“Thank you, Dr. Braden,” she said with a proud smile.
Cole shifted his eyes as he spoke, to indicate that the conversation was meant to be inclusive of Elsie and both of her parents. “We will know more when we get the results, but it’s important that you begin thinking about treatment options. If there is a fracture and it’s not given appropriate time to heal, the fracture gap at the pars can widen, and if that happens, the vertebra shifts forward. That condition is called spondylolisthesis. Typically it’s the fifth lumbar vertebra that shifts forward, on the part of the pelvic bone called the sacrum. And, of course, undiagnosed, this can lead to the vertebra pressing on a nerve, which will bring even more pain.”
“What then?” Ann asked with fear in her voice.
Cole didn’t want to go to the what-if stage with these parents even though he hoped a little fear might push Elsie’s father to stop thinking about the Olympics and instead focus on his daughter’s future health. He tempered his response just enough to ride the line between fear and reality.
“Hopefully we’ve caught this early enough that rest and anti-inflammatories, and if necessary, a brace for stabilization, can correct the issues and we won’t have to think about the rest.”
“A brace?” Martin moved forward in his chair and lowered his voice. “May I remind you again, Dr. Braden, that she is an Olympic contender.”
“Yes, thank you, but I can assure you, Mr. Hood, that I have not forgotten Elsie’s achievement. I need for you and your family to clearly understand that if this is a pars fracture, and if it does not heal appropriately, bone to bone, it will never again be fully stable without surgery. Your daughter could experience a lifetime of discomfort if this isn’t diagnosed and treated appropriately.” Cole had seen both parents and patients who were afraid of treatment and failed to return for tests or follow-up visits. He turned to Elsie and asked again, “How long have you been experiencing pain?”
“Two weeks,” Martin said before she could answer.
Cole’s job as a physician was to treat the patient, and he rode a fine line trying not to overstep his boundaries when parents were involved. He respected those invisible lines and gave it one last shot.
“Two weeks? Is that right, Elsie? Please remind me what you were doing when you first noticed the pain.”
Her eyes darted nervously between her parents and Cole. “It was after practice one night. I turned to pick something up and it really hurt.”
The fact that she avoided responding to the timing of her symptoms was not lost on Cole, but he wouldn’t push any further. He already knew that she had classic symptoms of a pars fracture—pain when bending back and rotating.
He ordered the appropriate tests and hoped they’d return to discuss treatment options on Friday, as agreed. His bigger worry was that Elsie hadn’t been telling the truth about when her symptoms had begun and that they were dealing with a progressive rather than an early-stage injury.
After work he tried to push those worries aside as he showered and changed and drove over to Mr. B’s to surprise Leesa.
***
LEESA’S SHIFT WAS over in ten minutes and she had no idea how she’d made it through with her sanity intact. She’d been up half the night again, thinking about Cole, and when she was wide-awake at five o’clock, she’d accidentally woken up Tegan with the smell of coffee from the coffeemaker. While she felt guilty for waking her, at least chatting with Tegan had allowed Leesa to focus on something other than the man who had infiltrated her every thought. She’d confessed that they’d slept together, and since it was so out of character for Leesa, Tegan had taken the opportunity to tease her about having sex on her first date until Leesa was laughing so hard she had tears streaming down her cheeks. It felt good to experience happy tears instead of sad ones. Really, really good. It seemed everything about Peaceful Harbor was good for Leesa. Or maybe she was rationalizing because of her mounting feelings for Cole.
When she’d gone out for her morning run, she’d found a greeting card from Cole on her car. It was one of those cute, old-fashioned-looking cards that had a black-and-white picture of a little girl and boy on the front. The little girl was holding a bouquet of flowers and the boy was kissing her cheek. He’d written Me and You and drawn arrows pointing to the children. Inside the card he’d written If only I’d known you back then. We have a lot of time to catch up on and memories to make. Cole.
She’d been so touched by his romantic gesture that she’d taken off for her morning run with the intention of passing his house, hoping to see him. But by the time his beach house had come into focus, she’d felt that showing up unannounced again was a clingy thing to do—and she’d turned around and headed back the way she’d come. Now she stood behind the bar with Ace while he mixed her customers’ drinks. She noticed the tightening of his jaw and brow and the way his breathing changed when he walked to the other side of the bar. Ever since learning about his amputation, Leesa had been thinking about the young girl from her Girl Power group who had lost her leg below the knee.
The other kids had been curious about her prosthesis, and the little girl had explained how she’d lost her leg, how long it had taken to get used to walking again, and eventually running. She’d told them how she’d experienced phantom limb pain, and her mother had later explained to Leesa that phantom limb pain was psychological, caused by the brain attempting to move the absent limb, sending out abnormal neural patterns, which are experienced as shooting pain. She further explained that a few weeks of mirror therapy, where the little girl had sat with a mirror facing the remaining leg while she moved it as she watched its reflection in the mirror, so that it appeared both the good and the amputated leg were moving, had retrained her brain and alleviated her pain.
Leesa watched Ace now and wondered if he was experiencing the same sort of thing.
Ace set the drink he was mixing aside and crossed his thick arms over his chest. He leaned his hip against the bar and narrowed his eyes in what Leesa imagined was the stern look he’d aimed at his children when they were younger.
“You know, when my kids have something to say to me, they just blurt it out. They learned that somewhere along the way.” He smiled, and it softened the sternness in his eyes. “Do you want to talk about something?”
Yes. She opened her mouth to ask about his leg, but at the last second she chickened out. “No. I was just waiting for the drinks.”
“Uh-huh.” He unfolded his arms and turned to finish preparing the drinks. With his back to Leesa, he said, “That was a big win you landed at the auction the other night.”
Embarrassment swept through her. “Cole asked me to bid for him.”
“Ah, so you were just helping him out?” He glanced over his shoulder at her with an arched brow.
“Yes.” She sighed and admitted, “Sort of. At first, I guess.”
He set the drink on the bar and smiled. “Good. My boy needs to get out and have some fun.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that, and thankfully, they were interrupted when Shannon walked into the restaurant. She was a whirlwind of energy, waving as she approached in a cute skirt and flowing cotton top.
“Hi, Leesa.” Shannon kissed her father’s cheek. “Hi, Daddy.”
“Hi, sweetie. I didn’t expect to see you today.”
“I had to run an errand for Cole, so I thought I’d stop by on my way back.” Shannon’s eyes filled with delight. She tucked her brown hair behind her ear and nudged Leesa’s arm with her elbow. “I heard you guys had a lovely date last night.”
Leesa felt her cheeks flame up. “We, um. Yes, we had a great time.” She set the drinks on a tray and said, “I’d better get these to the customers before my shift is over.” She felt their eyes burning a path to her as she served the drinks. What on earth could Cole have said to Shannon? She was dying to check her phone to see if he’d texted, but that would have to wait until after her shift was over.
When her shift ended, she went into the back room to clock out. Ace walked into the kitchen area a few minutes later with that pained look on his face again. She took her things from the locker as he lowered himself carefully to a chair. She sat in the chair beside Ace, and after awkwardly starting to ask, then stopping enough times that she felt ridiculous, she finally said, “I heard that you were in the military.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
She noticed that he took his weight off his leg by resting his left foot on the table stand.
“I’m sorry to hear about your accident.”
He crossed his arms again, and she wondered if it was a defensive barrier or a habit. She was so used to looking for nonverbal cues from her years of teaching that she couldn’t stop herself from noticing the slightest of things.
“Thank you, but in every profession there are risks. As you’ve found out firsthand.” He lowered his chin, and his gaze softened. “I’m sorry about what you went through back in Towson, but I’m glad it brought you here. We like having you as part of the Mr. B family.”