Chapter 11: A New Kind of Healing
I spent the majority of my morning apologizing to people for the past couple of days. I had to apologize to Kate and just about the rest of the nursing staff and Enrique and even Sandra. You should be proud of me for that last one. You know how much she annoys me.
Justin is still here although I haven’t seen him in a while. Right now I’m lying on my back in my bed while Enrique moves my legs around. This is so embarrassing.
“Now I want you to try to push on my hand.” He says holding up my right foot. I look at him like he’s crazy. Why does he tell me to do these things when he knows I can’t; it’s impossible. “Just try.”
I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I try to concentrate on my legs. I don’t even remember what it was like when I could feel them. This should not be difficult. Just push….
I open my eyes and look up at Enrique with a questioning look. Did I do it? He smiles and lowers my leg to the bed giving it a sympathetic pat. “Maybe next time huh?”
Yeah, next time...
“I was talking with Dr. Jones the other day and she said we could try aqua therapy if you want to.”
Aqua therapy? What they think that since I can’t walk I’ll be able to swim? “I don’t think so.”
“You don’t even want to know what it is.” He asks moving to sit on the edge of my bed. I shake my head no and he sighs disapprovingly. “I’m gonna tell you anyway. Basically we suspend you in a harness in the big pool downstairs. You’re standing over a treadmill that we turn on and I, along with Dr. Jones or Kate will be there to move your legs.”
And the point of this is…? Making me feel even more helpless than I already do? That sounds about right.
“This just helps retrain your legs on how their supposed to move.”
I don’t know about this. What if I drown or something? But he did stay I would be in a harness thing.
“I’ll let you think about it, alright chica?” I smile at his cute accent and nod. “You let me know tomorrow.”
I turn my head to the side when I hear the door open. Justin’s curly head peeks in and when he spots Enrique his eyes widen and he tries to sneak out without being noticed. Ha! Like I would let that happen. “Justin!”
He curses under his breath and glares at the large smirk adorning my face. Enrique stands to face Justin with a smile even bigger than mine. It’s cute how much he missed him. Justin offers a small wave and a quiet hello but Enrique pulls him into a tight embrace.
I laugh loudly and Justin continues to glare at me as he squirms away from Enrique.
“I’ll see you tomorrow Enrique.” I say, hoping he gets the hint to leave and he does.
“I don’t know why I come to see you.” Justin teases. “You love to encourage him.”
“It’s funny.” I giggle as he sits on the edge of my bed.
His smile drops and a deep frown sets in. Is he really mad at me? What's wrong?
“You really gave me a scare yesterday Mackenzie.”
“I scared myself yesterday.” I reply. I feel so…ashamed. He must think I’m just a big pathetic baby. How could he ever see me as anything other than that? I just sit around all day and feel sorry for myself and my situation. No wonder my mom doesn’t want me around.
“Hey,” He whispers raising my head with his thumb. “Just don’t do it again okay? Call me next time you feel down.”
I want to kiss him right now. God, he’s so close I feel his hot breath move over my lips. My gaze travels from his eyes past his nose to him slightly parted lips. Have you ever looked at his lips? I mean really looked? They’re perfect. Perfectly shaped, perfectly smooth, perfectly pink.
Oh God, what the hell is wrong with me? I pull away from him before I do something I’ll regret later. Since when do I…oh man. I am not supposed to be feeling this way. I’m just lonely and vulnerable and….he’s just plain hot.
Stop it Mackenzie!
“You alright Zee?” He asks drawing my attention back to his just-what-the-doctor-ordered lips.
“I’m fine.” I some how manage to squeak out. “Just tired I guess.”
“Oh, well I want you to meet someone. She’s really special to me.”
You all know what this means right? He’s going to introduce me to his girlfriend. I know he is. I’m sitting here fantasizing about yanking him to me and….doing dirty things to him and he’s going to tell me he has a girlfriend. And you know she’s going to be gorgeous; at least as gorgeous as he is. This is the story of my life.
“If you’re too tired though we can do this later.”
Yeah so I can sit here the rest of the day and obsess about it. Let’s just get it over with. “Now is fine.”
He smiles gratefully and quickly leaves to go get this mystery girl. When he reenters a petite looking woman with blonde curls much like his and the brightest blue eyes I’ve ever seen follows him. She’s beautiful, though older than I figured.
“Zee, this is my mom, Lynn.”
I just choked on my own saliva; gross. His mother! This is his mother? She is way too young to be his mother. Oh, that means this isn’t a girlfriend; not that I really care.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you Mackenzie,” Lynn smiles. She has a heavier southern accent than her son but not so strong it’s obnoxious. “Justin talks about you constantly.”
I can’t help but smile at that. It probably isn’t true, but I smile none-the-less. I see Justin cover his face in embarrassment and hear him groan out his mother’s name. I’m not used to seeing him embarrassed; it’s cute.
“Justin, why don’t you give us girls some time alone to get to know each other better?”
No, no, no, no, no. I give Justin a pleading look begging him not to leave me alone with this woman I have just met. I don’t know what I would talk about. He smiles evilly and mouth ‘Enrique’ to me. Oh that’s low.
“That’s a great idea mom.”
I wipe the scowl off my face and replace it with a smile when Lynn turns her attention back to me. “Yeah, I’m sure you have plenty of embarrassing stories you can tell me about Justin.”
Yeah, how do you like them apples? You can’t beat the master.
“No stories mom.” Justin says sternly, a blush already creeping to his cheeks. These stories must be really good.
“Oh don’t worry sweetie, I won’t tell her about that time in the Dallas airport when you””
“Stop! Stop!” He yells frantically covering his mother’s mouth with his hand.
“No, no I want to hear this.” I laugh. “What happened?”
“Mom I’m serious.” Justin says reaching for the door handle. “I’m just going to get a drink; I’ll be back soon.”
“So now that he’s gone…” Lynn laughed. Okay now I’m getting uncomfortable. What are we going to talk about? “I know you’re probably sick and tired of people asking, but how are you doing?”
She’s right I am sick of people asking me that, but the way she says it…I don’t know…I just doesn’t really bother me. I guess I just get the vibe that she’s not just asking because she doesn’t know what to say but because she really wants to know.
“I’m doing a lot better now.”
“Now that my son is here?” She asks with a raised eyebrow. I don’t really know how to gage her question. She’s not giving me any emotion to feed off of here. I guess I’ll just have to be honest with her.
“Yeah. I do want you to know that I didn’t ask him to come though. I didn’t want him to have to stop the tour. It was my roommate who””
“Relax honey.” She says in a soothing voice. “I’m not upset with you; I’m glad you lean on my son like you do. And he really cares about you Mackenzie; more so than I think he likes to let on.”
What is that supposed to mean? More than he lets on. Ugh, I am so confused right now!
“I just would like to thank you,” I begin, “for raising such an amazing person.”
Did that sound as lame to you as it did to me? It sounded a lot better in my head. It’s like a line from a cheesy romance movie. Wouldn’t it be great if you could rewind time and take back stupid stuff you say? Or even better stuff you do. If that were the case I wouldn’t be in this hospital right now. But then I never would have met Justin….hmm? Strange how things turn out.
“Oh you don’t need to thank me.” Lynn says with a blush. “I just want you to know that if you ever need someone to talk to or….whatever, I’m here for you too.”
Oh my gosh….what do you say to that? This woman has shown me more affection and acceptance than my own mother in just this short time we’ve been talking.
I reach out and grab Lynn’s hand; willing away the tears. “I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”
“What are my two favorite ladies up to?” Justin interrupts our touching moment. “You better not have told her that story mom.”
Lynn pulls her hand back and turns to her son with an amused smile. “Oh hush, we haven’t even gotten to the stories yet. We thought we’d wait for you to get back. This way Mackenzie came see you squirm; give the girl a bit of entertainment.”
I laugh at Lynn and give her a high-five while pulling Justin over to sit next to me in bed with my other hand.
“Let me see if I have any pictures I can show you.”
I lean into Justin and he wraps his arm around my shoulders as Lynn searches her bag. “I love your mom.” I whisper. I feel him chuckle.
He gives me a firm squeeze and replies, “Me too.”
TBC.....(Let me know what you think!)
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