“Is that true?” Nedra asked, looking at the puppy poster Jana had given him. It said, ‘A hug would make my day.’

“Absolutely,” Bryan responded.

Nedra held her arms out and Bryan threw his own arms around her neck. She hugged him tightly before using the hold to transfer him to his chair.

“That was sneaky,” Bryan laughed.

“You better believe it,” Nedra joked. “So, you ready to go?”

“Yes!” Bryan could hardly contain his excitement. “I wonder where Jana is.”

“I’m sure she’ll be here soon. Let’s get you loaded into the car and then we’ll be ready for her when she arrives.”

The black phone beside Bryan’s bed started ringing. Nedra picked it up and stretched the cord as far as it would go to place the receiver in Bryan’s hand.

“Hello? Oh, hey Jana, you running late?”

Nedra watched as Bryan’s happy smile faded and his eyes drooped.

“No, I understand. I hope you feel better. Bye.”

“Not coming, huh?”

Bryan shook his head. “She’s not feeling well. She needs to stay home and rest.” He looked defeated.

“Well, we can still go if you want.”

Bryan perked up. “Really?”

“Yeah, why not? I already have the night off. I’m ready to go, and you’re ready to go…” She trailed off.

“Yes! Let’s go!”

“All right.” Nedra clapped her hands, grabbed the handles behind Bryan’s manual chair, and pushed him down the hall toward the elevators.

Once they reached the parking lot, Nedra pushed Bryan a little faster to the car to avoid the bitter breeze. Nedra unlocked her Mazda sedan and turned the key until the engine rumbled. She reached over and turned the heat knob all the way up, and then climbed back out to lift Bryan into the passenger seat. Reaching across him, she buckled his seatbelt and made sure he was secure. She folded up his wheelchair and carefully lifted it into the trunk. She climbed back inside and looked to Bryan as she buckled her own seatbelt.

“You ready?” she asked.

“Let’s do this.”

She smiled and pulled out of the parking lot.

“So tell me about your family,” she said after they had been driving for a few minutes. “Your grandpa seems to come by almost as much as your parents. Are you two really close?”

“Very close. My dad is the youngest of four kids. His next oldest sibling is ten years his senior. So I’m his youngest grandson by quite a stretch. We’re very similar in a lot of ways and we have a lot in common. My grandpa was a huge part of my life growing up. He took me fishing where I caught my first fish, he offered a sanctuary whenever I needed a break from my parents or my sisters, and he even saved my life once.”

“He what? What happened?”

“Well, maybe not saved my life, but at the time it felt like it. When I was younger, my sister Becky and I used to deliver the Penny Savers. Most of the time, we would just split up the route. She would do half and I would go the opposite direction and do the other half. My sister Brenda would help Becky a lot of the time and every once in awhile my grandpa would drive me around my route. One day, he was driving me and I went up to the porch. As I was hanging the paper on their door handle, this huge dog came around the side of the house. He lunged at me and started biting me, grabbing ahold of one of my legs. I was screaming for help when my grandpa got out of the car, pulled out his cane and started beating the dog off me with it. The dog yelped and ran off.”

“Wow. Scary! So are you afraid of dogs?”

“Oh, no, not at all. I love dogs. I’m not much of a cat person, though.”

“Really? I have seven.”

“You have seven cats?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I just love animals! I live alone and I have the means to take care of them, so I figured why not give as many a home as I can?”

“That’s nice.” Bryan paused. “What about your family?” he asked. “Are you close to any of your grandparents?”

“No. My grandparents all died when I was very young. The only memory I have of my grandma is every Christmas when we would dress up really nice and eat a fancy dinner on her finest china. I used to love that tradition. I hope to do it with my own family some day.”

“And you’re from California?”

“Born and raised!”

“So what brought you to Utah, then?”

“Well, I decided to get out on my own for college. I graduated from Brigham Young University and then right after graduation, the University of Utah was hiring, so I just stayed and I’ve been here ever since.” She shrugged. “You planning on college?” she asked.

“You know, I’ve never really thought about it. I’ve always wanted to be a mechanic and work with cars, so college was never in the plans for me. I guess now, given the circumstances, it might be something to consider.” Bryan got quiet as he contemplated the new options that now lay before him. “So how many siblings do you have?” he asked.

“Just one older brother,” Nedra answered. “Daddy’s name is Arden, so my brother is Arden junior, but we’ve always just called him Randy. That’s how they got my name too. Nedra is Arden spelled backwards.”

“Huh.” Bryan had to think about it for a moment, trying to put the letters backwards in his mind. “That’s clever.”

“I think so. So are you named after anyone?”

“Bryan? No, my parents just liked it. My middle name is Louis, same as my dad’s middle name.”

“My middle name is Jane, same as my mother’s name. So I’m named after both my parents.”

“I like that. When I have a son, his middle name will be Mayo.”

“Mayo?”

“That’s my grandpa’s name.”

“It’s an interesting name. How do you spell it?”

“M-A-Y-O.”

“So just like the…”

“Yup, just like the condiment. He’s actually named after a county in Ireland. His parents, my great-grandparents, were immigrants from Ireland.”

“Oh, very cool. Carroll does sound like a pretty Irish name.”

“Yeah, I think it actually used to be O’Carroll back in the day.”

Nedra glanced at him and smiled before looking back to the road.

“What?” Bryan asked.

“That’s just one of the things I love most about you,” she said, cocking her head to glance at him again.

“What?” he asked again.

“You didn’t say if I have a son, you said when. Everything with you is when, not if. You have no doubts about your future. Sometimes I wonder if you even remember that you’re paralyzed.”

Bryan grinned. “It crosses my mind now and then.”

“I think that’s part of the reason why you’re doing so well,” Nedra added. “Your positive outlook and can-do attitude really seem to be what’s propelling your recovery.”

“What else am I supposed to do? Lay in bed and wallow in self-pity?” he asked, crinkling his nose. “That sounds boring. And like a waste of time.”

“You’d be surprised how many do, though. And trust me, their recovery time is a lot slower than yours.”

They talked easily the whole drive. Before they knew it, an hour had passed and Nedra was pulling into the parking lot. The park didn’t appear to be too busy, so she quickly found a parking spot on the front row, closest to the trails. After parking, she unloaded Bryan and then pushed him up to the rough, wooden sign with arrows pointing to the different trails.

“Wow, it’s chilly out here,” Bryan said.

“I guess this is your first time really getting outside since the accident, isn’t it? Well, since your limbs don’t move much anymore, your blood doesn’t circulate like it used to,” she explained, throwing a heavy blanket over him. “Let me know if you get too cold and we’ll leave. This is just one more thing you’re going to have to get used to.”

Bryan was cold, but he was far too excited to be out to turn back now. Nedra chose the simplest path and began pushing Bryan forward. The pathways were a combination of wide, wooden planks and concrete. They would be talking as Nedra pushed him along on the smooth concrete, then Bryan’s voice would suddenly start vibrating whenever they passed over the bumpy wood.

He loved the cool, crisp mountain air. He had been breathing nothing but sterile hospital air mixed with chemicals for months now. He had almost forgotten how clean fresh air could be. They couldn’t have picked a better time to come. The leaves were just starting to change for fall. Surrounded by all the different shades of red, orange, and yellow, Bryan felt as though he were staring at a huge painting. They came to a quaint bridge on the path, which went right over the top of a beautiful, blue spring. Nedra pushed him over the bridge, where they stopped in the middle to look down. Several moss covered rocks popped up all over in the spring, with a yellow plant top waving just above the water. The colors reflected beautifully in the white, foamy water as it ran beneath their feet.

Bryan took another deep breath, this time his throat stinging from the bitter air. The temperature dropped quickly with the setting sun. Bryan fought within himself for several minutes before his goosebumps and shallow breath won out.

“We better go,” he finally managed to get out.

By the time they made it back to the car, Bryan was shivering. Nedra threw another cover over him and cranked the heat in her Mazda. “Do you want to drive around a little more?” she asked.

“Yes!” Bryan responded enthusiastically.

Nedra pulled the car into drive and they traveled along a narrow loop, enjoying the stunning mountains, trees, and springs surrounding them. As it started to get later, and despite Bryan’s protests, Nedra finally turned the car around and started for home.

“It’s probably too late for me to shave you once we get back. I guess you’ll have to be scruffy for a couple days,” Nedra said.

Bryan made a face, but he knew she was right. The others were probably already asleep. “O-kay,” he said slowly.

“What? You’ll wear a mustache, but you don’t like a little scruff?

“It’s way too itchy, and I can’t scratch it. Far too irritating.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t really think about it being itchy. I guess that makes sense.”

“I’m sure a lot of it has to do with how I was raised, too. My mom was very staunch about me being clean shaven and having short hair. That’s one of the things we used to fight over all the time. I like my hair a little shaggy, but she wanted it very short.”

“Really? I like your hair shaggy,” Nedra said, glancing over at him.

“Well, thanks. I guess my mom will get her way when I move home again. I’m sure she’ll cut it first thing.”

“When we get married, you can keep your hair as long as you’d like,” Nedra assured him.

Realizing what she said, Nedra’s face turned beet red. She didn’t dare look at Bryan, who had suddenly become very quiet. She bit her lip and stared straight ahead, unblinking, until her eyes became so dry she could hardly see.

Bryan’s thoughts were going all over the place as he tried to figure out what had inspired her to say such a thing. Was she joking? Did she really like him? Did she want to marry him? He didn’t know how to respond, so he didn’t. The longer they sat in silence, the more awkward the drive became. Nedra reached forward and turned the radio up, hoping the music would fill the awkward silence. “Babe” by Styx started playing. Nedra wanted to sing along, but she couldn’t convince her mouth to open. When they finally arrived back at the hospital, Nedra wouldn’t look Bryan in the eyes. She reached across his body to unbuckle his seat belt, but continued to avoid any eye contact. She slid her arms underneath him and prepared to lift when Bryan broke the silence.

“Nedra,” he finally whispered. “Look at me.”

“I can’t,” she shook her head. “I’m too embarrassed.”

“Did you mean what you said?” he asked.

Nedra’s cheeks flushed again, but she finally looked him straight in the face and nodded slowly.

He smiled back at her and whispered, “I love you, too.”