by Nella Tyler
I finally made it to the office and pulled into the parking garage, finishing off my coffee as I navigated the floors up to my assigned space. It was going to be one hell of a long day at work, and I was actually a little glad that I didn’t have to take Landon to physical therapy afterwards; I wanted to see Mack again, but I knew I was going to be so exhausted at the end of the day that I wouldn’t even be able to enjoy it if I did. It was good that I would be able to go home and have a quiet night in with my son, cook some dinner and get to bed early.
If you’ve got to drag your ass into work after only three or four hours of sleep, at least it was worth it, I thought to myself, pulling into my parking spot. I shut the car off and checked to make sure that I had all the things I needed for the day, just like I’d checked with Landon before I’d let him out of the car. I had my phone, my keys, my wallet, and my laptop bag, with the reports that I had been working on and a few other odds and ends I found myself using throughout the day. I’d be exhausted by the time five or six rolled around, but I’d get through it. I smiled again, thinking of how good it had been just to be with Mackenzie, and how much better it had been to be in bed with her. I decided that as soon as I got up to my office and had everything settled for the morning, I’d take the proactive step and call her to schedule our next date. It probably wouldn’t be to Fun Town, but I thought I could come up with something good. Remember the flowers, too, I thought to myself as I got out of my car.
Chapter Seven - Mackenzie
“Hurry up, Blair! Let’s get her to the door. One…two…three!” I watched Alice and Blair lifting Amie up from the floor carefully as I hurried to my desk where my phone waited. My heart pounded in my chest and my blood roared in my ears, but at least on the outside I was mostly able to look like I was keeping calm. I could hear the wail of sirens outside as an ambulance approached the building; at least the police were quick about getting to the scene.
I threw myself into my chair and shook my head, anger boiling up inside of me at what had happened no more than minutes after Landon and Patrick had left the office. I’d finished up with Landon’s session, where he’d done really well—and had asked whether I’d ever been to Fun Town—and gone back to my desk. I’d told Patrick that I was looking forward to our date, which we’d agreed to go on that same night. He had invited me to a play, and I’d been so excited to go on another date with him.
But then one of the parents had started to get tetchy with Amie. It happened pretty often; at first I hadn’t even thought about it. I’d figured that the parent would shout a little bit, and then maybe storm off—that in the worst-case scenario, we’d lose the patient and the little girl who’d come in with her dad would have to find another physical therapy office. It wouldn’t be the first time some blow-hard of a parent had decided that they knew better than a trained physical therapist what their kid needed.
But all at once, or at least it had seemed that way to me, things had escalated. I’d heard Amie trying to calm the parent down, and the man starting to curse her out, calling her every name under the sun. Amie had called out for someone to call the police to deal with the guy, and then things had gotten really and truly screwed up.
By the time some of the burlier physical therapists had managed to restrain the guy, he’d managed to beat Amie down to the floor, breaking a couple of her bones and possibly giving her a concussion. She wasn’t so badly injured that we needed paramedics—after all, most of the staff at the office had had medical training—but the cops were on their way, and it would be a long recovery for her. I was left in charge of dealing with the police while the two assistants struggled to keep the angry parent restrained and some of the other women in the office were taking Amie to the closest hospital. Our office manager had left for the day, so I was the natural choice of the few of us who were left.
“We’re going to have to ask you to stay a little longer,” one of the other PTs, Charlotte, was telling a shaken mother and her daughter. “Just until the police are done. I’m so sorry this happened during your session with us.”
“It’s not your fault,” the woman replied. “I hope the cops deal with that guy, though I’m sorry for his daughter.”
“I think,” I said, pitching my voice just loud enough to be heard over the confusion of patients and their parents, and the few office assistants and PTs in the office, “that maybe it’s snack time for everyone who needs to hang out for a little while.” The kids would be occupied, and the parents could relax a little bit and wait for the police to ask them about what they’d seen.
In the meantime, I already knew that I’d be the one who would have to fill out all of the incident paperwork. The police had their reports to fill out, and I had my own. I thought about Amie—about how much pain she was probably in, about how afraid she probably was—and I knew I couldn’t shirk the responsibility of making sure that the asshole parent who had assaulted her was arrested. That poor little girl… one of the other therapists was sitting with the asshole’s daughter, talking to her calmly, offering her a packet of granola to snack on. If the man had a wife, I’d probably need to call her and have her pick her daughter up; if not, I’d have to coordinate with the police to get her somewhere safe. All of the details began to pile up in my mind and I shook my head. I was going to have to cancel on Patrick, as much as I hated to do it and as much as I could really use the relaxation of a play.
I opened my desk drawer with a sigh and took out my purse. I reached inside and fumbled around until my fingers closed around my phone. Of course. Of course on the night I actually have a date, some asshole in the clinic decides to ruin it. I pushed my irritation aside and found Patrick’s number in my contacts list.
“Hey, Mack—I didn’t expect to get a call from you so soon!” I smiled wryly at the pleased sound in Patrick’s voice.
“I hate to do this to you, but I have to take a rain check for tonight,” I said quickly. “If it were anything else, I’d move heaven and earth to make it, but I’m going to be stuck here for the next few hours.”
“What’s going on?” I looked over at the man, and then out into the waiting room where the police were talking to the lone front desk woman who remained in her post.
“There was an incident here a few minutes ago; you remember that guy who came in with his daughter just before you and Landon left?”
“No… I was too focused on you to notice anyone else,” Patrick said. “What happened?”
“He blew up at my friend Amie and, to make a long story short she’s on her way to the hospital. The cops just got here, and I’m the senior PT on duty and on the scene—so I have to do all the paperwork.”
“Oh shit! I hope Amie’s okay!”
“We think she might have a concussion. She’s going to be on limited duty—at best—for a month or two.” I shook my head, glancing over once again to the strong male PTs holding down the asshole that had assaulted my friend. “But I’m going to have to file a police report and fill out a bunch of forms and deal with a lot of other details. I’m just not going to be able to get out of here in time to meet you for the play.”
“If you have to take care of business, of course I understand,” Patrick said. “Take care of yourself, and stay out of the way of that guy—they tend to get even more aggressive once the cops start putting the squeeze on them.”
“I’ll do that,” I said, smiling in spite of how awful I felt. “If you’re free in a day or two, I’d love to make it up to you.”
“I look forward to it,” Patrick said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
“Cops are coming to the back,” I told him. “I have to go.” Patrick said goodbye and I had my phone put away by the time the cops made their way to the back.
“Who’s in charge back here?” One of the officers asked me.
I stood up from my desk and made my way quickly to the two police who’d showed up in response to the call. Taking a deep breath, I introduced myself to them. “I’m the senior PT on
duty right now; Amie—the victim—was senior to me, but obviously she is on the way to the hospital.”
“That the man involved?” The cop pointed to the parent, still held down by two of the therapists.
“It is,” I confirmed.
“And it looks like you’ve kept most of the people who witnessed the incident,” the second cop said, almost making it a question.
“All but the other staff members who are taking Amie to the hospital,” I told him. “You can catch up with them at the hospital, right? I think they’re taking her to West Suburban.”
“We’ll find out where, and we’ll talk to her once they’ve got her stabilized and able to have a chat with us,” the first officer said. “Why don’t you have a seat? This will only take a few minutes, and then we can give you what you need for your reports.” I nodded and sat down.
It may have only taken a few minutes for them to get my report on the incident, but it took a lot longer for them to wander around the room, talking to the patients’ parents and the other members of the staff who’d witnessed the attack. One or the other of the two cops stood with the asshole father all the while, and once they’d cleared everyone to leave, they started interrogating him—about what had happened, about whether he had someone to take care of his daughter while they took him into custody.
Predictably, the dad started yelling once it became clear to him that the police weren’t just going to let him walk away. “You’re going to believe that bitch over me? I told you, she was putting my daughter in danger!”
“Daddy, no she wasn’t,” his daughter said, her voice shaking.
“Sir—you’re scaring your daughter right now,” the cop said. “You need to calm yourself down. Now.” I shook my head, thinking to myself that if the asshole had been capable of calming himself down, the incident wouldn’t even have happened. The police finally got him to admit that he had a wife, and I sprang into action, calling the poor woman to come and get her daughter. Two more cops had arrived by then, and the source of the terrible situation found himself escorted out of the office and then the building, still yelling and shouting about his rights as a parent and cursing.
Charlotte sat with the man’s daughter as we waited for her mom to show up, and I started working on my paperwork, getting the details I needed from the two cops who’d responded to the situation first. They were waiting for the man’s wife as well, and they were going to explain about the arrest and what she could expect. I could only hope that the whole stupid mess wouldn’t lose us a bunch of patients—not that I could blame anyone who didn’t want to come in after something like that had happened. When the asshole’s wife finally arrived, she snatched up her daughter and held her tightly. She didn’t seem all that surprised that her husband had been arrested for assault and battery. “If I promise that he’ll never come back—that I’ll bring her in myself—can Dani keep coming? I don’t want to risk her missing out on recovery time,” she said. I thought about it.
“I’ll have to talk to the office manager, and to Amie,” I told the woman, feeling exhausted after all of the drama of the situation, and after the fear that had boiled in me at how injured Amie had been. “But your husband is absolutely no longer welcome in the building. I wish it could be different, and I know that Amie won’t want to jeopardize Dani’s recovery anymore than you do.” I took a deep breath. “If we do have to sever the relationship, then we will provide you with a list of other physical therapy clinics that your insurance will cover.”
“I appreciate it,” she said. She left quickly after that, and I sat down at my desk, answering a few more questions about the incident and giving the cops the details they would need to wrap up the investigation. I thought about the date that I was missing, and knew that no matter how much I wanted to be there, I was too tired—even if we could have made it on time. When the police left, I finished the job of straightening up and started gathering my things to go home. As I thought about the phone call to Patrick, I wondered if he hadn’t maybe agreed to a rain check a little easily. He hadn’t even asked if I was sure I wouldn’t be able to make it—or if I wanted him to come over instead, maybe spend the night in. It’s only the third date. You can’t expect him to be that familiar with you and that attuned to you so soon. I tried not to think about it, but in the back of my mind I decided that if he didn’t call later in the night to at least check up on me—or the next day or so to reschedule—that I would just assume that it had been a nice try, and some good sex, and leave it at that.
Chapter Eight - Patrick
“I’m glad everything worked out okay with Amie,” I told Mackenzie, holding her hand tightly as we both glided together on the ice. “Do you think she’ll be back at work soon?”
“A couple of weeks,” Mack said, smiling wryly. “At that she hates the fact that she had to cut off from her other patients so abruptly.” She shook her head. “I’ve taken on a couple, and some of the other PTs have taken on the rest of them.”
I’d been worried when Mackenzie had called me to cancel our date a few days before; the fact that one of the parents had flown off the handle and started to attack one of the therapists was almost unbelievable. I’d been on the point of asking her if she wanted me to come back. I had already dropped Landon off with his aunt Mary for the night, and I had thought at the time that maybe Mackenzie would appreciate the comfort; but I had second-guessed myself.
“I was worried you wouldn’t think this was all that great a date,” I said, gesturing to the ice rink, the park all around us.
“No! I love it,” Mackenzie smiled, looking up at the lights that ringed the rink. “I haven’t gone ice skating in—probably years, now that I think about it.”
“Not even on your own?” It surprised me. But then, I had started taking Landon ice-skating when he was barely a year old. I couldn’t imagine a winter without going to a rink.
“Not as much fun to go ice-skating on your own,” Mackenzie pointed out. I had to agree with that.
“Well now you get to brush up on your skills,” I said, gripping her hand a little tighter. “Before you know it we’ll have an Olympic-caliber routine together.” Mackenzie laughed again, shaking her head.
“I am way too clumsy for that,” she said. “I might—if you’re lucky—let you spin me, but I’m too good at falling on my ass to let you lift me.” I tugged her a little closer to me and let go of her hand so I could wrap my arm around her back.
“I won’t be lifting you any time tonight, anyway,” I said, brushing my lips against her cheek. “I’m going to be full to the gills until lunch tomorrow after that meal at the restaurant.” I’d let Mackenzie pick our dinner spot, and she’d made a good choice: a tiny little hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant, staffed by a family that spent the entire meal we were there bickering and fighting in a good-natured way, whenever they weren’t fussing over the people in the dining room. We’d both stuffed ourselves with samosas and biryani, curry and naan and rice pudding until I was sure if I ate another bite of anything, I wasn’t going to be able to go ice-skating at all. At that, we’d taken big to-go cups of chai with us to drink out on the ice.
“I’m glad you liked that spot,” Mack said, grinning. “I’ve eaten a lot of takeout from them—and the place itself is so cozy.”
“Is it just me or was the owner’s son hitting on you?” I raised an eyebrow, pretending to look jealous; Mackenzie hadn’t acted the slightest bit interested in Ranjit, our server.
“I have it on good authority that I am a very good prospect for marriage,” Mackenzie said, giving me a haughty look. A second later, she grinned. “Though Ranjit made it clear to me months ago that if I married him, he would expect me to either work in the restaurant or stay at home. I’m sadly a career woman by temperament; I couldn’t leave the clinic just because I got married. Thus I have ruined the great love of my life.”
The mention of marriage reminded me of the bet I’d made with Landon. After three dates, I was starting to think th
at it would be good at least to see if she and Landon could work well together in a different setting. “You seem to really like kids,” I said, as we completed another circuit around the rink. “Do you think maybe you’d ever want to have some of your own?” Mackenzie looked startled at the question for a moment, and then a thoughtful look came across her face.
“I’ve thought about it,” she admitted. “I really do like to be around kids. There was a time—years ago, mind you—when I did the girly thing. You know: planning the dream wedding and thinking about how many kids I wanted to have.” She shrugged. “If I found someone…and if I could make it work with my job…I wouldn’t be against it.”
“If you found someone?”
Mackenzie blushed. “Someone I thought I’d want to spend the rest of my life with, obviously. I wouldn’t want to have kids with someone otherwise. And if I was by myself…” she shrugged again. “I have a lot of respect for you, raising Landon on your own. I’ve seen how hard it is to be a single parent, and I don’t know if I’d be a good parent on my own.”
“I think you’d be fine,” I told her, thinking of how she talked to the kids—Landon, and the other patients she dealt with. “You’re really good with Landon. He minds you better than his teachers.” Mackenzie laughed.
“Well I’m also dealing with him while he’s being active, which seems to be his preferred mode,” she pointed out. “For active boys like Landon it’s easier to get through their skulls when they’re moving around.”