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“You’re doing great, Roc!”
I grunted and pushed against the weights.
“Give me three more and then we can move onto getting you moving without the walker.”
I grimaced and finished my last three reps on the leg bench press. I had been waiting for today.
Walking without parallel bars or a walker. I had been making steady progress all week and had been blowing away my physical therapist.
“Stand up and let’s get this belt on you.”
I shakily stood but gained my balance quickly. Braun, the physical therapist, tightened the gate belt around me and grabbed hold of it at my back. “Let’s hit it.”
Today was the day I was going to be able to have Karen go home, and I was excited as hell. I had been walking around my room without assistance the past couple of days and only used the wheelchair when I had long distances to go.
I was well on my way to being back to normal. Or as normal as I could be after breaking both of my legs.
“This is insane, Roc.” The weight of Braun’s hand at my waist disappeared. “My hand is there, but I’m not holding on unless you need me.”
My walk wasn’t as smooth as it used to be, but I was walking.
I was fucking walking.
There was a slight soreness in my legs, but it was bearable.
We did a few laps around the hallways of the rehab center then ended up back in the large rehab area.
I sat down on the weight bench where I had started and panted. “Holy hell.”
Braun laughed and unhooked the belt from me. “How do you feel?”
“Like I’m fifty-one.”
“Guess that’s better than feeling older than you really are?”
He was right, but I was sick and tired of feeling old. The past month had been nothing but feeling that way. I was hoping soon that feeling would go away.
“Let’s go around a couple of more times.”
“You sure? You’ve done amazing already.”
I nodded. “This time without the belt.”
“Roc, I don—”
“Without the belt,” I grunted. “I’m the one paying you, so if I say without the belt, then that is what we’re going to do.”
Braun held up his hands. “If that’s what you want. I know you can do it but I’m just worried with you being tired that your balance might be off.”
I shook my head and stood. “Let’s fucking go.”
My legs ached and protested when I put all of my weight on them.
There wasn’t going to be running away from shit anymore.
First, I was going to get my walking back and then I was getting Mave. She had been on my mind too much for me to forget her, so the only thing to do was come at her head-on.
*
