once it’s done, then it will open the doors for our clients, their families, and doctors.”
“You said the doctors will have the opportunity to have their own practice in those buildings on the condition that they work with the clients of Broken?”
“Correct.” Naomi took up the tale. “We might not always have clients, and it wouldn’t be fair to the therapists or psychologists to sit on their hands waiting for one. Hell.” She laughed as she shook her head. “For some clients, there might not even be a need for their services.” She saw the confusion on Tessa’s face, and explained, “This is all hypothetical, but think about Reid, or Adele. Reid is missing one leg at about mid-thigh. Adele is missing her lower right leg about three inches above the ankle. If they had been a client, then we would have taught them how to ride a horse, and how to do manual labor without a limb, but using a prosthesis.”
“I get it, and because they already have a prosthesis, then they’ve most likely gone through with the physical therapy, and they would be here to fine tune their motor skills.”
“Exactly. One purpose for Broken is for our clients to get over any fear they may have as they forge ahead in life with their new normal. They won’t always have to be here, we’ll just be here to help them along the way. Then on the other hand, we may have clients that will be permanent to us because their condition is permanent. Though I’m in this chair, and I have the possibility of getting out of it, I can still ride a horse. Sure, it takes some help getting me up there, but that’s what we’re here to do, and to get across to our clients. No matter what your limitations, or challenges, you can do anything you want to do, regardless of restrictions. I’m not saying the family will stay on the ranch permanently, but we have several package plans they can purchase for their needs.”
“This all sounds wonderful.” Tessa shook her head as she pictured what Naomi had described. “I’d love to come back when you’re fully operational to see what you’re doing.”
“You’re welcome anytime,” both Naomi and Clark said.
“Okay,” Tessa said as she suddenly became all business. “Now that I’ve seen everything so far, and I’ve heard what you have to say. I have a few recommendations for you.” She opened the file she’d brought with her. “Here is a list of twelve names of people who are licensed physical therapists in the area. By area, I’m talking Colorado Springs. I have done a background check on them, but it’s not very deep. I believe, some of these people would even be willing to move here to Broken to work for you.” She studied the couple across from her and knew she had their attention.
“I’m talking that maybe one of them can move here now and work with you, Naomi, on a daily basis.” She continued to study them, then nodded at their interested looks. “Also, in this file is the type of equipment that you would need to purchase to have here so whoever you hire will be efficient in their job. There are websites and prices attached.”
“What about the machine Dr. Rob used on us?” Clark asked.
“Dr. Rob would be willing to have one of them made for you.” She smiled at their confused looks. “Dr. Rob invented that table, and he has the patent for it. They are custom made and on this list of employees are two people that he has trained in using the machine.”
“Why aren’t they working with Dr. Rob?” Naomi asked. “No offense, but I don’t want anyone working with me that is a former employee and might not like Dr. Rob. I don’t need them to take out their anger on me.”
“I totally understand, but that’s not the case here. They were students and took a course he offered. They knew going into the class, that at the time of their graduation, there wouldn’t be an opening in his practice.”
“Got it.” Naomi nodded and looked at Clark. “We’ll have to talk to Erin.”
“About?”
Before she answered him, Naomi reached across the table and pulled a piece of paper toward her, turned it over, and grabbed the pen. “I’m not saying put the offices on the other side of Broken on hold.” She paused long enough to look up at Tessa to see if she was following along. “But what if we put up a building for the therapist to work out of. There are the two big cabins, and as long as they know they don’t get the entire cabin to themselves, that eventually they’ll have to share, but what if their equipment is set up in the new building? Put it behind the two larger cabins.” As she talked, she’d drawn squares to indicate the existing cabins, and where the new building should be.
Naomi looked at Clark with a shrug. “Once the new buildings are built then they can move into one of the offices there, and this new building can be used as additional storage for all of us.”
“Or,” Tessa said as she flipped the actual folder to the back, and moved the papers out of the way. She took the pen back from Naomi and drew her own boxes for the cabins. “Instead of installing an entirely new building, take one of the cabins and put an addition on it. Connect them with a breezeway, make sure there’s a bathroom, so the client won’t be going into the person’s home, and heat. You can always put in a window air conditioning unit, but you’ll definitely need heat.” She looked around Naomi’s cabin and nodded. “You won’t need anything larger than this kitchen area here.” She glanced up at Clark. “You saw how large Dr. Rob’s office was, that’s all you need. Then if they move into the new office, and like Naomi said, you can either use it as storage, or it would be another room for anyone that comes here to live on this side of the ranch.”
Clark looked at both drawings, and closed his eyes as he pictured what was described by both women. When he opened them, he smiled at them. “Yeah, I can see both of those options. But like Naomi said, I’ll have to talk to Erin.”
“Not that it’s any of my business, but can I ask why?”
“Why, what?”
“Why do you have to check with Erin? I get that The Broken Wheel is her brainchild, but don’t you have any say in the matter?”
“I do, except that Erin owns everything.”
“Why?” Tessa blurted out, then shook her head. “I’m sorry, that’s none of my business.”
“No, it’s okay. I can’t tell you everything, but I can tell you this. When I was in the service, when I would be deployed, we had to get our affairs in order.”
“Yes, my cousin had to do that.”
“Okay, part of getting my affairs in order is making out a will.” He saw when his statement made sense and he only nodded to her, as he continued, “That will is sent home. Everyone who is being deployed has to do it. We also have to make sure our bills are paid, and we don’t have any outstanding parking tickets. Something that would come back and bite us in the ass when we return.” He nodded as he rose and went to the coffee pot and refilled all three cups. As he settled back down, he sighed heavily. “With the help of the base Chaplain, we are strongly encouraged to write a letter to our loved ones. That is kept in our locker.”
“Why? Why not send it home with the will?”
“Because if we make it home, then that letter is a moot point. If we don’t make it home, that letter is like a last conversation with our family. It is sent to them along with our other belongings.”
“Damn, I never thought of that.”
“Yeah, I know this is irrelevant, but once you join the military, any branch, the government owns your ass and you do as you’re told. That letter is one of the ways that we can let our loved ones know that we were thinking about them. Anyway, my team volunteered for an extremely dangerous mission years ago. I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.” He looked her dead in the eye as he said this, and Tessa swallowed hard, but only nodded.
“Okay, Erin was almost twenty-one at the time. I had filled out a will numerous times before, leaving everything to Mom and Dad. When they received my will, they went to their lawyer and did what they had to do. I don’t know why, and I never discussed it with anyone, but when I went on that mission, I left everything I had to Erin. Mom and Dad changed their wills that time, and they did the same. The entire entity of Erin’s Way and the Riceman property was left to Erin. No one knew that in less than eight months Mom and Dad would be killed.”
He shook his head as he sipped his coffee, then looked at Naomi when she laid her hand on his forearm. He gave her a small smile, then looked at Tessa. “In a way, it turned out better with Erin getting everything. Before you ask how, think about it. That mission I was on was what was considered as dark. That in turn means that no one, not even my commander knew where I was. Only the men you met yesterday, myself, and one other man who is still in the service. The six of us were together on that mission. It took over two years for us do what we set out to do, and to make it back to the base. That mission was hell. In the meantime, back here, Erin started making plans for The Broken Wheel, she did some things on Erin’s Way that made operating that ranch better. She also started an on-line business. If she had only inherited half of everything, then she would have had to have my permission or signature to approve of the plans and changes she made.”
“I get it now, and since you couldn’t be reached, and you continued with your military career even after your parents’ deaths, it was better to have Erin in charge.”
“Correct. We’ve already discussed it, and we’re going to wait until after the upcoming holidays to go talk to our lawyer. Since Christmas is a little under two weeks away, we can wait that long.”
“I’m not saying it will, but what if something happens to Erin before then?”
“Then her will states that I inherit everything she owns. So does mine. I never changed it. We want to wait until after the first of the year to get Riceman property in both our names, then we will wait some time to change our wills to reflect any spouses or possible children we may have.” As he said this last part, he reached over and took Naomi’s hand in his, but he didn’t look at her. He sipped his coffee, set the cup down, then looked directly at Tessa.
“I have a doctor question for you.”
“What’s that?”
“Can Naomi have sex?”