Chapter 3 #2
“Except you can’t possibly do that,” he teased, “because you give up too quickly and laugh.”
“I’ll have to work on that frowning thing then,” she decided. “It’s impossible to think that somebody could frown better than me.”
“Ha,” he murmured as he shifted, closing his eyes, enjoying the teasing now that some of his pain had eased.
“The best thing for you is to just forget it and to smile all the time. Besides, you have a gorgeous smile.” Then came an odd silence.
He opened his eyes to see Shane sitting there on the side bench, a grin on his face, and Nelly eyeing him curiously.
“You say that, and yet your eyes were closed,” she noted humorously.
“Of course. I’ve memorized your smile already,” he said instantly.
At that, Shane burst out laughing and asked him, “That line works, huh ?”
“I don’t know if it’ll work or not,” Zander replied. “If I was in the market, I might have tried it,” he shared, “but, around this place, the gals are pretty savvy.”
“We have to be,” Nelly declared. “There’s always a lot of men around who are looking to work the angles.”
“Is my line working though?” he asked in a joking tone. “Because, if it is, then dang.”
“It’s not,” she scolded but followed it with a laugh.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “It would be nice if it did work.”
“Nope, not at all.”
At that, they heard the dinner bell.
“No,” he cried out in horror. “Don’t tell me that I’ll miss out on dinner too.”
“Oh, we can’t have that happening,” Nelly stated. “You don’t get enough nutrients as it is.”
Zander stared at her. “Do you see how much I’m eating?”
“Yep, I also see it going right through you,” she replied, “and, chances are, you are not retaining all the benefits.”
He shook his head. “I’m fine, and, if Dennis saves me something to eat, I promise I’ll eat as soon as I’m out of here. However, the thought of choosing between food or pain relief?” he shared. “I’m sorry, but pain relief will win out every time.”
“And so it should,” Nelly confirmed. “Now the question is whether we can get you some food down here.” She looked over at Shane. “Are there any rules about that?”
He shrugged. “If there were, they went out the window a long time ago,” he teased. “We’ve had several people lately eat in the hot tub.”
“Maybe now that Stan has collected the otter, it would be okay.” She hopped up and announced, “Let me go talk to Dennis then.”
Zander watched as she disappeared and then shifted his gaze to Shane. “Is she doing what I think she’s doing?”
“She’ll see if you can get a plate down here,” he explained. “And I’m pretty sure the answer will be absolutely .”
“Wow, what kind of a place is this,” he muttered, “where that is even allowed?”
“You don’t like the idea?” Shane asked, with a wry grin.
“I love the idea,” Zander replied instantly. “Anything that literally stops me from having to move is perfect.”
“How will you eat if you’re stretched out in the water like that?” Shane asked.
“I’ll roll over,” he said, with a smile.
“I’m glad you’ve got a sense of humor.”
“After everything I’ve been through, it’s hard not to.”
“Sometimes you still don’t necessarily get the benefit of it,” Shane noted. “But here, you need to just relax and to let some of that stress go away. Was there anything that set this off?”
“I don’t think so—at least I wasn’t aware of anything.”
Shane suggested, “Well, next time you end up like this, can you spend a few minutes thinking about what might have happened just prior to the attack and see if there’s a movement, a thought, a stomach gurgle, anything, that’s triggering this?”
“Could it be something so simple?”
“Not usually, but there’s really no research in a lot of this. Thus we have a unique opportunity here to understand and to learn more. And anything that helps one person learn and improve is something we want to hear about for the next person.”
“I get that.” Zander let out a deep sigh.
“That came from a long way down,” Shane pointed out. “What was that all about?”
“I think that was the last of the pain finally releasing,” Zander shared, shifting so that he was sitting upright in the hot tub. Then he scooched backward, so he was sitting on one of the steps under the water. “I have to admit, even if it does feel better, I don’t want to leave just yet.”
“No need for you to leave,” Shane added.
Yet Zander frowned as Shane checked his watch. “You’ve got a place to go, don’t you?”
Shane flashed him a grin. “I have a partner. Sometimes it works to meet up, and sometimes it doesn’t.”
“Well, if Nelly’s returning with food, can she just sit here with me?” he asked, frowning.
Shane frowned right back at that.
“Ooh, I see what she means about that instant frown,” Zander said. “It’s quite a technique.”
At that, Shane burst into laughter again. “You’re fast,” he replied, admiration in his tone. “Not everybody would be quite so quick on the repartee.”
“Hey, I am trying,” Zander shared. “And you’re not answering my question. Instead you’re trying to divert my attention.”
“I’m thinking about it, but she’s not a trained nurse.”
“But she’s not an idiot,” he declared, raising an eyebrow. “Surely if there’s a problem, she can call for help.”
“Considering where you’re at, it’s possible to have a real problem.”
He frowned yet again, and, hearing footsteps, he looked up to see Nelly walking down the stairs, with Dani at her side. Zander frowned at Nelly, and she frowned back. He groaned. “That’ll get old quickly.”
“It does get old quickly,” she agreed, “so knock off the frowning.”
“Yeah, but you finagled the boss to bring down my food,” Zander noted. “That’s hardly fair.”
“Oh, so I was supposed to get the staff to do this?” Dani asked, with a wide-eyed, innocent look. He frowned again, yet she burst out laughing.
“Right? See?” Nelly pointed out. “He frowns all the time. It’s an instinctive reaction to something he doesn’t want to hear.”
“I think that goes for everybody,” Zander protested. “Besides, Shane has to leave, and I was asking him—so maybe, Dani, you can help. Is it okay if I stay in the hot tub, as long as Nelly has a moment or two to stay with me?”
“And I’ve definitely got a moment or two,” Nelly admitted. “I brought down dinner for both of us.”
He looked at her in surprise and then grinned. “Even better.” He looked over at Dani. “Can we stay, please?” He knew he sounded like a petulant little boy, yet he wasn’t sure if that tack would work or not.
Dani laughed. “Yeah, I can pretty well depend on Nelly here to have a solid head on her shoulders.” At that, she looked over at Shane. “Are you okay with it?”
Shane nodded. “I am.” And he turned to Nelly. “If he has any trouble getting into the wheelchair on his own, do not try to lift him.”
“Agreed,” she conceded instantly. “I promise I’ll call for help.”
“I plan to make it into the wheelchair on my own,” Zander protested.
“Good plan,” she noted, “but just in case that plan doesn’t work out so well…”
“ Fine ,” he said grudgingly. “I guess that makes sense.”
“It does, indeed, so stop your frowning,” she quipped. “You got your permission.… Now, how do you want to eat this?”
He looked around and replied, “If you move that tray a little bit closer to the water’s edge, I can probably just sit here and eat.
” And, with that, he sat on the bench sideways and, using just a fork and holding his plate steady, he managed to scoop up food.
“I don’t even know what this is,” he shared, staring at a salad that was green but had something white in it.
“It’s a couscous salad. Along with spaghetti and meatballs.” Then she added, “I got you extra meatballs.”
He grinned at that. “Perfect. And I do like the carbs here too. They’re great.” And then he realized that it was just the two of them now. She sat down beside the hot tub and rearranged her tray so that she could eat close to him.
“Sorry you’re on babysitting duty,” he apologized. “I just realized that Shane had a place to go and someone to be with, and I felt bad. But what I didn’t consider was that you might have a place to go and somebody to be with too.”
“I don’t,” she stated, with a cheerful smile. “So just eat your dinner and relax.”
And that’s what he did. He picked up a big meatball and bit into it. “Yum.” He closed his eyes. “Okay, something is truly special about the food here.”
She murmured, “I know.”
He opened his eyes to see her staring at him, a smile playing at the corner of her lips, and then she bit into a meatball herself.
“Our chef is one of the hidden secrets about this place,” she murmured.
“And, if everybody knew, we would have a constant influx of new staff as they tried to get on board. At least coming to see how it all worked.”
“Hey, even the visitors would be eating this all up,” he muttered. He slowly ate, enjoying every bite. When he was finally full, he put down his fork and stared at the last meatball. “I don’t think I can get it down,” he admitted.
And such a sadness filled his tone that she burst out laughing. “You may want to just leave it there and wait for a little bit. I bet you can eat that in another five or ten minutes.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea,” he agreed. “I think you’re probably right.”
“I suggest you stretch out and get that back moving again. You’ve been sitting in the same position, and I don’t want more muscle cramps to return.”
Obediently he stretched out full length in the hot tub and noted, “I had no idea hot tubs even came this big.”
“For a healing center like this,” she added, “it makes sense though.”
“Oh, I agree, and I think it’s a wonderful idea. I just don’t know why everybody isn’t in here. And, if they all knew that they can come down here and have dinner in the hot tub, why isn’t it full all the time?”
“Because it’s not something that appeals to everybody. For some people, it’s associated with therapy, and that’s not something that they want to deal with all the time.”
With his eyes closed, he contemplated her words. “I guess that’s a good point. I’ve barely even begun my rehab.”
“True, and this painful cramping muscle isn’t a great start,” she pointed out. “The good news is, at least we know where some of the weaknesses are, and we can move on from there.”