Luke's Recovery

by Angela Franklin

  “Luke, move!” She yelled with tears in her voice.

  “You’re not leaving, Lindsey.” He refused to let this be the end.

  “Just let her go.” Chase said trying to pull the wheel chair back, Luke felt helpless. He couldn’t physically stop Chase from pulling him away.

  “Go away, Chase.” Luke snarled.

  “I will get another nurse out tomorrow.” Chase said as he moved the chair almost clear of the car. He knew Lindy was watching because she put the car in reverse. He had to do something fast, so he shoved himself out of the chair and on the ground.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Lindy screeched throwing the car in park and jumping out. Luke couldn’t respond, the pain of his legs hitting the ground had taken his breath away.

  “You’re being an idiot.” Chase was by his side instantly, but Luke shoved him away.

  “This is your fault. You had no reason to say anything to her. You wanted her here to begin with, but now you want her gone. I can make these decisions myself, and I pick her. You need to stay away if you’re going to fight us.” Luke knew his voice sounded weak, but it was only because of the pain.

  “Just what do you think you’re doing? I could have run you over you fool.” She was so mad, her face was red. He kept waiting for her to stomp her foot.

  “I decided to take a nap.” Luke shrugged, even though that didn’t move his legs it still hurt and he held back a wince.

  “You decided to take a nap?” She was giving him an adorable dumbfounded look.

  “Yeah, I guess those pain pills were a bit too much.” Luke nodded at her. The pain was easing off some, but only because he wasn’t moving any more than necessary.

  “The pills.” Lindy parroted.

  “Maybe you should go make me a sandwich.” He knew her momentary shock would wear off soon, so he figured he should take advantage of it while he could.

  “I already made you a sandwich.” She said narrowing her eyes.

  “Chase ate it.” Luke kept a straight face and kept eye contact. I guess all those years of saying the dog ate my homework made me a good liar he thought to himself.

  “Well he can march back in there and make you another.” Her hands were on her hips now. She had caught up to him.

  “Oh for crying out loud, I did not eat his sandwich.” Chase called out to them. Luke had forgotten he was there.

  “I don’t want him to, his aren’t as good as yours.” Luke had propped himself up on his elbow and was watching her. Chase was somewhere behind him. Probably pouting.

  “Then you need to hire a cook, because I no longer work here.” She was getting snippy. He liked the fire in her green eyes when she got like this, that’s probably why he antagonized her so much.

  “Yes, you do. If you don’t want to be my nurse, you are hired as my chef.” She could be whatever she wanted as long as she was with him.

  “I’m not either of those.” She snarled at him.

  “Fine, then be the maid.” Didn’t she get it yet?

  “First, you don’t think I can properly care for you as a nurse, and now you think I will just stay and clean your house? You may think that I’m helpless, but I have a job waiting for me at the hospital whenever I want it!” She was yelling by the time she finished and Luke just stared at her. It only took a second for him to figure out she thought he was demeaning her and her skills.

  “Lindsey, I didn’t mean it like you are thinking. I meant you can do whatever you want as long as you stay. Hell, you don’t have to do anything but sit around, if that’s what you want.” Luke never thought he could even think this, but he really wished he was in his chair right now. At least then he could roll to her, now he was stuck laying on the ground looking up at her.

  “Chase will have you a new nurse tomorrow. I no longer work here. Oh, for the love of God, Chase, can you help me get him up?” Lindy huffed as she leaned down to him, well at least that meant she had to be close.

  *****

  Lindy’s head was starting to hurt. Luke had to be hurting, but the crazy man was laying there trying to be funny. Chase on the other hand looked confused and irritated. He was just standing there, staring down at Luke. She agreed Luke was being irrational, but Chase should have gotten him up a long time ago.

  “I knew you couldn’t stay away.” Luke winked at her as she bent down to help him up.

  “Stop it, Luke. This isn’t funny, that little stunt means you need to go back to the hospital and have both legs x-rayed to see if you messed anything up, and now you need to have your hands cleaned and bandaged. They have just barely healed, and now they have gravel and dirt in them, and they are bleeding.”

  She was mad enough to spit nails right now. Luke and Chase both had made her mad, and now Luke had endangered himself. She pushed him so he was laying on his back, then put her arm behind his back and sat him up. She moved to squat beside him and put one of his arms over her shoulders. When she looked up, Chase was just staring at her. She had to remind herself that even though he had already fired her, she couldn’t kill him.

  “Chase.” She said through gritted teeth. “Could you please bring the wheel chair over here so that once he is up, he doesn’t have to put much pressure on his legs.”

  As if snapping out of a trans, Chase moved quickly to the chair and pushed it in front of them. She asked him to put it directly behind Luke, and lock the brakes. As soon as Chase had the chair in place, she looked over at Luke.

  “Luke, you have to trust me. Are you ready?” She asked as she put her arm around his waist.

  “I always trust you. What do I need to do to help?” Luke’s face showed sincerity and that went a long way after what happened earlier.

  “Nothing. Let me do this, just relax your body and go with me.” Lindy took a deep breath and started to move.

  Luke was a big man and it took some effort to get him up from the ground. When she had him up enough to clear the chair, she eased back and lowered him to the chair. At least this time they didn’t topple over. Looking at Luke’s face, she could see the pain moving him had caused. She rubbed his arm knowing it didn’t help, but hoping it gave him some comfort. Luke reached up and put his hand over hers and held on to her.

  “Thank you.” It took Lindy a second to realize it was Chase that was talking.

  “Absolutely. You need to get him in and probably in bed to rest his legs, but don’t forget to feed him.” Lindy looked down at Luke, and he was watching her. “You may want to have a seat belt installed on this chair for Evil Knievile over here.” She smiled and tried to pull her hand back, but Luke just held on tighter.

  “No.” His voice was soft but firm.

  “You will be fine. Listen to the new nurse, and do your therapy like you’re supposed to.” She was still smiling, but for some reason it felt like her heart was breaking.

  “No.” This time louder, and not from Luke.

  “Excuse me?” Lindy was getting tired of this. “God save me from these men.” She mumbled, but Luke chuckled, so he must have heard her.

  “I was wrong. After watching you just now, I know there is no way anyone else can handle him. After seeing you lift him, I honestly don’t care what else y’all do. I want the best care possible for him, and that’s you.” He looked down and she remembered Luke was still holding her hand. It had felt so natural, she had forgotten he was still doing it.

  “Chase, it’s not…” Lindy started, but Luke started talking over her.

  “So, was there a reason you came down here?” He asked Chase.

  “Yeah. I found a contractor, but he thinks it would be better to build a new one instead.” Chase had lost interest in what she was going to say.

  “What do you mean?” Luke asked confused.

  “If they just remodel your current bathroom, it would be unusable until they got it done. They could build a new one on to the master bedroom, and make it however you want. It wouldn’t take that much longer, then if you want the other done too,
they can do it after they finish the master bathroom.” What Chase said made sense. Lindy wasn’t an expert, but it seemed more logical to use the smaller bathroom and wait, then to not have one at all.

  “Sounds good. They will be here tomorrow?” She was useless at the moment, but she couldn’t give them privacy because Luke still hadn’t let her go.

  “They should be here around 9:30 tomorrow morning.” Chase was easing toward the truck.

  “Call if you need anything.” He said then jumped in and drove off.

  What the hell just happened. Lindy thought to herself.

  *****

  “I’m getting hungry. You want to order pizza?” When she didn’t answer him, Luke looked at her. She looked like she was on another planet. “Hey, sweetheart.” He said shaking her hand, she jumped and looked down at him.

  “I’m sorry. Did you say something?” Her brows were furrowed and he wanted to rub his finger over the little wrinkles and wipe them away.

  “It’s fine. I asked if you wanted to order pizza for dinner. I can have one delivered.” Right now, all he wanted was food and to rest. Today had been way too eventful.

  “Sure. Let me wash my hands and I will order, then clean you up.” Lindy pulled away and he let her, knowing he couldn’t push the chair and hold her hand. This sucked.

  She walked a head of him and held the door for him to go through. Instead of trying to move him again now, she pulled the coffee table close, put a pillow on it and then put his legs on top of it. He had to admit. She was a smart girl. He could hear her in the kitchen washing her hands, then calling in the pizza.

  “Now, let’s clean you up and see if we need to go have you checked again.” She had a wet wash cloth and peroxide and went to work. Her touch on his hands felt nice, what she was doing, did not. “Do you have the number for your surgeon?” She asked.

  “I think Chase has all the papers. I’m sure it’s fine.” Luke really didn’t want to go to the doctor right now.

  “We have to be sure. I will call and get the number and check while we wait.” She wiped the last of the blood he had smeared on his face off, then walked away.

  He could hear her in his room on the phone, then she came back carrying band aids and a t-shirt. As she talked to his brother she bandaged his hand, then told him to change shirts before going to the kitchen. He could hear her pouring a drink then she was talking again, but this time he could hear her say his doctors name. About five minutes later, she was back in front of him handing him a pill and a drink.

  “The doctor said considering what happened to give you an extra pain pill. He said if you had pain that was out of the ordinary given your injuries for us to get to the ER and have it x-rayed.” She walked over and handed him another pill. “You might wanna hold off talking it till the pizza gets here.”

  “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” He was feeling a little woozy from the other pill right now.

  Lindy sat on the couch near him and handed him the TV remote. He wished he was on the couch with her, but if she tried to move him now he would probably fall over. He flipped through the channels until he found an action movie. He really didn’t care what they watched, it was really just back ground noise. They sat in silence, but it was a comfortable silence. He jerked at the knock on the door and realized he must have fallen asleep. She was already bringing the pizza back to him before he was totally awake.

  “Do you still have drink left?” She asked as she turned for the kitchen.

  “I’m good, thanks.” He said as he watched her walk out of the room.

  She returned with paper plates and napkins. She put the pizza on the coffee table and got them both some out then handed him his plate. As he ate he watched the way she curled her feet under her as she sat back on the couch. Her beautiful dirty blonde hair was coming out of the pony tail she had it in. His fingers itched to push the strands back behind her ear. She wasn’t trying to be sexy, but he was fascinated by everything about her.

  “You okay, Luke?” She asked tilting her head to the side and giving him a small smile.

  “I would be doing better is someone would share the pizza.” What he wanted was to kiss her, but he didn’t think she would go for that, so pizza would do. He held out his plate to her.

  “Next time, I want my own pizza.” She rolled her eyes and leaned forward loading his plate.

  “Anything you want.” He smiled as he took the plate back from her.

  “Here, I think you’re a little loopy, but the doctor said for you to take this.” He took the pill she handed him and swallowed it before finishing his pizza.

  After they finished she gathered the trash and put everything away. She seemed to be pretty comfortable in his house. It felt right to have her here. When she came back in the room she stopped in front of him and he stared up at her.

  “Alright, it is time for you to rest. It’s about 3 o’clock. Do you want to go to bed, or get on the couch?” It took him a second to respond, he was perfectly content to just sit and look at her.

  “I would prefer the couch.” At least he could still be close to her.

  “Sounds good. Can you do it like last time, but use a bit less force?” She asked him.

  “No problem. I don’t think I have that kind of strength right now.” He told her honestly.

  “Ready?” She asked when she got the wheels locked, and he nodded.

  This time it went as planned and she pushed the recliner so that his feet were up and he was stretched out. He stretched his arm across the back of the couch and she sat beside him. He was out cold in minutes.

  *****

  Lindsey was having a great dream. She rubbed her face against the hard chest she was on and wrapped her arm around his waist snuggling close. Dreams were always better than reality. Her dreams usually included Luke, but he felt more real this time. Hearing a phone ring she jerked, but a strong arm held her where she was.

  “Yeah, that sounds good, see you soon.” Luke sat the phone down and looked at her. “That was Chase. Callie wants to cook out so they are bringing stuff down.”

  Lindy tried to push off of him, but he squeezed her tighter.

  “Let’s just enjoy this for a couple minutes.” He seemed happy to just lay with her.

  “Luke, I didn’t mean to lay on you.” She couldn’t let herself get use to this. Just as she tried to push up again, Callie came through the door.

  “We will talk about this later.” Luke whispered in her ear as he released her.

  “Hey Callie, what can I help you do?” Lindy asked as she stood up.

  “Um, Chase is doing all the cooking. I thought we could just play with the babies while we waited.” Callie kept looking back and forth between her and Luke. She was confused, but Lindy was confused too.

  “Lindy, can you help me get in the chair. I will go hang out with Chase while he cooks.” Luke asked as he leaned forward and tugged her hand.

  “Sure.” She turned toward him putting the recliner down, then got beside him and helped him move.

  “Thanks.” He whispered and kissed her cheek as she was leaned over unlocking the brakes for him.

  She watched Luke push to the door then out. Her body felt like it had come alive. She knew she should be putting space between them, but she didn’t think Luke would allow that. Truthfully, she didn’t know if she wanted that. This was turning into a mess fast.

  “What is going on?” Callie asked as she set up a playpen for the babies.

  “Um, next question.” Lindy knew it wouldn’t work, but she had to try.

  “Not a chance, Lindy got some ‘splainin’ to do.” She said using the ‘I love Lucy’ quote.

  “I don’t really know.” Lindy sat back down on the couch, her mind going a million miles an hour.

  “Okay, so let’s talk it out.” Callie was one of her best friends, but she didn’t know what to tell her. “Fine, I’ll start with what Chase told me. Well, when he came down earlier he walked in and found Luke on top of you
on the couch, then the whole you leaving thing, him holding your hand, and then you curled up to him on the couch just now, and it looked like he just kissed you.”

  “It’s nothing. He has been injured and I’m just the first non-family woman that has been around.” That made perfect sense when she thought about it.

  “If that is true, what’s the excuse for all the months before the fire that he was alone?” She hated it when Callie was right. “What did he say to you?” Callie asked her eyebrow raised.

  “When?” The key was to admit nothing.

  “When he let you up.” Crap.

  “Fine, it was nothing really. All he said was that we would talk about this later.” Lindy confessed.

  “So why did he grab your hand then?” Goodness, she was full of questions.

  “To get my attention.” Again, that sounded logical.

  “Fine, you want to avoid it, that’s okay. Can you just do me a favor?” Callie looked serious.

  “Sure.” They had helped her so much, she would do whatever Callie asked.

  “Just go with it, and be open to what could happen.” Callie’s little smirk meant she thought she had her.

  “That will be simple, because there is nothing happening.” Lindy shrugged.

  Chase was great on the grill. The food was delicious. Everyone talked and laughed, and the babies got passed around. It was getting dark when they left, and it was time for Luke’s medicine. She gave him his pills and helped him to bed, then went to get a shower and go to bed too.

  Chapter 6

  The next two weeks were challenging. Luke hated that he needed help with pretty much everything. Lindy met his temper head on. He wanted her to see him as strong, but she was having to help him with everything. The small bathroom was driving him crazy. Lindy had gotten approval for him to use crutches long enough to get in the bathroom, but she still stayed by him till he got to the shower or toilet. Thank God, the new bathroom would be ready by the end of the day.