Page 43 of A Place for Daydreams

Noelle took a long, leisurely sip of her coffee as she looked over her PT schedule. She was sitting at her desk, blinking complacently, until she noticed an appointment on her schedule for the day that hadn’t been there earlier in the week.

“Dean!” she mouthed, feeling suddenly excited.

She told herself that her excitement was due to the fact that she was glad that he was taking his physical therapy work so seriously. He’d been scheduling extra appointments lately, and she was always glad to work with him. She thought the world of him and she wanted to see him improving in his symptoms.

She did busy work in her office for a little while longer, and then it was time for Dean’s appointment. She sat at her desk, glancing expectantly at her door every few moments as she tried to work on going through her emails.

Then all at once there was a soft knock on her office door.

“Come on in!”

Dean pushed open the door to her office, smiling. Noelle grinned when she saw him, and then she noticed that he had something in his hands. It was a beautiful bouquet of pink carnations.

“Hey, Dean! Good to see you.”

“Hey.” He walked up to her desk and handed her the bouquet. “These are for you.”

“I—why—they’re beautiful,” she stammered, feeling as though she might be blushing. “How did you know I love carnations?”

“Well, when we were in the general store during our Rosewood Beach tour, you were admiring the bouquets of carnations. And as far as pink goes, that was a lucky guess.” He chuckled.

She took a deep breath of the bouquet, enjoying the way the smooth, delicate flower petals felt against her nose. The bouquet made her happy in a way she wasn’t used to feeling—she felt almost lightheaded, and although she felt special, she also suddenly felt self-conscious.

“These are very beautiful. I hardly know what to say. What’s the occasion?”

“Just a thank you for being such a great physical therapist. I really feel as though my symptoms are improving, and I’m grateful.”

“I’m so happy to hear that.”

For a moment, they stood there smiling at each other, neither of them seeming to know what to say.

“Thank you. I know just where I want to put these in my apartment. There’s a spot on my kitchen counter that catches the light beautifully. I’ve got a blue glass vase I can put these in.”

“Sounds lovely.”

“And thank you again for showing me around town. I feel like I know Rosewood Beach so much better than I did before.”

“I had a great time, truly. It was a really fun day.”

“I’m glad. Speaking of which…” Her posture straightened and her manner became more brisk as she switched over into work mode. “That brings me to the first item on our agenda for today. I want to ask you about how your symptoms have beenimproving and about your progress with at-home exercises. How was your fatigue after our very long hike around town?”

“Not too bad. I slept soundly that night, let me tell you.” He laughed. “But overall, I didn’t feel particularly tired the next day. I felt a little more achy than usual, but it was like I was tired and had more energy at the same time.”

She nodded. “Yes! The difference between just feeling tired and fatigue caused by factors other than physical exertion. I’m so glad to hear that. How have your at-home exercises been going?”

“Good. Really good. I’ve missed them here and there, but for the most part I’m making sure to get them done. They really seem to be helping.”

“Amazing.” Noelle smiled as she jotted down notes. “Tell me more about that.”

As Dean told her more details about his exercising and the symptom relief that was resulting from it, it became clear to her that he had made significant progress since his first session.

“That’s wonderful,” she said, clasping her hands enthusiastically. “Look at this chart here. Based on what you’ve told me, your symptom improvement is correlated to your participating in the exercises in this way. Does that look right to you?”

She turned the screen of her computer toward him, showing him the chart she’d made. It showed in clear details the improvement that Dean’s symptoms had made.

“Yes.” He grinned, his eyes lighting up. “That does look right. It’s really exciting to see it in a clear picture like that.”

“It really is exciting.”

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