Calm, Cool, and Adjusted (10 page)

Oversharing.

“I’m glad to know you’re always clean,” he jokes.

“While the world resorts to quick showers, I luxuriate in a scalding tub filled with rosemary-mint-scented bubbles. Generally before prayers, I read a waterlogged
Daily Bread
and get ready to start my day.”

Once again, judging by Simon’s silence, I’m going to a place no chiropractor has gone before, so I clamp my freshly cleansed mouth shut.

“Sorry, Simon, I got carried away. What are you doing here so early? I didn’t know the retired folk got up so early.”

“Are you kidding me? I already played the back nine at Deep Cliff.” Simon sits up on his elbows. “And I threw my back out on the sixteenth hole. I thought if I got in here early enough, you could take me before your first patient.”

“The sixteenth hole. Let me guess: that didn’t stop you from playing the last two holes.”

He looks back at me and grins. “You’re beginning to understand the mindset of a golfer, Poppy. I’m proud of you.”

“Well, I can’t say the same for you.” I push him back down on the table. “Listen to your body, Simon. You’d be much healthier if you did so. And I’ve told you, you can’t throw your back out; that’s a figure of speech.”

“Just work your magic, my love, and save your definitions for someone who cares.” Simon turns his head towards me. “I hope you’re not angry I called you at home. Did you talk to your dad yet? No, I suppose you wouldn’t have. But you know, he really has no reason to dislike me, do you think?”

“Put your head down,” I order him. “You were making a pass at me in front of him. Dads sort of have a thing about that.” I feel down Simon’s spine until I get to the misalignment. I just shake my head.
This guy’s back is the plague of spines!
“My dad doesn’t bite. Besides, since when do you care what people think?”

“He may not bite—AHHH!” Simon yowls as I adjust him. “Gentle. What are you trying to do, beat me to a pulp? You can be sadistic, Poppy! Everyone else comes in here and gets this little gentle push, and I get beaten.”

He turns over and props himself on his elbows. His eyes are warm brown and when I look him in the eye, I forget that his back is a textbook case for the Palmer School. He’s just Simon, the handsome face I look forward to once a week. More, if he’s playing a tournament.

“I’m sorry, Simon, but you’re really out of order today, and I do adjust you differently, you’re right. It’s because you’re special to me.”

“Well, I pity the man who marries you.”

Our eyes catch again at the comment. “Do you?” I hear myself ask.

“I mean, I don’t pity him, I just think he’s marrying a tough cookie. No, I mean I think he’s—”

He’s nonexistent is what he is.

“You need to work out the muscles in your shoulders to carry the weight of your head. Your ears should be behind the shoulders at all times. I think if you got your posture and stance in order, you might have fewer misalignments. You should think about ballroom dancing. It’s excellent for the posture.”

“Are you telling me I have a big head?”

“No, I’m telling you that your rather large cranium is not in the right place.” I’m laughing. How completely unprofessional.

“All right, tell me what other patient has to suffer this kind of abuse.”

“What other client puts his body through the abuse that you do? Hmm?”

“You tell me I have a giant cranium, and you’re not abusing me?”

“I said rather large.”

“Which could be construed as ginormous and you know it. Call me crazy, but big head doesn’t exactly ooze warmth from you.”

I don’t know how he always manages it, but as bad as he must feel when he comes in, I have never seen him unhappy. Not once.

“I don’t think your head is ginormous, Simon.” I try to busy my hands with rosemary-mint hand lotion. The accompaniment to my bath oil. Simon inhales deeply.

“Oh, you’re bringing out the hard stuff now.” He raises an eyebrow.

“Do you want some?” I ask him lamely.

“You don’t think it’s hard enough on the ego to have a beautiful chiropractor? I’m now supposed to live with the fact she thinks my head is huge? I have to get one of those hats like that kid always wore on
Fat Albert
. Maybe it will be less obvious. He drops his head in his hands. “Oh my poor, aching, large cranium.”

“Simon.” I wipe my hands on a paper towel to remove the excess lotion. “Statistically speaking, men in Hollywood have larger heads than regular Americans. Maybe it means you’re destined for the large screen,” I offer hopefully, trying to dig my way out of this.

“But don’t quit my day job, is that what you’re saying?”

“You don’t have a day job, Simon.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I just do it at night when I can talk to China and Taiwan and help them with manufacturing. I’m consulting lately. I got bored, you know?”

I step back, shocked by the news. “So when do you sleep?”

“When I’m tired.” He shrugs. “Is that a trick question?”

“I didn’t mean anything by the head comment. I was concerned with your posture after golf. You’re Tom Cruise, all right?”

“Do you like Tom Cruise?”

“Not really. I’m a Johnny Depp girl.”

“And how’s his head?”

“I think it’s huge, Simon.” I start to laugh, having no idea if Johnny Depp’s head is huge or not. I start writing in his chart. “I appreciate your lovely conversation, Simon, but you’re not working to get any better here. Your back is a mess and if you’re going to come in here to sweet talk instead of icing your back when I tell you to and—”

“I’m sorry. I lost my big head. I really do have something to tell you, and I think it would be mutually beneficial.” He sits up and makes a concerted effort to place his head in proper alignment. “I didn’t want to talk in front of your father.”

“I’m listening,” I put the chart next to him, cross my arms, and give him my full attention until another client comes and gets on the second table. “Good morning, Mary.”

“Hey, Doctor Poppy.”

“Let me get Brian started on working your neck.” Brian, the office masseur and physical therapist, hears me say this. He walks in with the neck massager that’s nearly as big as him and starts the vibrating machine so that Simon and I once again have privacy while Mary vibrates with vigor.

“So what do you have to say?” I ask Simon, still fixated on those brown eyes, which, as a chiropractor and professional, I shouldn’t be noticing. After three years, I’ve only just noticed them and learned that Simon actually works. I wonder what else he’s kept close to his heart. Or in this case, his spine.

“It’s more of a proposition, really. I’ve been thinking a lot about my future and what I want to do with my life—”

“You proposition me every week, so what’s special about this one?”

“I’m serious.” As I look into his intense eyes, I see that he is indeed serious. Naturally, I know he has to have this side of him. He would not have been able to retire at his young age without some intensity, but I usually don’t see that side of him. I have to say,
I like it
.

“You’re serious about something other than your golf game, I’m assuming.”

“I’m serious about changing the shape and scope of your career.”

“I thought you were thinking about your future, not mine.”

He looks around my office. “You’re bigger than this, Poppy. You have healed more people than your walls will even hold. I think it’s time you thought bigger, dreamed broader, grabbed the golden ring. You’re not just a chiropractor. Your care goes deeper, and I think you should too. Why settle for mediocrity?”

I laugh, but he doesn’t join me. Simon is the type who can’t help but think big, but not all of us are meant for that lifestyle. “Now I’m mediocre? Let’s see how you feel when I go on vacation.”

“You know that’s not what I meant, but everyone is capable of going bigger, doing more with the gift God’s given them. I just see how easily you could make that step if—”

“I love my career. I don’t really have that corporate drive you’re describing. Look, I employ the three of us—Emma, Brian, and me—and that’s major success to me. No, I haven’t invented a widget I can live off the rest of my life, but I have a daily purpose, and I love it.”

“You may not have the corporate drive, but I’ve got enough of that, Poppy. I just see a need here, and that’s my passion— to streamline businesses and make them the most efficient they can be. If I had your gift I’d want to help more people.”

“I’m efficient,” I say.

“I can help you make more people healthy.”

“I have as many clients as I can handle, Simon.”

He grabs my hand in his own, and without thinking, I grasp his. I look into his deep brown eyes, and I forget where I’m standing. It’s like the entire three years of our knowing each other has suddenly flashed before my eyes.

“I’m not joking, Poppy.”

He’s talking with such passion about my career, and I’ll admit work hasn’t entered my mind for the last moment. I’ve only seen something I’ve missed. Something that was right in front of me. And quite frankly, I don’t like it. Not one bit.

I pull my hand from his. “Thank you, Simon. It’s just not my thing.”

“I’m moving to Hawaii, Poppy.”

“What?”

“I have some family business to take care of there. It’s the perfect setting for you to have a health spa. People are relaxed and ready to be healed; they’re ready to leave the stress of their lives behind and focus on their future.”

“
Hawaii
?” Even the word makes me laugh. “No one actually goes to Hawaii to work, Simon.”

“People work there all the time. I’ve already helped two people with businesses there. Hawaii: where the running is good and the usage of natural medicines has been practiced for centuries. Hawaii is the
Aloha
of the natural health realm.” Simon grins, and I can see where his charm has gotten him far in the business of persuasion.

For a brief moment I allow my imagination to float to Hawaii and its lush greenery and gentle ocean breezes. I imagine Simon in a Hawaiian shirt and me busily working in a spa and running all the triathlons that go on throughout the year. I find myself completely whisked away at the images. But admittedly, it’s not the only place my mind goes—and Simon isn’t offering me that kind of deal.

“Simon, it takes years to build a practice and a reputation. I’m just getting this practice off the ground. I don’t want to start again.”

“Poppy, I can get your business off the ground easier than you did it here. It’s my gift.”

“Your back is going to be a royal disaster when you move.” I try to busy my hands, but inside I feel the immediate loss. Simon was one of my first patients. He got other men to come from his office, and he preached my abilities like an evangelist.

“Poppy, it’s a great place for a runner too.”

“You already mentioned that.”

“But I can see you need more convincing.”

I clear my throat. “If you need help finding a chiropractor, I’d be happy to get you a referral to someone who uses the same method I do on your spine. I can forward your chart, and they’ll be able to go right to the problem. You won’t have to start over with someone new if that’s what you’re worried about.”

He lifts up my chin with his thumb. “I don’t need help finding a chiropractor. I want to bring one with me. One who knows my back and all its foibles. You can tell another chiropractor all your secrets, Poppy, but they don’t have your touch.”

I step away from him. Inside me, I want him to be saying so much more than he is, but he’s not saying any of that. He’s looking to make as few changes to his life as possible while at the same time inhabiting an island across the ocean. “I’m flattered, Simon, but that’s hardly realistic. I can’t leave the rest of my patients for one.”
Even my favorite one.

“In business, it’s all about matching the right person to the job. That’s why CEOs make what they do. It’s why some companies are going private again, after being public. To get the best CEOs, they want the freedom, and it’s driving the new business trend.”

I shake my head. “I hardly see what that has to do with me. I couldn’t be any less corporate if I’d never entered a Starbucks.”

“CEOs make what they do because of their track record. A good businessman is only as good as his last deal. His record is based on substantial success.”

“Again, I don’t see what that has to with me.”

Brian looks over at me and sees I’m still talking. Mary’s massage is coming to an end, but seeing the depth of our conversation, he continues to vibrate Mary’s back with vigor.

“You, Poppy, have that same track record in your field and that’s what I want in Hawaii—the best. It’s not simply a matter of my being spoiled; it’s about taking you to the next level. You can be here and be ordinary, but you’re not ordinary.”

“Simon, I’m not moving to Hawaii. And trust me, I’m as ordinary as they come.” One only has to look at my dating résumé to see that.

“What’s here for you? You can run every day of the year, swim, bike ride. You were made to live in Hawaii, Poppy. We can chop that skirt of yours off above the knee, make it a mini, and you’re ready.” He looks at my aubergine skirt. “Speaking of the skirt, where is it?”

I don’t want to admit it’s gone missing because I have a date and I’m trying my hand at normalcy. Simon would see it as selling out. “It took me a long time to build up a clientele; I can’t just leave them to move to paradise. What kind of healer would I be?”

“There’re sick people in Hawaii, and you could sell the business to another chiropractor and we’ll find some Hawaiian locals to work with over there. You can have an entire clinic. A health spa, if you will. I’m willing to fund it, Poppy. Not because I think you’re a charity case, but because I know what you’re capable of and that’s what I do. Invest where I’ll get a return. I believe in you wholeheartedly, in case you’re not hearing that in my tone.”

When our eyes meet again, I know he truly does believe in me that way, and it’s just too much weight on my shoulders. “Simon, oh my goodness, what would I do without you and your positive energy? Not all of us were meant to be moguls like you and have everything we touch turn to gold. Some of us have to be the average folks, you know? I’m just a worker bee.”