“Mom? What the hell? Where are you?”
I watched who I assumed was the man’s sister come down the hallway stomping her feet. She looked a lot like him. And like her mother. They both seemed to take after her in all the major features.
I wondered what their father looked like.
“Why are you standing there?” she asked.
I realized she was talking to me and I hurried along.
“Don’t get angry with her. She’s just bringing flowers,” the mother said.
“I need help with Hayden. I can’t get him into his wheelchair,” the woman said.
I felt panic rush through my veins as I set the flowers down on the small table in the foyer.
“What do you mean you can’t get him into his wheelchair?” the mother asked.
“I mean I’m too tired. Too weak. We can’t keep doing this, Mom. The ce
nter hasn’t sent another nurse over and I can’t physically lift him.”
“Where is he?” I asked.
They both turned to me as I brushed my hands off on my shirt.
“Your son. The one in the wheelchair?”
I watched the mother nod as I drew in a deep breath.
“Where is he?” I asked.
“He’s uh… he’s in the dining room. We were doing physical therapy, and he fell,” the sister said.
I rushed down the hallway and through the kitchen and found exactly what was going on. The man was on the floor, trying to pull himself up by his hands on one of the chairs. He was grunting and slipping, trying to get his bad leg underneath him so he could stand.
I rushed to his side and put my arms around him, then centered myself on my feet and leaned back.
“On three,” I said.
“Get the fuck away from me.”
“One… two…”
I lifted them man up and in two strides I had him sitting down in his wheelchair. He was drenched in sweat and his eyes were closed and his hand was planted firmly on my chest. He shoved me away and I stumbled backwards, catching myself on the windowed double doors that led out to the backyard.
I put my hand on my chest where he had touched me and felt the searing heat of his skin against my body.
“Get out,” he said.
“I need to make sure you’re-”
“Get out!”
His voice was booming. It shook me to my core. His eyes were angry and his body slumped in defeat and it made me frustrated with his situation. What the hell was going on in this house? Why wasn’t this man being properly taken care of? I turned my head and saw his mother and his sister standing in the doorway, their eyes wide as they watched the scene unfold.
I pushed myself through them and headed for the door before I felt a hand on my wrist.
“I have more deliveries to make,” I said.