Page 21 of Deking at Love
Maybe one baby step.But which foot first?He was a rightie, so he wanted to lead with the right, but something told him his bad ankle might not be ready yet, so he led with the left, then dragged the right behind him and planted it.Sharp pain shot up his calf, and he gasped like that girl being chased by chain saws in a horror movie.
“Jesus!”
Completely off balance, he brought his right foot up and nearly toppled.With a little cry, Angie streaked across the room in a flash of blond hair.Before he could tilt too far, her shoulder was in his armpit, her arm wrapped around his waist, and she was leaning him upright again.
“I got you.”Her voice was steady, reassuring.He’d expected a rant, at least a curse, but she was all calmness and ease as she helped him back on the table.“Let me take a look.”Her hands were on his ankle, and he gritted his teeth.“Does that hurt?”
“Not what you’re doing.It just hurts like a motherfu—”
“I bet it does.That’s what you get for playing Superman.”She grasped his shoulders and maneuvered him flat on his back.“Lie back and relax.”
“If I were Superman, I’d just fly.Fuck walking.”
She glanced up at him, a smile quirking her lips.And if he wasn’t mistaken, genuine warmth danced in her icy blues.
That expression encouraged him to blither.“Hey, if IwereSuperman, I could be Clark Kent and use my mad photography skills.”
She brought herself upright, jutted a hip, and perched a hand on it.“Clark Kent was areporter.You’re confusing him with Jimmy Olsen.”
“Right.I knew that.”
A cute little smirk formed.“No, you didn’t.”
A memory surfaced.“I forgot you were a Superman superfan back in the day.”She had watched every single Superman movie and old serial known to mankind.She even had the comic books, which he’d looked at with her once when they’d been sprawled across her bed, waiting for Brianna to come over after cheer practice.
She checked her watch.“How much time have you got?”
Confused, he frowned.“What, are you going to tick off the ten most-watched Superman episodes?”
“No.I want to put you back in the compression sleeve for a few minutes.”
Shit.He dragged a hand over his jaw.“Did I cause more damage?”
“I don’t think so, but I’m worried about it swelling again, and I want take some precautions.”
“Sure,” he exhaled.“Got nowhere else to be.”
“Good.I have another patient showing up in about five minutes, but I should be able to get you set up and take care of him at the same time.”
Why the “him” in that sentence bugged him, Sam couldn’t say.
After she hauled the machine back over and got him hooked up, she changed out her usual instructions about icing and added, “I want you to forgo the exercises at home for the rest of the day and just take it easy.And if it looks like it’s swelling, I want you to call me, okay?”
He gave her a cockeyed salute and lay back.Instead of plugging in, he watched her help her next patient, an old dude with an obvious hip problem who was there with a younger woman.A daughter or a niece or an in-home caretaker.The way Angie handled the guy gave Sam pause—she was good at this.She was skilled and sympathetic, and she took the time to put her patients at ease.
All her patients excepthim, that is.
It dawned on him that Angie handled him the same way professionally, but with a bite to her personality.Was it only past Sam she had a problem with or was it present-day Sam too?The question crawled beneath his skin and jabbed at him like the spines of a goat’s head.
Suddenly, he wanted the answer.
Chapter 7
The Right Therapy
Threedays.That’sallthat remained of the Blizzard’s grind of a regular season, and Sam had missed six games.Only two more before all eighty-two were in the bag.He was going to miss those too.And then therealgrind would start—round one of the playoffs.
Over a week had gone by since Sam had started PT, and while Angie claimed to be pleased with his progress, he didn’t get it.He couldn’t see the light at the end of his rehab tunnel because that tunnel was too damn long.He’d finally ditched the crutches, which was something, but not nearly enough because she still insisted he wear the boot.
