Chapter 115

I had barely fallen back to sleep when my alarm beeped to let me know it was time for me to get out of bed again.

Releasing the straps was something I could do on my own so I pulled myself to my feet and headed off to the bathroom.

Mickey was awake and at the table when I walked in. He was eating an apple.

“Where did that come from?” I asked.

“Huh?” he asked as he took another bite.

“The apple,” I said. “I looked through every cupboard in this house yesterday for something I could eat and that wasn’t there!”

“Oh,” he said. “No, I went to the market this morning and picked up some fruit. There wasn’t much to fix here.”

“Can I have one?” I asked.

“Sure,” he said, looking at me strangely.

I grabbed a pear and bit into it greedily. I tucked an apple into the crook of my elbow and returned to the table.

Mickey was shaking his head when I sat down.

“We just ran off and left you yesterday,” he said. “I’m very sorry about that.”

“It’s OK,” I said. It had become my mantra.

“It’s damned sure not OK,” he said. “Is that why you were asleep outside?”

I nodded as I finished off the pear and went to work on the apple.

“I have to make sure I’m not going to try to roll over or something,” I said.

“I shouldn’t have gone out drinking,” Mickey declared. I was flattered that he was genuinely distressed but I also felt a little embarrassed.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “It’s like I’ve said: The world didn’t grind to a halt. Besides, I need to be able to fend for myself.”

“Not yet you don’t,” he said.

“Yeah, I do,” I countered.

He sighed and looked toward the upstairs.

“It will be hours before they’re awake,” he said. “I was going to visit some of our friends from here but I’ll wait until Liz or Annabelle is awake.”

“Don’t change your plans,” I said. “The therapist will be here in a few minutes. Somebody will be around by the time she leaves.”

Mickey looked at me again across the table.

“How many sessions did you miss yesterday?” he asked.

“Three,” I said with a sigh. “I got the one with the therapist and one more before Brea left. But I didn’t want to risk leaving the sling off. I’m going to see if I can move to one I can operate by myself. I know they have that kind. Don’t worry about me.”

“I do worry about you,” Mickey said. “I think it’s best if I’m here until somebody else is conscious.”

I heard the beep that let us know when somebody had entered the security code at the gate so I got up to greet Ciera. My stomach could have used something more substantial than two pieces of fruit but that wasn’t in the cards.

I gave Mickey a wave and led my scantily clad therapist into the makeshift gym. Ciera had worn a pair of tight white workout shorts and a bright yellow sports bra. She made it a point to bend at the waist when she put her bag on the floor.

Because I am me, I looked carefully and saw that her thong was visible through the material. She held the pose while she rummaged through her bag for something.

I had looked away by the time she arose and taken my spot on the table. It was rare for Ciera to be the one to remove my sling. She knew how but she didn’t like to do it. There was a bigger chance of injury from taking the sling on and off than from the few exercises I had been doing.

She was so focused on her task that I don’t think she even noticed that she was resting her vagina directly on my knee.

“OK,” she said softly to herself. “Gently and...”

She let out a long breath and smiled at me as the sling slid down my arm.

“Sorry,” I said when she’d stepped back slightly. “I know that’s not your favorite thing.”

“It’s OK,” she said. “I sort of figured I would have to take care of it today so I got myself ready on the drive out.”

I gave her a questioning look.

“There were a bunch of pictures online of Liz out on the town until the small hours of the morning,” she informed me. “I doubted that she’d be up and about this early. I figured I’d get a text last night from you letting me know this morning was cancelled.”

“I stayed in,” I said.

“I didn’t see you in the pictures but the photographers usually focus on the women,” she said. “Did you manage to do your reps last night?”

“I was too sore from yesterday morning,” I said, taking the onus off of anybody else and putting it where it belonged. “I tried but I really screwed up last week. I took a couple of pills and went to sleep.”

“It’s OK,” Ciera said. I could only imagine her reply if I had said that I had skipped the workouts because everybody was off doing something else. “Let’s shoot for four times today. Can we give that a shot?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Before we get into it, there are a couple of other things I want to speak to you about.”

“Sure,” Ciera said, taking the opportunity to sit beside me on the padded table. “What’s bothering you?”

I spent the next 15 minutes explaining what I’d decided the evening before. She frowned several times but she let me wrap up before replying. I doubted anybody else would give me that opportunity when I got around to discussing it with them.

“I’m not sure that’s in your best interests,” Ciera said with a sigh.

“Am I not the best judge of what is best for me?” I inquired.

“In this case ... you might not be,” Ciera replied. She shifted until she was farther from me. “Look, from just what you’re saying, I can tell what really happened last night. Everybody else went off to do something else and you got a close look at your limitations. Those limitations might not be permanent. You don’t want to spend time working on skills you might never need instead of regaining the use of your arm. Do you follow me?”

“I do,” I said, nodding. I had made the same argument in my head the night before. “But we have to be realistic. We’re talking at least six months before I can do much of anything and probably a year or more before I can do everything. In the meantime, I have to learn how to do a few things one-handed. I have to be able to change my clothes and tie my shoes. I have to be able to fix myself something to eat and sign my name. I’m not talking about learning to juggle. I just need to refine my motor skills to the point that I have some independence.”

“I’ll need to talk it over with Bill and you’ll need to talk it over with Liz and Dr. Davis,” Ciera said. “I understand some of your frustration. But I think you need input from other people before you take such drastic steps. OK?”

“But ultimately it is my decision to make,” I stated. “Regardless of what anybody else thinks, if I want to go this route then you or somebody else will do it. Right?”

“I can’t answer that,” Ciera admitted. “I don’t make those decisions. The truth is that Liz Larimer is paying for this. She might be able to dictate the course we follow, particularly if Bill and Dr. Davis agree with her and not with you.”

I gritted my teeth to keep my mouth in check.

“I’m trying to be honest,” Ciera continued. “I don’t want to tell you something and have somebody else countermand it. OK? That’s all.”

I sighed and nodded.

“I think you already know you face an uphill battle with Liz about this,” Ciera said.

“I’m not sure,” I told her. “It’ll make her life a lot simpler if I can do some things by myself. She’ll be free to do things she enjoys without having to worry if I’m clothed, fed and sheltered. I think she’ll understand what I’m looking to do.”

Ciera nodded slightly.

“I think you’re wrong,” she said, despite the fact she had just nodded her agreement. “You know her better than I do. I just want you to understand that this might not be something you and I can decide. Bill is back from vacation on Monday and I’ll talk to him. That gives you a day or two to let everybody else know what you want to do. I do want to encourage you to wait until after the scar tissue is removed before coming to a final decision.”

“What about getting a different sling?” I asked.

“That’s going to have to be decided by Dr. Davis,” Ciera told me. “If she says no, then Bill won’t go for it. And I think we can both agree that if Liz says no, that will be the same as Dr. Davis saying no.”

“I can pay for the fucking sling on my own,” I said.

“It’s not a matter of payment,” Ciera confided. “What you have isn’t something you can walk into a store and buy. It has to be ordered and it takes a doctor or a licensed physical therapist to order it. If this particular sling is deemed as medically necessary then this is the one that you’ll get and there is nothing you can do about it.”

“So basically you’re saying that I have to appease everybody else instead of doing what I think is best,” I said.

“I didn’t say that,” Ciera countered. “But you will have to convince more than just me that it’s the right course for right now. To me, what you’re talking about is two or three months down the road. And only then if we’re seeing absolutely no progress. Before you went to San Diego, we were seeing progress. You’d improved your range of motion almost 15 degrees. Your muscle tone was getting better and your cardio was at a good level. You’ve slipped in the past week but we can get those gains back and then build on them.”

I was saved from replying by Mickey coming through the door.

“I’m heading out,” he said. “Do you need anything before I go?”

“I’m good,” I said.

The tone of my voice caused him to look at me for a moment before he nodded.

“I’ll stop at the grocery store and pick up some things,” he informed me. “We will not have a repeat of last night’s fiasco if I can help it.”

“Thanks, Mickey,” I said in a softer voice. He gave me a soft smile and departed.

Ciera was not smiling when I turned to face her.

“No workout and no food in the house?” she asked incredulously.

“No food that I could cook on my own,” I clarified. “That’s what I was talking about. Yeah, it became pretty clear last night how screwed I am if I don’t have somebody with me at all fucking times.”

We were nearing the end of my exercise session when Liz made her way into the room. She looked normal except for the dark circles beneath her eyes. She was dressed in casual clothes but not the sort of things she wore around the house.

Dayton had already told me that Liz had made plans for the day. I didn’t know if those plans included me but I doubted it.

“I need a couple of minutes with Travis,” Liz said.

“We’re almost done,” I cut in before Ciera could answer. “I need to get through this without interruption. Why don’t you just hang out in your office or something and I’ll catch up to you when I’ve finished.”

Liz nodded slightly.

“Ten minutes at the most,” I added. “I have some things I need to talk to you about, too.”

“Take your time,” she said. She rubbed her hand down my stubbly cheek and then down my nose. It was reminiscent of our first few days together but the action hadn’t been repeated in several months. She smiled at me before departing.

We wrapped up the exterior flexes and I gave a sigh of relief.