Worth It All

by Claudia Connor

“You have a dog!” Casey headed straight to a large black dog lying under one of the tables. The lab mix stood and stretched as Casey approached.

  “That’s Boulder.”

  “Aww.” Casey knelt in front of him. “I want a dog. Poor baby. He has a hurt ear. What happened to him?”

  Paige moved closer to join in the doggy love.

  Jake knelt beside Casey and rubbed the dog’s head. “I’m not sure. I found him in the parking lot a few years ago.”

  “And now he’s yours. You’re so lucky!” Casey lavished Boulder with attention.

  The dog lay down in front of Casey and she promptly lay down beside him, then laughed as they pawed each other. “Aww. Look! He likes me.”

  “He definitely does.” Jake agreed with an affectionate smile toward Boulder and toward Casey.

  Lord, he was deadly, Paige thought. Heart-stopping smile. Lover of dogs. Miracle to those in need.

  Boulder had evidently had enough of Casey and quietly lumbered out of the room.

  Casey made a grab for him, but he was gone. “Hey. Where’s he going?”

  “Down the hall to Carol probably. She hides treats in her desk.” Jake took in Casey’s forlorn expression. “He’ll come back. Let’s have a look at your leg while we wait.”

  He straightened to his full height and standing so close, she fought against the shiver trying to run through her body. Focus. Paige sat Casey on the wooden table, removed the flesh-colored prosthesis, and handed it to Jake. It looked incredibly small as he turned it in his big hands. He had beautiful hands.

  “She’ll probably get a new one on her next visit to Shriners,” she said, pulling her thoughts together. “The replacement schedule has been every year, but that will likely change when she turns five.”

  “Which is in not many days,” Casey said.

  Jake nodded and laid the prosthesis on the table. He leaned down closer to Casey’s level. “Can you show me where it bothers you specifically?”

  “I don’t know what pespeficky means. Do you have gum?”

  A smile tugged at his lips. “Sorry. No gum and it means where exactly is it hurting you the most?”

  Casey lay back, straining to reach something she definitely should not touch. “How did you get this table through the door?”

  “Casey Marie.” Her tone was clear and Casey sat up. “Just point where it hurts.”

  With her hands under her thigh, Casey pulled her leg up toward her face, lying back on the table again. “Mostly around here.” She did a twirly circle with her finger around the entire stump that was a couple of inches below her knee.

  “Sorry. She’s not too scientific.” Paige peeked at Jake to see if he was becoming exasperated. Nope. Didn’t seem to be. In fact he seemed relaxed and…pretty perfect.

  “No problem.” He carefully inspected the stump for any signs of excessive pressure. She didn’t think there were any—she checked every day—but maybe he’d see something she didn’t.

  “Do you like your leg?” Casey asked.

  “Yes,” he said, moving to inspect the prosthesis itself. “Do you like yours?”

  Casey shrugged. “Sometimes. Did you get it when you were a baby?”

  “No. I was nineteen.”

  “Oh. That’s old.”

  Paige thought she caught something deep in his eyes, the memory of it, maybe, but the shadows disappeared as quickly as they’d come.

  He gently helped her daughter put the prosthesis back on, making sure the sock was perfect and the fit suited him. When he was satisfied, he lifted her from the table.

  “I don’t see any definite pressure points or problems with the components, but even the slightest change in gait can cause discomfort in her thigh or hip. If this doesn’t work, we can do some scans and have her walk on a treadmill that records and assesses her gait.”

  Casey walked along the table and picked up a rounded piece of something.

  “Casey—”

  “She won’t hurt it,” he said lightly. “Hey, Casey, can you come walk in front of me?” He knelt again, making himself about eye level with her hips. He had her walk back in a straight line away from him, then toward him several times. Every now and then he’d have her stop so he could tweak the alignment screws with an Allen wrench.

  Casey kept her balance with a hand on his shoulder and was relatively quiet, only asking “What are you doing?” five times. A record low. They both watched him work with skilled efficiency, his head bowed, intent on his task.

  Long lashes rimmed his eyes and a faint scar ran through the hair along his left temple. It made her want to touch him, ease some old hurt she didn’t even know about.

  “Okay, why don’t you take a few laps around the room. See how it feels.”

  Casey walked around the table, increasing her speed with each step. Jake straightened and watched her progress with such care and concern it went straight to her heart.

  Casey stopped in front of one of the biggest monitors displaying a split screen. On the left side, a 3-D image of a human climbed a wall like a video game. On the right, a series of numbers flashed on points of a graph every time he moved.

  “Is that a robot?” Casey asked him.

  “No. It’s a man.”

  Casey looked to Jake like she might be four, but she wasn’t stupid.

  “It’s a man out there,” Jake said, half laughing. He pointed in the general direction of the testing side. It was clear Casey still didn’t understand. Jake lowered himself into a nearby chair and rolled until he was beside her. He pointed to the screen. “See, that’s a computer image of a real—”

  “No, I can’t see.”

  Before Paige could move, her daughter helped herself to Jake’s lap for a better view. Jake glanced up at Paige, not like he minded, more like Casey was picking teams and he was shocked she’d picked him. Strange because he had a natural way with kids. Did he have some of his own?

  “Right. So that’s a man named Mike, climbing the rock wall, and Mike has electrodes attached—”

  “What are leg trolls?”

  “They’re…” He thought a minute and Paige liked him even more for his effort.

  “Electrodes are like special stickers on Mike’s prosthetic hands that send a message here to my computer. Green is good, everything’s working. Red means the hands aren’t doing what they’re supposed to.”

  “So it tells you it didn’t work?”

  “It tells me I need to work harder.”

  “Oh.” Casey’s gaze tracked along the table, bouncing from one thing to the next. “Do you like gum?”

  “Yes,” he answered, going with the whiplash change in topics.

  “Do you like squirrels? I like how their tails twitch. Do you have a girlfriend?”

  “Casey!” Paige’s cheeks heated, and she hated how much she wanted to know the answer. “I’m sorry, she’s inquisitive.”

  “That means I ask a lot of questions, but that’s because I need to know stuff.” She slipped off his lap to go look at more stuff.

  “That’s okay. It’s good to ask questions. And I don’t, by the way,” he said, turning his attention to her. He tilted his head and grinned playfully and all the air was sucked from the room. “Do you?”

  “Have a girlfriend?” she teased. Jake smiled but it was obvious he was waiting on a real answer. “No. I don’t really date.” There was no really to it. She hadn’t been on a date since the night of Casey’s conception.

  Jake leaned back against his desk and crossed his arms over his chest with a thoughtful look. “Why is that?”

  “Time mostly. My plate is pretty full right now.”

  And case in point, Casey called out, “Hey, Jake, want to see what I can do?” She didn’t wait for him to answer before showing him her best cartwheel, which wasn’t much, but pretty damn good for an almost five-year-old.

  “Very cool.” He sounded sufficiently amazed to get two more and Casey radiated pride.

  “I can do it better with one
foot. Want to see that?”

  Paige stepped forward before she ditched the prosthesis Jake had just spent his time adjusting. “Let’s leave it on for now.”

  Jake straightened. “Is it still bothering you?”

  “No.” Casey walked away to look at something else.

  “She’s walking evenly,” he said to her, still keeping an eye on Casey.

  “Yeah. It doesn’t seem to be bothering her at all now.”

  “Looks like I have the magic touch.”

  She bet he did have a magic touch. He came over to lean against the table next to her, close enough to get a faint whiff of aftershave.

  “I can teach you how to make adjustments. Even if she’s not clearly communicating what feels right, there are certain things you can look for. I mean, I don’t mind doing it, but it might be helpful in case you need to match a different shoe. Of course I have no idea how many different kinds of shoes a five-year-old wears. Obviously, she’s not wearing stilettos, but—”

  “Who’s not wearing stilettos?”

  They all turned toward the voice of a large, good-looking man with mocha skin filling the doorway. He wore the same black shirt with the company logo and a wide smile. His tan shorts revealed a double amputation and his dark eyes practically twinkled. She instantly liked him.

  “Hey, Simon.” Jake straightened and put some space between them.

  “This is Paige and her daughter, Casey.”

  Simon glanced at Jake, amusement dancing in his dark eyes. “I see you moved.” She just caught Jake’s scowl before Simon turned and held out his hand to her. “Hi. Simon Moke. I don’t think we ever met officially.”

  “No. Nice to meet you,” Paige said, taking his hand.

  “I was looking at her daughter’s prosthesis, just making a small adjustment,” Jake said.

  “Really?”

  Another look passed between the men, and an awkward beat of silence followed. Right. They were done. No reason to linger. Though she wanted to. “Thank you,” she said, turning to Jake. “I really appreciate this.”

  “You don’t have to thank me,” he said softly, sounding like he didn’t want to be thanked.

  “Well…thanks, anyway.” She didn’t know what else to say to this man who made her feel so shaky inside.

  “Casey, what do you say to Jake?”

  “Jake, is it?” Simon raised an eyebrow.

  Jake stuck his hands in his pockets, looking decidedly irritated with his coworker. Simon, on the other hand, appeared on the verge of laughter. Inside joke?

  “Knock, knock.” Another man, older and decidedly frazzled, appeared in the doorway, his focus on Jake. “Sorry, but we need you in lab four. If you can. I mean, I think you’ll want to.” He waved the clipboard in his hand.

  “I’m sorry,” Jake said, looking at her. “I don’t know how long this will take.”

  “No problem. Sounds important.”

  “I’ll walk them out,” Simon offered.

  Her gaze met Jake’s one last time, and a long pause hung in the air like maybe there was something else to say, but she didn’t know what it was.

  Casey had an appointment at Shriners coming up, so if she needed anything more, she could wait for that. He might come back to the diner. He might not. They shared another long look and she turned, nearly smacking into the doorframe.

  Casey waved. “Bye, Jake.”

  “We’ll take the scenic route,” Simon told them cheerfully as they went one way and Jake went the other.

  She couldn’t help herself from glancing back over her shoulder. Her heart took a giant leap in her chest when her eyes met his. Because he’d looked back too.

  Casey walked beside Simon on her newly adjusted prosthesis, her step hitching a few times as she paid more attention to him than what she was doing. “You have two legs,” she said, amazed.

  “Yes.”

  “And they make noise.”

  “Yes. My right knee is electronic, you can hear the air compressor. Cool, huh?”

  Casey nodded. “What happened to your other legs?”

  “I stepped on something I shouldn’t have.”

  “Oh. I didn’t step on anything.”

  “So, you know JT?” Simon led them into an elevator and pushed a button.

  “Jake? Well…I don’t really know him.” Not as well as she wanted to. “He offered to help with Casey’s prosthesis.”

  “Did he?” His mouth turned up at the corners. “Well, that’s great. JT’s a good guy. He’s also an expert at what he does.”

  Casey peered up at him. “Are you an expert too?”

  “So glad you asked,” he said, smiling. “I’m the guy who makes sure what JT designs actually works.”

  “How do you do that?”

  The elevator doors opened and they stepped out. “Well…this”—he made a sweeping gesture with his hand—“is the fun side of Evolution.”

  The three of them moved to a Plexiglas railing that overlooked the floor two stories below and was open to another two stories above. A massive rock wall with several climbers rose up into the center of the open space.

  Individual rooms with glass fronts like racquetball courts lined the sides of this level and the level below. Some had treadmills and computer stations, others had large blue mats on the floor and various equipment she assumed was for physical therapy. It was beautiful. Clean lines, colorful markings, and full of natural light from the top floor that was mostly windows.

  “What do you know about our company?”

  “Not that much. Sorry.”

  “I’ll give you the short version. The entire complex is right around 90,000 square feet with an R&D side and a testing and therapy side, where we are now. See that man?” Simon pointed to a man at the bottom of a steep portion of track. “They’re testing the traction of a new prosthetic foot on different terrains. Today it’s gravel.”

  A woman knelt beside him, attaching something to his foot; another man and woman stood ten feet up the incline, both holding computer tablets. At their signal he began a sprint up the incline. He made it halfway before slipping.

  “I’d fall, running uphill on gravel,” Paige said.

  “Yes. But after we’re finished, he won’t. With the products we develop here, people who were once seen as having a disability become stronger, faster. Amputations aren’t limitations to the human body and prostheses aren’t seen as replacements, but improvements. That track is one-third of a mile long and loops around the testing division. We can change surfaces, inclines, et cetera.”

  Paige listened as her eyes followed the suspended red track that rolled and looped around the rock-climbing wall. It dropped below another section on the other side and continued like an indoor highway system for people.

  Casey’s eyes were wide and Paige could practically see her little mind filling with possibilities. “It’s amazing,” she said as they started walking again. And Simon was obviously proud of it and of his friend. “You’ve known Jake a long time?”

  “Yep. A long time. He’s a genius, really. Not quite thirty and already sold six major patents to biomedical companies, three of which are being used exclusively by the military. And thus, the birth of Evolution.”

  Paige stopped. “Wait. You mean he started the entire company?”

  “We did, along with another friend, but it was his patents that funded it. Why am I not surprised he didn’t tell you?” Simon shook his head. “Anyway, there’s no other place like it.”

  Casey moved away to peer through the Plexiglas.

  “You know, sometimes adjustments can cause minor changes in muscle use and balance. Why don’t you bring her back? Let me do some circus training with her.”

  “Circus training?” Casey beamed and Paige wanted to hug him for making whatever therapy he had in mind sound exciting.

  “That’s nice, but”—Paige lowered her voice, though Casey had moved farther down the railing—“my insurance wouldn’t cover—”

  “Not
needed. Really. It’ll be fun for her and I’m happy to do it. And if I see that she needs another adjustment, you’ll already be here.”

  And maybe she’d see Jake again?

  Simon led them back to the front where they’d come in, stopping at the green line on the floor. He slid his card in front of a sensor until it beeped and a silver bar swung open like a subway gate. Patents, she remembered, growing more impressed by the minute. Not a common emotion for her where men were concerned. And even more incredible, Jake hadn’t taken credit for any of it.

  They stopped at the front desk and worked out a time for Casey to come back.

  “Thank you so much.”

  “You’re welcome. I’ll see you later.” He winked at Casey and went back the way he’d come.

  “I like Simon,” Casey said, as they walked back to visitor parking.

  “Me too.”

  “I like Jake better.”

  Me too.

  Chapter 4

  Paige rounded the wide oak bar, almost running smack into Kali, carrying a tray full of drafts. “Sorry.”

  Kali pressed her lips together. “Table five is asking for another pitcher of Bud Light.”

  “Okay, thanks.” She stepped out of her coworker’s way and worked to get drink orders out. Kali was nice enough, but Paige was definitely the new girl at the Grille.

  Not quite eight on a Thursday night and things were picking up. The Grille was more of a food place on weeknights, but they still got some after-work drinkers. Mostly men who didn’t have anyone at home, or did and came here to drink instead. Those were the ones you had to watch out for.

  Scarred wooden tables dotted the floor area under dim lighting. The bar was nearly full with a few others standing, watching the Dodgers beat the White Sox.

  Paige finished ringing up the current tab, then went for the pitcher. She’d already worked the afternoon at the diner and was midway through her four-hour shift here. The work was basically the same, only the trays were different. Black-rimmed with a cork bottom, serving two-for-one drafts instead of soda and milkshakes.

  Over a week had passed since she’d seen Jake at Evolution. He hadn’t come back to the diner since the night he’d offered his help. At least not on her shift. She hated how often she’d looked for him every time the door dinged. It didn’t help that Casey talked incessantly about him and his magical legs and computer people.