“Sis?” I called from my room.
“Hey,” Dee said. “So, I am so excited for you that I can barely stand it…”
“But you can’t take me,” I finished for her.
There was a slight pause.
“I am the worst,” she said.
“No, you aren’t, stop,” I said. “You need to watch Olly and Hope so Wendy can work too. I can’t expect you to take time off to bring me to Nashville again. I can get a rideshare.”
“I hate that.”
“Well don’t. You have a life too,” I said. “I’m an adult, remember? I can handle this.”
“What about Gerry?” she asked. “Could he take you?”
“I haven’t asked,” I said. “But he works too. I don’t want anyone to have to inconvenience themselves for me. I’ve got this.”
“Okay,” she said. “But be careful. I would feel a lot more comfortable if I knew Gerry was going with you.”
“I know.” I checked my phone to see another text from Gerry. It simply read “do you need a ride?”
As soon as she ducked out of my room, I dialed Gerry.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“What?”
“Are you packed?” he continued. “I can pick you up in about an hour. Unless your sister can take you, but I figured she probably couldn’t.”
“Neither can you,” I said. “I can get an Uber or something.”
“Or, and I present this as an option, not a requirement, I can take you. Especially since I already told my boss I was going to be gone for a few days and arranged for a pet sitter.”
“You did that already?” I asked.
“I might have,” he said. “If you don’t want me there…”
“No, that’s not it. I just didn’t want to inconvenience anyone.”
“It’s not an inconvenience. You are never an inconvenience.”
I smiled.
“Alright, but I am paying for the room,” I said. “And if you’re coming, I’m getting something big and dumb and gorgeous just to make the trip less painful and more of an adventure vacation for us.”
“Our first trip together,” he said. “I like it.”
“Well, then you need to get packed,” I said.
“I have a suitcase on my bed as we speak,” he said, making me laugh again. “Do you want any of the clothes you have here?”
“Yes, actually,” I said. “Maybe you should just pick me up and bring me there before we go.”
“On it,” he said. “See you in a few.”
I rented a fancy hotel room, partially because I wanted any time that I wasn’t in the doctor’s office to be a decadent place for Gerry and me to enjoy each other when I wasn’t in the process of learning how to walk like a baby deer. And also, because I never had before. I wanted to see what it was like to live it up a little and got a big suite with a view of the city on the top floor.
My appointment was early on Saturday, a rarity since the office was usually closed on the weekends, but they had made a special arrangement for me. The doctor was going on vacation the next day and wanted to make sure they saw me before they left. With follow-ups set with their associate and another doctor for Monday and Tuesday, I went back to the hotel that night with a prosthetic leg fitted for me, and I even got to walk a few steps with it.
The feeling was overwhelming, and though I knew there was a long road of physical therapy ahead of me with the new leg, I couldn’t wait to get to it. Not needing crutches anymore was going to be extremely freeing, and not having people stare at the stump anymore and being able to wear regular pants was a thought that brought me to tears every time it came up.
Gerry was phenomenal with me as we stayed over the weekend and waited for the follow-ups. He held me while I cried over the emotional impact of everything and even sat with me while I went into detail over the depression I felt right after the accident and through the struggle to get the settlement.
On the last night there, we climbed into the huge tub with the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the city. No other building in town was as high as the floor we were on, and we made love as the lights flickered on below us.
As I fell asleep in his arms, I thought about how different my life had become even since the accident. As much as I wished I had never gone through what I did, if it meant being there, with Gerry, and living the life that was ahead of me, I’d do it all again.
30
GERRY
Our six-month anniversary was going to be special. Or at least I hoped it would.
I had been planning to take her out to a fancy restaurant that had opened up just outside of Ashford for weeks and had gotten a reservation for our anniversary when they still hadn’t even officially opened their doors yet. The problem was Malia had been in a state the last few weeks.