Road to Redemption (2 page)

One month later

“Why can’t you meet at the gym today?” Cori said in a whiny voice to Brooke over the phone.

“Sorry, but I hurt my back again. I’m pretty sure I just pulled something, but Lucas thinks I need to have it checked.  And I agree. Better safe than sorry.”

“He is right. Don’t take any chances,” Cori told her in concern. “Who are you going to see now that Dr. Chen is gone?”

“Dr. Reynolds took her place. Didn’t I tell you that?”

“Jack? Ryan’s friend Jack. The same Jack that I’ve been asking you about and you keep brushing me off?” Cori accused.

“Yes. And sorry about that. I just don’t know anything about him. Or at least the things you have been asking me.  And I can’t tell you anything confidential from his personnel files. You know that, Cori.”

Cori sighed. “Yeah, I know.  Well, let me know how you make out.  And you
can
tell me how he is during the appointment today, right?”

“Tell you what? The details? Of course I’ll fill you in on the appointment.”

“No. About him. His bedside manner. How he relates to you.  That says a lot about a doctor. At least it does to me, especially since I work with enough of them. I guess that’s better than nothing. Which is all I’ve gotten from you so far,” she said with a laugh.

“OK, I’ll talk to you later.  I just hope I can get in to see him today.”

***             

Dr. Jack Reynolds looked up from the computer screen he was studying as his patient, Brooke Malone, tried to climb onto the examining table with the help of Lucas Mathews. 

“Thanks for getting us in so fast, Jack,” Lucas said, shaking Jack’s hand.

Watching Lucas hover and try to rearrange Brooke was comical and brought back a flash of memories Jack would have rather kept hidden.  He cleared his throat to get their attention. “I was reviewing your notes from Dr. Chen.  Why don’t you tell me what happened and what hurts.”

Brooke looked uncomfortable. “I fell off the bed.” The heat spread across her face profusely at the confession. “At first I thought I might have bruised my back, but this morning I could barely get out of bed.  After a warm shower and a couple of Advil I started to feel better. But I’m still pretty uncomfortable, especially if I try to sit or stay in one position for too long.”

“May I?” He pointed at her shirt.  She nodded and helped him pull it from the waistband of her trousers. “OK, I’m going to feel around a bit. Tell me if any spot hurts while I apply pressure.” He moved his hands over her lower back, pressing and probing her scar gently.

“Right there,” she stated when his hand touched a particular spot. “It doesn’t hurt as much as it feels tender.  I feel it right there when I move, too.”

Jack turned to wash, then dry his hands. After throwing the paper towel in the trash, he addressed both of them at once. “It looks like you pulled a muscle, but I won’t know for sure without an X-ray and possibly an MRI.” He saw the distressed look cross Lucas’s face. “I want to rule out anything more serious.”

Jack turned back to his computer to give them privacy while Lucas helped Brooke tuck her shirt back into her pants. “I sent the script to the labs. They should have it by time you arrive. With any luck I’ll have the results in a few hours.”

***

Jack was programming the treadmill in the hospital gym when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Praying that it wasn’t an emergency and he could get home at a decent time tonight, he pulled his phone out and quickly scanned the text from Lucas thanking him. Jack replied back, then put his phone away.

As Jack had expected, there were no signs of broken bones or fractures. Nothing more serious than a pulled muscle. Rest alone should take care of the problem.

Starting his jog at a slow pace, Jack remembered the look on Lucas’s face when he helped Brooke climb onto the table, then later when Lucas was adjusting her shirt. Jack hated the pang of envy that came over him while he watched Lucas gazing at Brooke with love and concern. 

Jack remembered a time not so long ago when he was in a similar place.  When he looked at Tracy with concern, held her hand when she was in pain, and helped her with the little things. Like buttoning up her shirt when her hands shook, adjusting her belt when she started to lose weight or combing her hair when she was too weak to hold her arms up for any length of time.

He needed to push those sad memories away. It would only widen the gaping holes inside him again. Particularly when he was trying so hard to close them. So instead he focused on other memories, happier ones. 

Like the first time he saw Tracy.  Her blonde hair was pulled back in a perky ponytail on the top of her head and adorned with a bright red bow.  She literally bounced on the school grounds with her friends, all of them laughing and giggling at some story they were listening to.

He’d been sitting by himself with his nose in a book, as always, off to the side of the building, watching from the sidelines.  He had always been ridiculously shy and his love for school had targeted him as a bookworm. The only reason he was never called that to his face was because he was also the biggest kid in the ninth grade. 

At over six foot then, and showing no signs of stopping any time soon, most kids stayed away from him.  He had broad shoulders, long arms, and a lean tapered waist with thick muscled legs.  He looked more like a football player than a scholar. Only he wasn’t athletic at all.  His only athletic ability came from putting one foot in front of the other without tripping. 

That day back then he’d been flipping through his science book, trying to study for an up-and-coming test, when he heard his name being called and looked up. There she was. Tracy. A ray of sunshine that beamed through the storm clouds, vibrant and full of life. She stood in front of him and asked what he was reading.  She could clearly see it was his science book, but she asked anyway.  After he answered her, she had grinned and started to run back to her friends when she tripped and turned her ankle.

She went down hard on her hands and knees. He jumped up to help, even as she giggled in embarrassment.  But when he eased her up by the arm, she yelped in pain and couldn’t put any weight on her foot.  He had picked her up and carried her right to the nurse’s office.

Somehow he ended up carrying her books all over the school for the weeks following while she was on crutches. She became dependent on him and it made him feel good.  It made him feel strong, that this cheerful popular girl was interested in
him
. Tall, gawky, uncoordinated bookworm Jack.  And thankfully she didn’t require him to talk much. She did all the talking, and he just followed along back then—happy to be with her. 

But Tracy was gone now.  And he was left behind. Alone, like he was before she ever made that first step toward him so many years ago. 

Tracy had brought so much into his life and had made him a better person.  When she left him, he reverted back into his reclusive self even more.  More bitter than he ever thought he could be.  But that kind of pain was a thing of the past. Because he wasn’t going to let himself fall in love like that ever again.

Before he knew it, the treadmill beeped and his time was up.

As he walked out of the gym he passed a few nurses that were walking in. Several of them looked up at him and smiled. But he saw only one face. The petite redhead who drove the Mini Cooper that almost ran into him a month ago. The same woman one who rocked a tiny bikini like it was made for her.

She made eye contact with him and smiled brightly, her green eyes shining. His eyes crinkled at the corners a bit as he walked on.   A few steps past her, on impulse, he turned his head and caught her walking backwards, her grin still wide when she sent him a little wave.

He lifted his hand automatically, returned the wave, then dropped it and turned around, continuing on his way.  Guess that answered his question on whether she was an employee or not, he thought with a twitch of his lips. 

Then he sighed.  Nope, not ready to even consider the possibility. And frankly, he didn’t think he had the energy to try right now.  Hell, even if he wanted to try, he wouldn’t have the first clue on how to take a step.  Way too daunting to even consider.

Besides, having casual sex with an employee in the same facility was a recipe for disaster. And that was all he would allow it to be—casual. Just like that, the small grin he was forming vanished.

***

“Roxy, I’m home,” Jack yelled from the foyer after he shut the door behind him.  Slipping off his shoes, he placed them neatly next to the coat rack where he had hung his jacket.  “Roxy,” he called out again.  She normally made her way out of whatever room she was in to greet him when she heard the key in the lock.

He paused to listen for any sounds that would indicate where she was, but he was only greeted with more silence. Making his way to the back of the house toward the kitchen—which was normally her favorite place to be—he found it to be empty.  “Roxy, where are you?”

Again, total silence.

Trying not to let the panic set in, he made his way from room to room. She wasn’t in the living or dining room, or his office. Climbing the stairs slowly, he told himself there was no reason to panic. She had to be in the house. 

When he made it to the top of the landing, he started to hear an odd rattling noise coming from his bedroom.  As he crept closer he realized it was snoring. Loud snoring, like an engine roaring to life then stalling and revving up again.

The bedroom door was slightly ajar, so he pushed it open wider and stepped in. He fastened his eyes on the bed. His comforter was kicked halfway down and was partially hanging off of one side of his king-sized bed. The sheets looked to be in just as much disarray.

Smack dab in the center of his bed, Roxy lay sprawled out. Her head was on his pillow while she continued to saw wood without a care in the world.

“Roxy!”

The snoring stopped immediately, one big brown eye opened, then the other. He could almost see the dread spread across her face at being caught sleeping on his bed. But she made no attempt to move. 

He walked closer and sat down on the edge, leaned in and placed his hand on her back.  He slowly rubbed up and down her spine as she arched into him. Her big brown eyes looked at him adoringly, and his anger diminished. He could never stay angry with her. “I should send you back to where I found you.” But his words had no bite to them. “There were no cozy beds there for you. And you know you should be in your own bed, right?” Jack asked, looking to the other side of the room.

No answer, not that he expected one.  He looked a little closer and realized his pillow was wet. “Did you drool on my pillow? It’s bad enough you’re on my bed, but you drooled on my pillow too,” he said in disgust.

Her soulful eyes continued to stare at him as she snorted and blew out a big mass of spit, drenching his pillow even more.

Jack rolled his eyes. Then realized he would have to wash his sheets and pillowcase before he went to bed later.  He stood up and said the one thing that was guaranteed to get Roxy up and moving. “Let’s go for a walk.” 

Just like that, his beloved seventy-pound boxer jumped off the bed and danced around in a circle at his feet, her nails tapping on the hardwood floor.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs Roxy darted toward the kitchen instead of the front door. “Oh no. No biscuit for you. You were a bad girl. Maybe if you’re lucky you can have one when we get back.”

She seemed to understand everything he said as she turned around and made her way back to him. “Sit,” he ordered, and watched the wagging of her little nub of a tail quiver with excitement against the wood floors.

He slipped his jacket back on, clipped her leash to her collar, and made his way back outside, a full smile filling his face.             

***

“So, how are you feeling?” Cori asked when she sat in the chair across from Brooke’s desk.

“Not bad. Still a little sore, but it’s getting better.”

“You never did tell me how you hurt your back.”  

Brooke, true to form, started to blush like she always did whenever she was embarrassed. “I fell off the bed,” she mumbled.

“Seriously?” Cori barked out a laugh. “What were you doing? No, never mind, I’m not sure I want to know. On second thought, maybe I do.” She laughed some more.

“It’s not what you think,” Brooke explained. “I was on my hands and knees–”

“Stop.” Cori’s palm rose in front of Brooke’s face as she laughed even harder. “I decided I don’t want to know.”

“I was trying to change the sheets,” Brooke said with a scowl. “I was leaning over to tuck the corner under and I must have lost my balance. I tried to catch myself and next thing I knew I was lying on the floor.”

Cori tried to contain her laughter. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be laughing. Especially after you broke your back a year ago, but I can see it now. I’m glad you aren’t hurt though.”