Page 8 of Broken Dreams

She stared past the yard rakes and shovels hanging off the back wall of the garage. She had no clue. To be honest, she couldn't comprehend a single, logical reason for Nick to care about what she'd written.

Perturbed, she climbed from the car and headed inside the house. She wasn't in the habit of lying to herself, so she forced herself to examine her true feelings. Was she more embarrassed over her response to Nick's kiss or the way he'd read her letters?

Both. And she couldn't quite pinpoint which of the two events bothered her more.

“Mr. Goetz, it's time for you to go down for physical therapy.” Amber stopped the older man in the wheelchair from going in the opposite direction. “That's the way to the dining room. The elevators are down the hall, this way.” She turned his chair back around.

“I'm not going to therapy.” He glared at her, then with surprising strength spun himself so he was headed to the dining room again. “I'm too tired for therapy.”

She suppressed her sigh. She understood how difficult it was for these patients to force themselves to face the pain of physical therapy, yet at the same time they'd never get any better if they didn't work their injured muscles. The image of Nick flashed in her mind’s eye. He likely spent hours in physical therapy, too. She wondered again why he'd come to Milwaukee. To see a specialist? Or was he still under a doctor's care at home?

Where did Nick call home?

“Mr. Goetz, you know the rules,” she explained again. A big part of being accepted to the rehabilitation floor meant tolerating three hours of therapy per day. He might be one of her favorite patients, but this was for his own good. “You must attend therapy, even if only for a short while. Unless you're sick in bed, which you obviously aren't.”

For a moment the stubborn old man glared at her, then his shoulders slumped. “I'm just too tired.”

Her heart squeezed in sympathy, but she steeled her resolve. “I know. But you need to at least give it a try. Please? Once you're in the gym, working your muscles I'm sure you'll feel less tired. And if not, tell the therapist to call me and I’ll run down and get you.”

He blew out a deep, heavy sigh. “All right.” He allowed her to turn his chair around and wheel him down the hall toward the elevators. She had a million other things to do, but wheeled Mr. Goetz into the elevator and rode down with him.

When the doors opened, she pushed his chair down the hall and into the spacious gym area. Equipment of all kinds lined the walls, including some exercise machines. Wide exercise mats were scattered around the center of the room for muscle strengthening activities. A set of parallel bars for independent standing and walking stood on the opposite side of the room. For a second, a man with his back to her using the bars reminded her of Nick. Then she laughed at her own foolishness. She was imagining him everywhere. The guy haunted her because of one simple, silly kiss.

Paul, one of the physical therapists on duty, crossed the room and greeted his patient. “Good morning, Mr. Goetz. How are you feeling today?”

She hadn't seen Paul since the last time he'd asked her out, but forced a smile and gave her head a slight shake. “Mr. Goetz isn't feeling very energetic today. Maybe you can start him off slow, hmm?”

Paul Fletcher sent her a questioning glance, but nodded. “Sure thing. We'll work on the floor mat first—how about that?”

“I guess so.” Mr. Goetz was less than enthused.

“Thanks.” She reached down to gently squeeze Mr. Goetz's arm. “Take care. I'll see you upstairs in a little while.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he groused.

Paul wheeled Mr. Goetz toward the mat and she stared after them for a minute. Paul was a nice guy, but she couldn't summon any interest in him, there was no spark of attraction at all. At the time, she'd wondered if she'd ever get over losing Shane.

Until she'd met Nick.

Her cheeks flushed as she remembered those brief moments he’d held her in his arms. Apparently, she wasn't immune to a good looking guy after all. It hadn't taken much for her to have come alive in Nick’s embrace. The man could kiss. Never had her heart gone from zero to ninety like that, leaving her wanting more.

As much as it pained her to admit it, Shane's kiss hadn't roused such an instantaneous response.

Thank goodness Nick had broken off the kiss before she'd made a complete fool of herself.

She swallowed hard and turned away. One kiss didn't mean she was interested in anything more. She couldn't wait to get out of the city and to start living her life. A relationship would interfere with her desire to travel. Besides, Nick wasn't her type. She preferred friendly, outgoing guys like Shane. They'd taken long walks and spent hours talking. Shane's personality suited her far better. Tall, dark and brooding didn't appeal to her.

Too bad, because Nick was devastatingly attractive.

Shaking off the useless thoughts, she decided to take the stairs up to the second floor rehab unit. She'd reached the top landing when the overhead speaker came on.

“Medical emergency, first floor, physical therapy gym. Medical emergency, first floor, physical therapy gym.”

Mr. Goetz. Instinctively, she knew her patient was in trouble. Although she wasn't a part of the medical emergency response team, she turned and raced back down the stairs to the first floor.

She burst into the gym area and saw a group of people crowded around the physical therapy floor mat. She pushed her way into the center. “What happened?”

“He's having a seizure.” Nick glanced up at her from where he sat beside Mr. Goetz. “Does he take medication for seizures?

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