Page 66 of Where Are You Now
Before therapy, Ava managed to work on her four accounts for most of the morning and then cut thirty squares of fabric for her mother’s bags. With another one hundred seventy squares to go and then the interior batting, she’d work more on them after her appointment.
She got ready for the day and went into the kitchen. The counter was covered in flour and baking supplies, and the kitchen smelled of nutmeg and cloves.
“What are you up to?”
“I thought I’d make us a pumpkin pie like I do on Christmas,” her mother said when Ava emerged from the office. “I woke up refreshed. When you’re here, every day feels like the holidays.”
“I love you, Mom.”
Martha’s eyes glistened. “I love you too.”
“Need any help?”
“You’ve got your therapy appointment. I’ll have it in the oven before you’ve even made it to Nashville.”
“You sure?”
Her mom fluttered a floured hand in the air. “Yes, yes. I’m sure. How about you? Are you okay to drive my car?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“I thought maybe you could invite Lucas over to have a piece of pie after work. It might be good to spend some time as friends, now you’ve both cleared the air.”
“I’m hoping to run into him at therapy today,” Ava said honestly. “If I do, I’ll ask.”
She hadn’t spoken to Lucas since they’d shared their secrets yesterday, and she couldn’t wait to see him again. Running into him was her driving force for going to therapy. Otherwise, she probably would’ve tried to cancel the appointment altogether.
Her mom took the car keys from the hook by the door and tossed them to Ava. “Be careful, and call me if you need anything.”
Ava slipped her new pink handbag onto her shoulder. “I will.”
A half hour later, she was walking into the therapy building at Vanderbilt.
Once she’d checked in and been called back, she kept her eyes open for Lucas, but didn’t see him. Her therapist, who’d introduced herself as Kim, took her into a spacious room with a padded floor. Along one wall were resistance bands and weights, exercise balls, and foam rollers.
“You can take your shoes off over there.” Kim pointed to the edge of the mat near a couple of stretching tables. “Then, come to the center and we’ll work on your shoulders.”
Ava complied, sitting on the tiled area of the floor and slipping off her sneakers before placing them neatly under one of the tables. As she stood up, a doctor passed by the window that looked on to the hallway. It wasn’t Lucas, but she figured it wouldn’t be, seeing as she was on a different floorthis time. But the new location hadn’t stopped her from checking, though.
“Let’s test your range of motion,” the therapist said. “Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, and very gently tilt your head as if you could touch your ear to your shoulder.”
Ava did as she was told. She grimaced, unable to tilt her head as much as she usually would.The pain is still there. She tried the other side. Same.
“How does that feel?”
“A little sore,” Ava replied.
Kim held out Ava’s arms and then gripped her shoulder, moving the muscle around. “That’s normal. It looks like you do have some range of motion, but we’ll want to work on those muscles to be sure they’re nimble. Let’s try another exercise and see how you do.” Kim bent over at the waist and dangled one arm toward the floor, spinning it in circles.
Ava followed her lead, the motion incredibly painful. “That’s tough,” she said, still trying.
“Yeah, it probably is.”
They continued, and as Ava did her stretches and exercises, contorting herself into unnatural positions, the tightness in her muscles and the low range of motion were surprisingly evident. By the end of the session, Ava was pretty sore and tired.
She didn’t let her fatigue deter her, however, from finding Lucas. When she’d made it back to the waiting room, she texted him to let him know she was there.
Seconds after the notification came through that he’d checked the message, he was standing in the doorway of the waiting room.
