Page 116 of Revive Me

“Mr. Ward?”

I look up, surprised that one of them actually worked up the courage. By the end of the day, I’ll learn that middle schoolers are also shamelessly blunt.

“Yes?” I ask patiently.

He glances down at my cane that’s leaning against the desk. He seems to stumble over his question for a moment. “Why— Uh, why do you have a cane?”

“Because sometimes I need help walking,” I answer simply.

His brow furrows. “But…you’re not even that old.”

My lip twitches with amusement. “Old people aren’t the only ones who might need help walking.” When that doesn’t clear up his confusion even a little, I nod toward his glasses and add, “You know how your glasses help you see better? That’s all my cane is, too. Some days, my legs just need a little extra help.”

All three boys make a littleooohsound at my answer. It’s why I decide to wink at them and add, “I like to think of it as my super-secret weapon.”

Their eyes widen, but I’m already standing and calling the class to order. Hopefully, their reactions mean I’ll be getting more questions about the cane after class.

A few hours—and a million questions—later, I’m finally leaving school grounds and driving home. I’m still smiling when I walk through the door.

As soon as I’m dropping my keys in the kitchen bowl, Garfield rises from where he was sleeping on a barstool and climbs onto the counter. He lets out one demanding meow that I can already translate.

“I know for a fact your automatic feeder just went off, so no, I’m not feeding you,” I scold him, scratching behind his ear. “I’m not Tina. You don’t get treats just because you’re cute.”

“I’m telling Tina you said that.”

I’m already smiling, even before I set eyes on my girlfriend. You’d never know it’s been almost a year of living together because Istillcan’t get over the feeling of walking into the house and knowing she’s already here.

I look up to see her walking into the kitchen, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, her hair still wet from her shower. She’s smiling as she steps up to me, her arms immediately circling my waist. “Hi,” she greets sweetly. “How was your first day of school?”

I ignore the question, but only for long enough to slide my hand into her hair and take her mouth in a kiss.

“Hi, Doc,” I murmur with a smile.

I feel her lips tip up in a smile of her own. “Hi,” she whispers back.

But when I accidentally bump her with the cane still in my hand, she frowns and pushes me back. Looking down, she asks, “Are you having a bad pain day?”

Once again, I ignore her question and instead tip her face up for another kiss, setting my cane aside in the same motion. “What did I say about leaving your PT hat at the door?”

She nips at my lip. “That wasn’t my PT hat, you jerk. But fine, I won’t ask.” As she starts to turn away from me, I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her back. “Not a pain day,” I murmur into her neck. “I just wanted to get the cane distraction out of the way with the kids.”

Again, she pushes me back so she can look up at me, this time with excitement in her eyes. “And? How were they?”

I try for a nonchalant shrug, but I’m not hiding anything. Lily knows how excited I’ve been for the student teaching part of my undergraduate degree.

“Exactly the way I expected them to be. Curious, easily distracted, and predictably unfazed.”

Lily props her chin on my chest, sunshine radiating from her expression. “I love that,” she says. Then softer, “I love that you love this.”

I take her mouth in another kiss, because I can’t not. “I loveyou.”

Her smile widens, and before I can let my feelings completely adle my mind, I tap her thigh in a silent request that she jump up on the counter. She lifts herself immediately. And once she’s closer to my level, I can lean both hands on the counter by her hips and drop my face down to her neck, letting out a breath that releases all the tension from my body.

“I can already tell I’ll need the vacation we booked at the end of the thirteen weeks, though,” I murmur against her skin. “I’m glad we timed it that way.”

Sometimes, I look back at how worried I was that I wouldn’t fit into Lily’s life outside of the clinic, and I laugh. Because that fear couldn’t have been further from the truth. In the two years we’ve been together, we’ve taken plenty of trips, some with just the two of us and some with her dad and brothers. They folded me into their family so seamlessly, I forgot I was ever concerned about not being able to keep up.

This upcoming trip we’re taking, the annual Davis family trip, is the perfect example of that. Because they let me pick the destination, and when I suggested a scuba diving trip after becoming certified as an adaptive scuba diver, not only did they agree to the idea, but they also became certified as adaptive support divers. Even knowing it was enough safety-wise for Lily to be my support diver, they still took the time and money to go the extra step to make me feel included.

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