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I nod. “That sounds good.”
“Sure,” Phil says, not really sounding sure at all, “but with how big this has gotten, I don’t think it’s going to be enough. I think we need to go big or go home.”
I can feel my heart thumping in my chest, and in dread of what he’s going to suggest, I say, “Like what?”
Phil heaves a sigh down the phone. “You’re not going to like it.”
6
Emma
Okay, I will admit it. Working with Ryan hasn’t been as dreadful as I first imagined it might. The first session was the toughest. But that’s because he’d backed me into a corner, and we both knew it.
I’m not exactly warming to him, but I realized that my icy attitude was annoying me more than him. Besides, from a professional point of view, his injury is severe enough, and it’s in my nature to want people to get better.
After work, I head out of town to visit Mom and Penny. Mom has fibromyalgia and needs twenty-four-hour care. Of course, my visits always entail some sort of therapy, but it’s never the real reason I’m there.
“Hello,” I call out when I walk in the front door.
“We’re in here,” Penny calls back.
I know exactly where they are because they’re in the same place every time I visit. The noise of the TV already trickles through the living room door, and when I enter, Mom and Pennyare sitting together on the couch, watching Mom’s favorite quiz show.
“Hey, guys,” I say, bending to kiss Mom gently on the cheek. “What’s the scale today?”
“Six,” Mom says, looking a little pale.
When Penny and I realized that Mom sometimes got too tired to explain how she was feeling, we figured out the scale system. One being dreadful and ten being the best that she could feel under the circumstances.
“Okay. So better than last week, then.”
Mom smiles weekly, while Penny says, “Yes, but the last three days have been a three.”
“Oh, Mom.” I frown sadly. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s alright, sweetheart. It’s just the way it is.”
Even with her debilitating disease, Mom has a great and positive outlook on life. In fact, even though she’s in a lot of pain most of the time, I don’t remember the last time I heard her complain. But then, she’s from a generation that was forged from steel, right?
“I hear Ryan is back in town,” Penny says when I drop down into the chair across the room.
She has a twinkle in her eye, but I can’t tell if it’s just because she knows he’s back in town, or she’s heard something else. Like the fact I’m treating him. Maple Springs is a small town, and news travels fast. And when I say fast, I mean the Roadrunner would struggle to keep up.
“Yep,” I say noncommittally.
“But you know that because he’s coming to see you,” she says, the smirk growing on her lips.
Mom is smiling over at me, too, and all I can do is shake my head.
“He’s injured. So, yes. He’s now a client.”
“Good for you, dear,” Mom says. “Though I always thought Thomas was the nicer of the boys.”
“He is,” I quip back.
Penny looks surprised. “Is Ryan still a jerk?”
Penny has always been far more outspoken than me, and so, I don’t really know how to answer that. Firstly, I don’t really like talking about people so negatively, even though I did with Sharon, but I think that was just the shock after Ryan arrived unannounced at the office. But secondly, he’s now a client, and there’s this thing called confidentiality. Something I’m now bound by as his health care professional.