Brock

by Dale Mayer

  It was several days later when Brock returned to his room after a particularly testing morning trying to sort himself out. The counselor had not been one bit of help. He also hadn’t liked the news from the doctor this morning and had been trying to reach his buddy Cole all day, with no response. He sat down on his bed and stared, dispirited, out the window. For all that had happened, this was a great place to be, yet his life right now still sucked.

  He had just enough time to get a shower before lunch. If he didn’t get to lunch early then there was going be a huge line. He headed into the bathroom and refused to give himself a chance to just stand under the hot water as he wanted to do. Finally redressed, he was about to pocket his phone when it buzzed in his hand.

  He pulled the device out to see who had texted him. Cole. He read the message. Where the hell are you?

  He answered back. I’m where the hell I always am. Where the hell are you? He frowned, confused by the message. Another text popped up on his screen with a soft ping. Maybe you should come to the dining room and see for yourself.

  His heart jumped. What? He bolted down the hallway as fast as he could, making his way to the dining room. As he stood in the doorway, he scanned the huge room full of people. Was he really here? Why didn’t he tell him when he was coming in? They’d been friends for decades. They had been in high school together. They’d taken different paths for a while, but then both had ended up in BUD/s training together. Seeing Cole and Denton in the same training camp at the same time had been both unnerving and hugely comforting. They’d supported each other all the way through the brutal training. But they’d passed. They’d actually survived, and they knew it was partly because of the support they’d given each other.

  BUD/s wasn’t the kind of training one did on one’s own. Not that you couldn’t, but the journey was a ton easier if you had somebody to help you get there. He’d put his own success down to having his friends there. They’d ended up on different SEAL teams over the years, and they’d gone on several missions together, but not as many as he’d have liked.

  His gaze landed on the beloved, scarred face in the sunshine. He hobbled as fast as he could.

  By the time he reached Cole, his buddy was standing, one crutch under his arm and tears in his eyes.

  They hugged.

  Damn, his heart was breaking with joy.

  Chapter 8

  Good news traveled fast at Hathaway. Often, patients created friendships there that survived even long after the individuals had returned to their normal lives. Sidney didn’t remember ever seeing two patients that had been friends beforehand coming here together, though. It would prove to be an interesting dynamic. Would they help each other or enable each other to do less? She was looking forward to finding out, particularly when one of them was Brock. She knew he’d had a hard adjustment here. A friend might be a good answer. At the same time, part of her was sad and maybe a little jealous. Her time away had isolated her somewhat from the other staff and until now, she’d enjoyed spending the time with Brock. Now he was going to want to spend his time with Cole.

  Maybe that was good. A new perspective on his care and their relationship couldn’t be a bad thing. She walked into his room with a bright smile pasted on her face. Already, she noticed a change. He sat on his bed, his back and shoulders straight, and a smile on his face as he texted on his phone. She had no doubt who he was talking to.

  “Don’t you look bright and happy this morning.”

  He looked up, and his grin brightened. “Absolutely,” he said with a laugh. “A buddy of mine is here now, too. It’s so great to see him.”

  She smiled. “Does that mean you can work harder and better and faster now?”

  He laughed. “Well, I don’t know about that. I seem to do plenty of that as it is when I’m around you.” He motioned at his phone. “It’s just nice to see somebody you know. Somebody who understands where you’ve been, and what you’re up against. And know the same about them. It’s not that misery loves company, but everyone needs …” A slight grin slid out. “… maybe understanding.”

  “That’s normal. As much as we do understand, in that we see people like you day in and day out, we are not in your position,” she said lightly. “So we can empathize and commiserate, but we haven’t walked in your shoes, so we can’t really understand.”

  “Exactly,” he said, nodding his head emphatically. “You actually get it. More than I expected.”

  “Well then, you understand it’s time to get to work.”

  He gave her a mock salute. “Lead on, commander.”

  She shook her head. “It’s the other way around. You lead on. We’re going to start in the weight room this morning. Let’s go see what you can do today.”

  He hopped up easily, then he strode out of the room. He didn’t take a crutch for balance or safekeeping. She smiled behind his back as she walked. He was doing so well. With any luck, he’d be out of here quickly. Not that that would make him terribly happy, if his friend had just arrived. But she didn’t know that for sure. He did have a lot more to do on his back, that was for certain. She set him up with some exercises to get started. Light warm-ups, then she’d start checking out some of the muscles.

  “Sidney?”

  She turned to see Shane in the doorway.

  “Give me a minute.” She turned back to see how Brock was doing.

  He waved her off and said, “This is just a warm-up. I promise, I won’t hurt myself.”

  She raised her eyebrows at the cockiness in his attitude. He certainly had a lot more energy and a lot more enthusiasm this morning, and that was a good thing. She turned back to Shane and said, “What’s up?”

  “Andrew is being discharged in a couple of days,” he said. “I wanted you to see how he’s doing.”

  “There’s no need for me to see him,” she said. “I trust you to do a good job.”

  Shane laughed. “Actually, I think he doesn’t trust anybody else now. Not that he would admit it.”

  She frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

  “You were right,” he said simply. “A couple muscle groups hadn’t been given enough attention, and they needed work. Once he realized the truth of what you had said, he got really angry. Then he buckled down to work.”

  “He seemed like the kind of guy that would do that.” She nodded. “I’m glad you took him on.”

  “Now he doesn’t want to listen to my take that he’s doing much better. He knows he’s leaving in a couple of days and is afraid there hasn’t been enough progress. But it’s not required, and the cost of the bill would land in his lap if he stayed longer than prescribed.”

  She studied his face. “And?”

  Shane leaned against the doorjamb and crossed his arms as he looked toward where Brock was working. “It’s actually a request from Andrew. He would like to know if you could possibly come and take a look, to see where he might still be lacking.”

  Sidney blinked, and then she laughed. “So the guy that sent me away, complained about me and wanted to change to yet another therapist now wants me to make sure the work’s been done properly?”

  “Absolutely,” Shane said with a crooked smile. “As you’re the one that found the problem before, he would like to know you approve of the changes and you don’t see anything new that concerns you.”

  Amused, she grinned. “Where is he now?”

  “He’s in the room next door.”

  She turned to look back at Brock. “I don’t want Brock to be alone. Give me ten minutes, and we’ll move over there. That way, I can keep an eye on both of them.” She gave him a wry smile. “It’s going to feel weird, though.”

  Shane squeezed her shoulder. “You did what you needed to do, and he had to learn.” He turned and left the room.

  She walked back to Brock and pushed him through the rest of the set she had established.

  “So, we’re changing rooms?” he asked.

  Of course, he’d overheard the conversation. “D
o you mind?”

  “Nope, as long as it doesn’t change what we’re working on.”

  She grabbed his gear and motioned for him to go ahead. By the time he reached the door, she’d given the equipment a quick wipe-down and followed him.

  In the other room, she could see Shane and Andrew standing and talking.

  She studied Andrew, assessing his balance and his relaxed stance. Then, when he saw her, he straightened. She noted his stiff bearing but also that he stood strong. There was no leaning to the side.

  “How much work is there to be done this morning?” she asked Shane.

  “About an hour.”

  She nodded. She studied Andrew for another long moment. She walked around him. She knew he was a little confused, but she kept a smile on her face.

  Brock reached out and shook Andrew’s hand. “I hear you’ll be leaving soon.”

  Andrew shook his hand warmly in return. “There are definitely worse places to be, but there’s no place like home.”

  Brock chuckled in agreement. He nodded at Sidney and said, “I’ll head over to the balls and do some more stretching before you come over and give me the drill-sergeant routine.” With a goodbye smile at Andrew, he walked over to the chairs on the other side of the room to give them a bit of privacy.

  Shane laughed. “I see he knows you well.”

  She gave him an amused smile. “Apparently I have a bad reputation here.” She turned back to Andrew and said, “If you don’t mind, can I get you to walk toward the door and then turn around and walk back to me. Walk straight and as naturally as you can.”

  He raised one eyebrow but obediently turned and walked toward the door and then, using the doorjamb, he turned around and walked back to her.

  “Did you need the doorjamb for support?” she asked. “Or was it just habit?”

  He frowned at her in confusion, then he looked at the door. “I’m not sure. I guess I have to figure that out.” He turned on his own just fine and walked back to the door again. He passed through the doorway back and forth several times and said, “I think it’s a habit.”

  “But you are favoring your left leg. Did you hurt it?”

  He glanced down at his leg and said, “I accidentally cut it with my fingernail last night. It was surprisingly deep and irritated me. It surprised me how sensitive it is.”

  “Any injury on the stumps will take longer to heal. Until you build up the eventual callus there, you’ll notice every little bump and scratch,” she said calmly. She glanced over at the exercise balls and back at him. “Are you up for a few exercises?”

  He winced. “I guess we’re back to the same ones I did originally for you?”

  She nodded. “I want to see how much improvement there is.”

  Andrew glanced over at Shane.

  “It’s all good,” Shane said.

  Andrew walked to the balls and removed both prosthetic limbs. She led him through a series of exercises to determine what the inner abdominal muscle groups were doing. Finally, he sat back up, his breathing strong and his face flushed. “Damn, this is hard work.”

  “Hard work it might be, but you did fine.” She walked over to Shane and held out her hand for his clipboard. “You’re still favoring the left side, but you’ve come a long way. I knew we would be able to get you there, but without some extra work, you aren’t going to be able to maintain it. Going home will throw you off. There, you will twist and turn, bend and use muscles in ways you haven’t in a long time, so that’s going to put strain on your system. You need to maintain physio for several months. Shane will give you a set of exercises to keep you strengthening that muscle group.”

  She finished writing down the notes for Shane’s chart and handed it to him. She smiled at Andrew. “Other than that, you’ve done a lot of work and it’s paid off. You’re looking good.” She reached out and shook his hand. “Congratulations. I hope you have a great future.”

  She patted Shane on the shoulder and turned to head over to Brock.

  It was hard not to hear their conversation, but Brock focused on his workout, trying to give them privacy. There’d been enough rumors going around for the past week, and he realized this was a happy conclusion for Sidney. And for Andrew, by the looks of it. He wondered how he would feel if another therapist had said there was something missing in his workout, and that his current therapist hadn’t done as good a job as possible. It would be scary. In Andrew’s case, he was heading back home without the support he’d had here for so many weeks, if not months. To think that at the last minute something had almost been missed … well, that was one of the worst scenarios he could imagine.

  For him, he had been assigned to Sidney on her first day back, and she’d done a hell of a job with him. Still, he had to wonder—what if a different therapist did see something else? Should one have multiple therapists because they each would see something different?

  He knew it was that way in many industries. What one chef knew, another one didn’t always know. What one editor saw wrong in a project, another editor would see differently. It wasn’t bad, it was just the way the world was. He’d had other therapists before coming here, and he hadn’t done well with them. Now that he was supercharged and starting to feel like his old self again, did it mean another therapist wouldn’t see something different?

  He had had Shane before. Apparently, Shane and Andrew had gotten along well, if what he’d seen these last several weeks was anything to go by. In fact, Shane and Sidney seemed to get along fine, too. A little too fine for his liking.

  Brock gave his head a shake. He had no business thinking like that, but he was a single, healthy male, Sidney was stunningly attractive, and it was pretty damned hard not to. He’d spent a ton of his spare time with her. He couldn’t wait to talk to Cole about her. Just the thought of seeing his friend at lunchtime made him move into his workout with a ferocity he hadn’t seen in himself since Sidney’s first day.

  “Hey, killer, what’s the rush?” Sidney asked with a smile.

  Brock could see she was truly happy. Something had been settled inside. She was happy with Andrew now and the outcome of the problem. He had no idea how the other therapist would react, but he hoped none of it would come back on Sidney.

  “I’m meeting Cole for lunch today,” he said happily, pushing away that train of thought. “I can’t wait.”

  She smiled. Hmm. Maybe things weren’t perfect, yet. She was a little subdued. He gave her a bright smile, hoping he could infuse some of his good humor into her for the day. He was feeling fantastic. The happy mood kept up all the way through the morning workouts. By the time they broke for lunch, he was feeling damned proud of himself.

  He headed back to his room and had a quick shower, then made his way to the dining area. He grabbed a chair at a table out in the sunshine—his favorite—off to the left by the horses and texted Cole. I’m at lunch and I’ve got a table for us.

  And he waited.

  And waited some more. Frowning, he rose and headed to the buffet. He was hungry and really didn’t want to wait any longer. Besides, he had no idea what was holding his buddy up. He hadn’t even texted back. So … was there a problem? He cast his mind back to his first few days at Hathaway, and the teams he had to meet, and all of the testing that had to be done. He realized that if nothing else, Cole was likely exhausted and possibly asleep.

  He could also be eating in his room.

  Sobered, and remembering the harsh adjustment at the beginning of his own journey, Brock returned to the table he’d chosen out in the sun and ate his lunch alone.

  Chapter 9

  Sidney sat on the first table on the deck side of the dining room, watching as Brock walked in and took his place. She wondered about joining him for a moment, then remembered he was waiting for Cole. When he got his own lunch and headed back alone, she pondered for a second time if she should join him. But there was something going on between him and his friend, and she didn’t want to get in the way. She was happy to sup
port him if there was something there to be supportive of. But she’d have to wait for him to tell her about it. Shane dropped down in the chair opposite her with his tray full of food. She jumped in surprise.

  “At least you’re still talking to me,” she said wryly.

  “Of course. But then I’m a male.”

  She snorted. “There is definitely a difference between working with a group of females versus a group of males.” As a female, she understood her own sex well. She had little tolerance for a lot of their foibles. But there were a lot of good things about women that men just couldn’t compete with. Shane did a very good job of dodging bullets with all the women as it were. In fact, she wondered why he was single. He was gorgeous, compassionate, extremely professional and very good at his job.

  “How come you’ve never hooked up with anybody here?” she asked.

  Startled, he stopped with his fork in midair, and then shook his head, popping the food into his mouth, a big grin on his face. When he finally could speak, he said, “Sidney, you need to work on your interrogation tactics.”

  “Why? It’s a simple question.” She picked up her coffee cup and studied him over the rim. “You’re good looking. You’re personable, and you’re very professional. What’s not to like?”

  He gave a small shrug and said, “You tell me. There have been a couple women here I’ve liked, but it didn’t work out.”

  She nodded. “That’s too bad.”