Page 8 of Merry with a Captain

It was a lovely walk, and one that under normal circumstances she would embrace. But Robyn was finding it difficult to focus on this move, her new position, and settling herself into her gorgeous new apartment. All the plans she made and places she wanted to visit had flown out the window. Every day she went to work with all the best intentions, but her heart just wasn't in it.

She had to snap out of it. It wasn’t like her to be so unfocused. She’d never been hung up on a guy before, and it was making her crazy. After only one night with Fletch, he’d imprinted on her in such a way that it pushed everything else out.

The little patio in front of her apartment had enchanted her. It was three steps down from the street and a lovely black iron railing ran the length of the hip high brick wall enclosing the patio. A small garden between the sidewalk and fence begged for flowers. Another thing she’d been excited to do.

But not anymore.

Robyn sighed and pushed the key in the lock of the old wooden door. Her apartment was unique and ran the length of the narrow building, so there were windows looking out to the street on one side and to a courtyard on the other, which gave it a bright interior. Right from the start of her apartment hunting, she’d fallen in love with it and was super lucky it was available. Everything had clicked into place.

Inside, she dropped her sweater on the old embroidered chair by the door and hung her bag on one of the many odd iron hooks she found hammered into the walls around the apartment. She took a moment and glanced around the living area.

Yes, it would be easy to fall in love with Savannah, and she had when she’d first done research prior to her move. The list Robyn had made of all the things she was eager to explore — the city’s rich history, restaurants, amazing food — as she settled into this wonderful fully furnished apartment was lost and forgotten in her planner.

This apartment held a life story of its own with the exposed brick and stone walls, ancient fireplace, restored period furniture pieces and those iron hooks driven into the walls. A history she’d been eager to dive into.

She walked through the living area to her bedroom and fancied she could feel the past, hear the voices of the people that had walked these same plank floors all those years ago, and possibly even have a ghost or two as a roommate. Try as she might to rekindle her initial feelings, the excitement for this new adventure was gone.

Robyn sighed, then she took off her work clothes and tossed them in the hamper. Finding a pair of cozy fleece pants, she pulled them on and slipped into an oversized pink T-shirt.

It had taken a week, but she finally accepted the apartment, and its graceful street lined with ancient trees shading the cobbled road, had lost its charm.

And all because of a man.

What was she going to do now?

Run back to Love Beach to find him? He might be gone now.

Pine over him like a lovesick teenager? He may not be giving her a second thought.

Fill the painful void inside her by hooking up with someone else? Nope, not her style.

She padded through the apartment to the kitchen and pulled a bottle of rosé from the fridge. What she needed was a glass of wine and a good book.

5

Fletch’s first physiotherapy appointment had been rescheduled, so today was his inaugural poke and prod day. He’d filled out all the forms and was ready for whatever came his way.

He arrived at the clinic and registered at the reception desk.

“Have a seat. Matthew will be right with you.”

“Thanks.” Fletcher looked around the waiting area and selected a chair by the window. He sat. He'd never done physiotherapy before, and hadn't really thought about who would do the therapy, male or female. He didn’t really care, as long as he got the therapy, whatever it entailed so he could get back to his life.

A few minutes later, his physiotherapist came out to meet him.

"Fletcher Crockett? I’m Matthew. I’ll be doing your physiotherapy today."

Fletch stood. "Fletch is fine, glad to be here. Sort of." He smiled, but Matthew didn't, so he knew this was going to be a serious appointment.

He followed Matthew down the hall to the examination room.

“Have a seat.” Matthew indicated a chair beside the desk. “Right, then. I see you’ve done the intake forms. Great. I’ve reviewed them. From the sounds of your injury, what we’ll be doing to help you get back to one hundred percent is basically balance and agility, stretching, and manipulation which may cause some discomfort. I’ll give you some exercises to do at home. It’s important that you do them, it’ll help with your healing process.”

“Whatever I need to do I’ll do to fix me. The sooner I get back to normal the better,” Fletch told him.

“Right then let’s go out into the exercise area so I can get a look at how you move your leg.”

Fletch followed him, and there were two other people also getting a session.

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