Chapter 114

Much to my chagrin, Ryan and Jill were prepared to depart San Diego – and Liz’s assessment of the airplane was entirely correct.

It was almost two in the morning by the time we got back to Nashville. A storm in the flyover states forced us to divert northward until we wound up on almost the exact path we would have taken if we had been stopping in Cleveland for our parents.

My Friday morning began way too early for my tastes. We had scheduled a therapy session when we thought we’d be leaving the West Coast in the morning instead of in the evening hours.

Ciera was right on time so I dragged myself into the workout room. We were planning to introduce a few new things to my limited repertoire – including the highly exciting shoulder blade crunches. I was in the middle of one of my new routines when Skye burst into the room.

The exercise had me rotating my hand slightly outward and Ciera had made certain it was pressed between her breasts. Since I couldn’t feel anything but her hands on my thumb, I didn’t really notice. She appeared to be disinterested in where my hand rested.

Skye gave the young woman a quick glance before shaking her head and focusing her attention on me.

“You really did it!” she said.

“Did what?” I asked.

“You know!” Skye said, smiling broadly.

“I don’t,” I confessed.

“I saw it!” Skye said, glancing again at Ciera.

“OK,” I said in confusion. It sounds silly but I needed to focus on what I was doing with my hand and arm.

“What you bought,” Skye clarified.

“The house?” I asked. “Are there pictures up now?”

“Not the house,” Skye said. “What you got in L.A.”

I lifted my head slightly.

“How did you see that?” I asked.

“I was putting your clothes away and it was there,” Skye said.

“Why were you putting my clothes away?” I asked, focusing on the wrong subject.

“It’s what an assistant does,” Skye said, rolling her eyes.

“You’re not my assistant,” I noted.

“Travis!” Skye said in exasperation.

“Travis,” Ciera said in a softer voice. “I need to focus on your exercises. We can take a break in about five minutes if you want.”

“Sorry,” Skye said. “It’s just awesome. She’s going to love it!”

“I hope so,” I said. “Now get lost.”

Skye winked and pinched my nose before heading out of the room.

“What did you get in L.A.?” Ciera wondered.

“Nothing,” I said. “I just picked up something for Liz while I was up there. People don’t get the chance to buy her presents very often.”

“You’re so sweet,” Ciera told me. “I wish I had somebody to buy me presents.”

“You will,” I said.

The thought of presents must have been pleasant because I noticed Ciera’s nipples had stiffened beneath her thin light blue sports bra.

“And you bought a house?” she wondered.

“Liz is looking at something out that way,” I confessed. “I ... mine wouldn’t work for her needs so I sold it to a couple of our friends. So that’s what we did yesterday. We went looking at ... places.”

The young woman talked about the type of guy she hoped to one day land as she helped me with my flexibility. I hoped the poor bastard that wound up with Ciera had a lot of cash at his disposal because the types of gifts she expected to receive far exceeded what a guy on my salary could offer her, let alone the fact that she expected to live in a house like Liz’s pretty quickly after she graduated.

She was still talking about her last boyfriend (and cradling my hand to her chest) when Liz walked in with her entourage. Our mothers were there, of course, along with Bobbi, Jill and Skye. To my surprise, Conny and Melissa were also in tow. I looked for Claire and Chelsea but they were nowhere to be found.

Liz had no qualms about leaning forward and kissing me firmly on the lips – in spite of the fact (or perhaps because) of where my hand was located.

“How is it going?” she asked me.

In truth, it wasn’t going very well. The new exercises hurt a lot more than I hoped they would. But I wasn’t about to tell Liz that. I just grunted when Ciera moved my hand outward again.

“He’s lost flexibility this week,” Ciera informed the group. “If you want his long-term prognosis to improve then you’re going to have to make his recovery a priority.”

I’m certain Liz wanted to return the salvo. The only reason she didn’t was because the girl was speaking the truth (or perhaps the fact she knew that Ciera could put me through a great deal of torment if she put her mind to it).

“I think we saw this week how quickly things can get away from us if we’re not careful,” Liz said instead. “We made the mistake of putting other things ahead of his exercises. I could see last night that he was struggling with some of the things he’s been doing well. It won’t happen again.”

“No it won’t,” Skye said. “We’ve all put an alert on our phones to let us know when he’s supposed to be doing his rehab.”

As if they thought somebody might be questioning their volition, a large group of women extended their phones outward. Even Conny and Melissa had theirs in front of them.

“Good,” Ciera said, the steam clearly out of her sails.

“The ladies are going to lunch,” Liz informed me. “I’ll leave you in Ciera’s capable hands. Do you need anything while we’re out?”

I shook my head.

“Where’s your dad?” I wondered.

“He and Evan went over to Ben’s to sample his concoctions,” Conny said, rolling her eyes at me but grinning at the same time. “Evan starts training camp next week so he wanted one last sip before the season gets started.”

“You’re invited over after you’re done,” Liz said.

“Next time,” I said. My face was covered in sweat despite the fact I was flat on my back and moving my arm only a few inches. I was going to be pretty sore pretty quickly when my session finally came to a merciful end.

Liz nodded slowly.

“Brea is staying here,” she told me. “She’ll help you into your sling after you get cleaned up. Are you staying in today?”

I nodded again.

“Dayton is going with us,” Bobbi said.

“Good,” I said. I still worried about Liz going out in public even though I knew Bobbi was good.

“But the guys are home pulling their puds if you get lonely,” Jill said with a glance at Ciera. “Of course, you might not need any more company. Should I send Brea in to watch over you?”

Ciera seemed to realize where she had my hand tucked because she shifted it away. I didn’t notice but I saw Jill nod approvingly and the look of murder in her eyes lessened to merely grievous bodily harm.

“I’ll call if I’m going to be later than five,” Liz said. “We’re going to do a little shopping while we’re out. It seems Jill needs a new uniform for her new duties.”

I chuckled when I recalled the bet.

“I can’t even get her into yoga pants!” I said. “Her promises are worthless.”

My mother shook her head sadly but at least Liz’s mother smiled at me. I got another kiss from my girlfriend before they departed to do damage to the restaurants and shops in downtown Nashville.

It was another 40 minutes before my torture ended and Ciera let me up.

“Have you been practicing writing and eating with your left hand?” she asked me as I toweled off my face and chest.

“Some,” I said.

She sighed heavily and put her hands on her hips.

“I wasn’t just being a bitch,” she said. “If you half-ass your rehab then you better plan to do everything with your left hand from now on. This isn’t something you can charm your way through.”

“I get it,” I said in a harsher tone than she warranted. “Yeah, I didn’t do some of the stuff I was supposed to do. I’m going to pay for it for the next three or four days. But there are going to be things that have to get done. The world didn’t stop, Kid. I can’t pretend that it did. OK?”

“I know,” Ciera said in a gentler voice. “Let’s work on your hand flexibility for a few minutes and then I’ll put you in your soft sling so you can head to the shower.”

I nodded my agreement and we spent the last 15 minutes with her squeezing my hand around a rubber ball to keep the useless muscles in my hands and wrists from atrophying.

“Are they going to take out the scar tissue soon?” she asked as she massaged the quivering muscles in my forearm.

“This time next week,” I said. “It’s outpatient and Sondra says I should be able to pick back up on Monday.”

“Have her call us so we’re clear on the timeline,” Ciera said as she maneuvered my arm into a normal sling. “Now hit the showers. I’ll let the nurse know where you’re going. See you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow is Saturday,” I noted.

“I know,” she said. “But I’m going to come out again. You’ve lost almost 10 degrees of flexibility in four days. I’ll be out tomorrow and Sunday to see if we can get it back.”

Brea was waiting for me when I stepped out of the shower. I was so startled that I almost took a tumble.

“What the fuck?” I asked as I used my only good hand to cover my privates.

“Do you think you’ve got anything I haven’t seen before?” the nurse asked as she held out a towel.

“You haven’t seen mine,” I said.

“Oh, please,” Brea said. “Who do you think changed your diapers in the hospital? I saw that thing every day for a week so don’t worry about it. Liz knows what I’m doing. I’m a professional. I’m not like that girl that just left. I’m not going to go for the quick feel.”

She wrapped the towel around my waist and tucked it in. I was unable to dry my back with only one hand so she took care of that chore. She shook her head and pinched my reddened cheek.

“Do you want to put on your shorts first or just get the sling on?” she asked.

“Pants,” I said.

“Be careful,” she said as she left the bathroom.

I sat down on the toilet and cradled my arm in my lap as I pulled my underwear up my legs. My shorts were loose so they were easier.

Brea was sitting in a chair when I emerged.

“You’re going to have to get over things,” she informed me. “Liz has asked me to come on full-time. She’s finally realized that she can’t give you the attention that you require and do anything else with her time.”

I clenched my jaw to keep from replying angrily.

“Don’t be mad about it,” Brea said. “I’m just telling you how things are. Listen to what I’m saying and not what you want to hear.”

“It’s not what you’re saying,” I said. “It’s how you’re saying it! Don’t you think I know that I’m becoming a pain in everybody’s ass? We can’t have anything resembling a normal life because I require constant ‘attention.’”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Brea countered as she slid the sling up my arm.

“You might as well have meant it,” I said. “It’s the truth. I’ve got to be able to do my rehab exercises five times every day. That’s almost five hours of time that somebody has to allocate to help me out. That’s five times that somebody has to drop what they’re doing to make sure I can put on my fucking shoes or get back into this God damned thing. I need somebody to constantly come in and pick up after me. It’s bullshit and I’m not surprised that Liz is getting sick of doing it.”