Page 30 of Wicked Healing

Chapter 8

Luca watched Wicked go,escorted by the woman that had changed his life. He had no idea what the hell had come over him, but he wanted to be with Erin. When he thought about leaving her and taking Wicked with him, his heart ached for all three of them. Being with her today had shown him that she was just as amazing as he’d thought from her emails. More so even. They clicked on a friend level, and he knew by the subtle tension running between them that he could pursue more, and she would be receptive. That sounded a little conceited, but he’d seen that look in women’s eyes before.

His own insecurity held him back, though. She hadn’t seen everything and it was way too early to assume how she would react. His body wasn’t pretty anymore.

Luca called his regular nurse and told her what they were thinking. Smiling, she nodded, promising to check with his primary doctor.

It took three hours to hear back, but Dr. Young was thorough when it came to things like this. Sometimes too thorough. He suggested that another week of therapy should be enough to set Luca up for success.

The disappointment was crushing. Yes, he was tired from his excursion but he felt like he was doing everything right. There was a need to move into the next chapter of his life, and while he appreciated everything La Jolla had done for him, he was ready to move on.

To give Erin some of the distance she seemed to have been needing, he emailed her.

‘Looks like another week.’ And he gave her the expected release date.

It took her an hour to respond.

‘That’s fine. We’ll leave tomorrow and come back to get you in a week.’

The delay fucking sucked, and now Wicked would be gone from him again. Luca left his room and powered out to the main atrium, looking for something to soothe his emotions. But he wasn’t finding it.

Instead he found a little girl at the edge of the small koi pond. The child couldn’t have been more than three or four, he didn’t think, her dark hair trailing down her back. When he stopped on the other side of the pond she glanced up at him, her deep blue eyes flashing, then back down at the water.

Luca looked around, curious where she’d come from or who she belonged to. It was only the two of them in the atrium area at that moment.

Deciding to monitor the situation, he limped on around the pond. A rock-bed stream trailed away from the pond overflow and about thirty feet later flowed into another pond. Luca followed the stream and sat on a bench near the second pond, but he kept an eye on the little girl, just in case she tripped or something. He was the only one here to help her if she did, which may not be good chances for her, he thought with a bitter inward chuckle.

She stood at the side of the pond for a long time, then settled on a rock at the edge of the water. Luca could see the big orange fish circling in the water, hoping she had food for them. For the better part of a half hour they each sat at their spots and allowed the water to heal their sorrows. Luca listened for the intercom system to call out her name or something, but it never did. He was going to have to bring her to the attention of the nurses or something. Surely someone had to be looking for her?

Luca’s frustration had cooled as his worry for the little girl built. He needed to do something. Using the bench to brace himself, he pushed to his feet and started back toward the other pond. He watched his feet because the trail between ponds was fairly level, but could still be dangerous. At one point he glanced up to check the girl’s location, and that was when his prosthetic caught on the side of a rock. Luca knew in a heartbeat he was going down, but he tried to angle along the length of the path.

Luckily, he didn’t land on any of the rocks surrounding the trail, just the trail itself. Gasping in pain, he held himself completely still for a moment, trying to gauge his injuries. He hadn’t felt or heard anything snap, so that was a good thing. It took a long, panicked second for him to be able to draw his breath in, though. His ribs ached but there were no stabbing pains like there were when Wicked tackled him.

There was the slightest of touches on his right shoulder. Craning his head, he looked up at the little girl. She’d left her rock to come check on him. Big, sorrowful blue eyes looked him up and down, and he forced a grimace. “I’m okay,” he lied. Her tiny hand stayed on his shoulder as he sat up.

Actually getting to his feet presented another problem. “Back up, darling,” he told her. She walked down the path a little, but stayed close, like she would try to jump in and help him if he faltered again. Luca appreciated her concern but he had to do this himself.

Rolling over onto his good knee he stretched out his prosthetic, trying to brace the toe of his shoe into a rock, then he used his hands to walk himself up into a ‘downward dog’. Then, getting his good leg beneath him he pushed to a stand. It wasn’t the most graceful of movements but when he was vertical the little girl gave him a small smile.

“Thank you for trying to help me out,” he told her, giving her a grin. “I’m glad you were the only one that saw me go down.”

She smiled again and nodded, and he wondered if she didn’t want to talk or couldn’t.

“Do you like looking at the Koi?”

She gave him a confused look.

“The goldfish. They’re called Koi.”

“Yes, I like the koi.”

Oh, she did speak, just not very much. “Do you think your parents are looking for you?”

Her big eyes filled with tears and it was almost enough to break his heart. What had he done wrong. “Are you lost? Is that why you’re down here?”

She shook her head, letting her dark hair fall forward to cover her face. “I know where I am.”

“Where are you supposed to be?”

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