Chapter Six: Andrew

I thought after a week of listening to Kelsey move around my house, I’d grow accustomed to her incessant need to talk. It was as if she felt the need to constantly chatter in order to fill the void of background noise.

I was the opposite.

And her ongoing conversations were driving me mad.

The only positive thing it did for me was keep me from falling down into the black hole of despair over my injury. I missed being on the back of a horse. I missed doing things for myself. And I missed the farm.

Over the past year, I worked with Nash and Aspen to transition things over to me, and that meant making some changes. Not just with staff but with vendors. I’d handled contracts for the farm in the past, but now I was the one negotiating those contracts with suppliers and buyers and making sure Sunny Brook Farms was working with the best, even if the vendor was smaller, less known, and more expensive. If they were the best, then that would only help the farm prosper.

But instead of moving around the cornfields to help with the ongoing harvest, I was holed up in bed, waiting for Kelsey to pop her head in to remind me that we were starting the day with exercises.

Yippie.

I wasn’t sure what kept Kelsey around. Any normal person would have ran for the hills after the first night. I was a complete pain in the ass who now begrudgingly admitted needing her assistance just to take a whiz in the middle of the night.

Let’s be honest; I wasn’t anyone’s cup of tea on a regular day. Add in the injury, and I was no better than an angry troll hiding under a bridge.

Looking over at the nightstand, the clock read 5:00 a.m. Kelsey usually peeked into my room at 6:00. Little did she know I was usually awake and could hear her moving about the living room.

Glancing down at my leg, I wondered if I’d ever be able to use it properly again.

I didn’t regret the rodeo or the sport that could have cost me my life, but I regretted not listening to my instincts. My gut had never steered me wrong before, and the one time I didn’t pay attention, I ended up in a coma with a messed-up back and torn knee.

Sitting in the darkness, I let myself wallow in my sorrow. Was this a life-ending injury? No, but it could be career ending. And if the doctor’s words were anything to go by, if my physical therapy didn’t go successfully, I could end up with a limp and chronic pain.

I leaned my head against the headboard and closed my eyes. This was what my life had come to. Maybe this was what I deserved, a penance for how I acted toward others.

“Fuck,” I mumbled as I sank deeper and deeper into the hole I’d been struggling to crawl out of since I arrived home. A week later and I’d barely made any progress, not seeing positive outcomes from any of our work so far. I wanted to be up and walking. I wanted to go on with my life. But here I was… a shell of myself.

Kelsey cracked open the door and popped her head inside the room, looking around in the darkness. “Oh, good. You’re up. Do you want a light on?”

“No.”

“Want me to open the curtains?”

“No.”

“Want me to leave?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, wonderful. You can say a different word. Unfortunately, I can’t leave you just yet. I need to get you dressed so we can head to the local clinic and make sure you’re ready to start the new exercises today.”

“Great,” I moaned.

“I am so excited for you!” she exclaimed as she bounced up and down on her toes while clapping her hands. “This is the next step in getting you better. I’ll have you back on the farm in no time.”

“Right,” I said sarcastically as I leaned over, ignoring the twinge in my back, and flicked on the lamp resting on the nightstand. I winced when it illuminated the room.

As I sat back up, I noticed Kelsey’s eyes trained on my chest, though she tried to look away once she was caught.

“Want me to help you to the bathroom?”

Instead of answering, I stared at her blankly. Like I had any other options?

Thankfully, she remained quiet as I relieved myself and while she helped me get dressed. But the second my shirt was in place, she started yapping again.

“You know, you should be excited about today. If the appointment goes well and the doctor thinks the bruising on your spine has lessened, he may give you crutches. No more nurse-assisted bathroom trips. Yay!”

“Hooray,” I added in a monotone voice.

“And I noticed those dumbbells in the corner of the living room. The doctor may approve you to work out your upper body again too.”

“Anything else?” I asked sardonically, because the woman knew I had no choice but to go to the checkup, but she was trying her damnedest to get me excited about it. News flash—that wasn’t going to happen.

“Yep. I saved the best for last.”

“All right, hit me with it.”

“He may allow you to start putting weight on your other foot. So that means you could walk short distances.”

Fuck, that was good news, meaning her endeavor to make me excited about the appointment worked a smidgen… but I didn’t let her know that.

Instead, I used her help to sit on a bar stool at the kitchen counter and watched as she heated up a breakfast casserole that one of my neighbors dropped off. It was more of a lean than a full sit, since I needed to keep my leg straight.

“Here you go.” Kelsey plated a hunk of the meal and handed it to me with a fork.

“Thanks,” I mumbled as I accepted the dish and dove in, and Kelsey did the same. The only sound in the room was our forks clinking against the plates, and the quiet was a nice reprieve from the discouraging thoughts running through my head.

“Your appointment is at eight. Is there anything you want to do before then?”

I used the counter to support myself as I made my way over to the sink and set my plate into it. “No.”

“Perfect. I can go grab a coffee if you want to hang out here, or you could come with me.”

“I’ll stay.”

Kelsey’s smile slipped slightly, then it moved back into place as she grabbed her keys. “All right. Don’t do anything to hurt yourself. I shouldn’t be long.”

After she left, I used the wall to hobble myself over to the couch, where I’d wait until she returned.

And it was then I realized… I missed the sound of her nonstop chatter.

Fuck me.

***

“You heard the doctor,” Kelsey needlessly reminded him, as she maneuvered my crutches out of her car. It’d taken about ten minutes of strategic angles and twisting before they fit properly in her vehicle.

“Of course I heard him. That doesn’t mean I’m going to listen.”

“Andrew,” she said sternly, and I turned to find her with her fists resting on her hips. It was the first time I heard her raise her voice. “You have to keep wearing the brace, even if your knee is improving. Otherwise, the exercises are all for nothing.”

“The doctor is a quack anyway. What does he know?”

“The doctor was someone you went to school with, and you’re only mad because he asked me out on a date in the middle of the appointment.”

“What kind of doctor flirts with the patient’s caretaker? A quack, that’s who.”

I was getting worked up, remembering how Dr. Cromer hung on every word out of Kelsey’s mouth and blatantly asked her to go out with him. What a fucking douche. Though, I didn’t hide my smug look when she declined, albeit politely mentioning she had just gotten out of a “serious relationship.”

The doctor had the nerve to appear forlorn, but at least he spent the rest of the appointment focusing on me— his patient —and not Kelsey.

Now, Kelsey made an unintelligible sound under her breath, but I decide to ignore it, since I was already cranky from the appointment. I hoisted myself out of the car by gripping the frame, unwilling to wait for her to help. She made quick work of grabbing the crutches as I nodded toward a passing group of women walking by. I wasn’t about to wave in their direction. That would incite their desire to come over and chat, and that was the furthest thing I wanted. But of course, Kelsey thought otherwise.

As I situated the crutches under my arms, she met the group at the end of the driveway and started yakking. I wasn’t sure what they were discussing, but her hands flew around her body like little birds flapping about. I waited about ten seconds longer than I wanted before leaving her with the troupe and heading inside.

I played football in high school, so I’d been on crutches a time or two, but trying to keep my leg straight while going up a set of stairs using the devices took some tricky maneuvering. Luckily, I figured it out before Kelsey was done.

By the time she strolled into the house, I was finishing a bottle of water. I took her in as she set a pile of mail on the counter. She was wearing a pair of denim cutoffs and an oversized shirt of some pop-punk band—one she mentioned a time or two in her nonstop ramblings—tied in a knot on the side. No wonder the doctor hit on her. Despite her height, her legs went on for days.

“Look, you got mail!” she said elatedly, like I’d won a million-dollar check or something.

“Yes, I can see that.”

Rolling her eyes, she started sorting the stack into bills and junk.

“Oh! Look at this one,” she pointed out, holding a thick, cream-colored envelope that appeared to have been dropped off instead of mailed, since there was no stamp.

I knew immediately what was inside, and my gut churned.

“I’ll take that,” I barked, yanking the envelope out of her hand and using my crutches to carry me into my room, where I slammed the door.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I slid my finger beneath the flap and pulled out the thick cardstock covered in vellum.

You’re Invited to Celebrate the Wedding of

Sadie Cartwright and Jacob Tollison.

I didn’t care to read the date as I pulled open the closest nightstand drawer and tossed it inside.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy for Sadie, Colton’s younger half-sister. I met her fiancé, and he was a great guy. And she was truly like another sister to me. But every time I looked at her, she reminded me of my past.

A reply to the invite would have to be sent eventually, but I wasn’t ready for that response yet. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to go.

“Dammit,” I groaned as a knock sounded on my door.

“Is everything all right in there?”

It wasn’t, but it was going to have to be.

“Yeah, I’ll be out in a second so we can get started.”

I expected an immediate response and almost dove toward the door to check on her when it didn’t come.

Finally, she asked quietly, hopefully, “You… You want to start your new exercises? Really?”

“Yeah, might as well get the torture over with so I can walk again.”

She was still standing at the bedroom entrance as I opened the door. I towered over her, but instead of the meek expression most women got when they looked up at me, Kelsey had a sheen of tears in her eyes.

“What?”

“I’m just… so proud of you,” she claimed, and then she wove her arms around my waist, nearly knocking me off the crutches.

Seeing her happiness from something so trivial did something inside me… and I fucking hated it. But I let her get the most of her embrace, since it wasn’t likely to ever happen again.

“Okay,” I said, once she pulled back. “Where do you want me?”

“On your back,” she replied, and I chuckled as her cheeks matched the color of the macintosh apples on the counter. “I mean…. I’m sorry. I just meant I need you lying on the mat.”

“I knew what you meant, but I don’t think I’ll ever tire of seeing you get embarrassed.”

Standing near the wall of pictures Rory had taken, I watched Kelsey move around the living room, setting up a mat, rolling a towel, and adding a light dumbbell.

“So, just to summarize, this past week, we’ve been working on your arms and back so you’d be able to do things like get dressed and use the crutches. Today, we’re starting on your leg, and we’re just going to take it easy at first to get a general range of your motion. The first set is to work on regaining muscle control.

“Lie down on your back, and we’ll start with a static quad exercise.”

Following her directions, I carefully laid on my back while she positioned my legs, the good one bent and the injured leg out straight. She had me flatten the leg as much as possible and then release the tension with a slight bend. I repeated the motion ten times before she moved on to another exercise.

After that, she added one more, before repeating the trio of exercises three times. By the time we were done, I had already worked up a sweat. Kelsey went to grab me water, while I leaned up on my elbows, surprised at how much work went into fixing just one part of my body.

The water was gone in a matter of seconds as I chugged.

“Now comes one of my favorites.”

“Great,” I said, lacking any actual enthusiasm.

“It’s called static glutes. What I need you to do is tighten your butt as hard as you can without using any other muscles. Just the ones in your cute behind.”

I rolled my eyes and frowned. “What does this exercise do exactly?”

“Muscle control, Andrew. Muscle control.”

I was convinced Kelsey got sick pleasure out of watching me squeeze my ass cheeks over and over again, as she giggled through the entire drill. I wasn’t going to tell her that the action was harder than I expected on my injured side.

“I hope you’re enjoying this,” I grunted.

“I am. I really am.”

“Get your kicks while you can, because once I can walk, you’re going to pay for this.”

“Despite how much enjoyment I’m getting out of your twerking, you should know that these are standard exercises for patellar injuries.”

“They better fucking be.”

Kelsey didn’t allow my attitude to dissuade her. I was pretty certain she added extra exercises to the routine just to spite me.

In total, there were nine exercises in the routine, and it took me a solid hour to work through them. I was fucking exhausted.

“You did really well, Andrew. There is just a stretch we need to do, and then I can sign you off for today.”

I mumbled a slew of curse words under my breath as she helped me stand. This time, Kelsey advised me to put some weight on my leg as I stood.

“We’re going to do calf stretches, and I want to make sure you can hold your weight.”

Gritting my teeth, I stood to my full height and gently shifted my weight back and forth. “I’m fine.”

“Perfect. Let’s go stand by the wall over there.” She pointed toward the wall with the portraits, and she assisted me in walking over.

Once I was in the position she wanted, one leg slightly in front of the other, Kelsey stood behind me with her hands on the calf of my injured leg. I bent my front knee while I kept my back leg straight, nearly ringing my face up against the wall.

Kelsey ran her hand up and down my leg as I held the stretch for thirty seconds. I closed my eyes as I tried to ignore the heat building inside me from her touch.

“Good. You can release it,” she commanded as I returned to the original position. “How did that feel?”

My cock wanted to tell her that it felt fan-fucking-tastic, but my brain thought better of it.

“It was fine.”

Her smile dropped, and she went about picking up the things we used.

“You don’t have to clean up right away,” I said, trying to break the tension in the air.

Kelsey’s smile returned, and she looked up at me from where she kneeled on the floor.

“It’s fine. Plus, I have a few different things to try tomorrow. My plan is to make you enjoy this by the end of the week.”

Fuck if she wasn’t anything but persistent.

And as the rest of the week continued, she put me through my paces. By Friday, I could tell by a single glimmer in her eye or smirk on her lips that she was enjoying the torture.

As much as I hated the routines, because they truly were agonizing and left me in pain and exhausted by the end, I noticed a significant change in my knee. Despite needing to continue wearing the brace, I could put more weight on the leg without feeling like I would faint.

Which meant everything Kelsey was doing was working. And I didn’t quite hate admitting it to her when she asked.