Learning to Walk, a City Hospital Novel (7 page)

“Tell me what you need me to do, so I’m not just standing here watching you work.” Neil went over and washed his hands so he was all set to get to it. “Lots of classes are offered in the evenings, so they might be easier to get to if you wanted the in-class experience.”

Kit nodded. “Yeah, but then there’s making my dad drive twice after working. It’s all a mess.” He got the roast out of the fridge and pointed at the potatoes. “You can peel those and dice ‘em up. I’ll get the roast ready to go in, and then I’ll start the soon-to-be-world-famous corn and carrot side dish and the salad.”

“Soon-to-be-famous, huh? Is it that good or that bad?” He started peeling potatoes, not telling Kit that it was his least favorite kitchen job.

“Well, if it turns out to be infamous instead of famous, you can tell people you were there, that dreaded day when it was born.” Kit sprinkled ground pepper on the roast and got an onion chopped into big chunks with quick slices of the knife. “They can give you sympathy. On the other hand, if it’s amazing, you get bragging rights. It’s win/win for you.” He put the onions in the pan and moved the whole thing into the oven.

Neil laughed. “Win/win. I like that.”

Kit grinned at him and wiggled his eyebrows. “Just make sure the reporters get my name right.” He got a second peeler out of a drawer and started working on carrots. “What kind of stuff do you usually cook for yourself?”

“I do a lot of pasta and salads.”

“Sauces? A lot of vegetables or a lot of Alfredo?” He made a show of looking Neil over. “Not a lot of Alfredo.”

Neil laughed, flushing a little at the look. “Not a lot of Alfredo. Maybe a little rosé sauce, heavy on the tomatoes and light on the cream. Mostly veggies and garlic, though. I love the stuff.”

“Garlic is awesome.” Kit nodded and pointed. “I put it in the potatoes when I cook ‘em. Dad doesn’t know. He really has no idea why my potatoes are better than his.”

“Seriously? He’s never figured it out?” Neil started chuckling.

“And I won’t tell, so you can’t.” Kit peeled another carrot. “He thinks it’s got something to do with the milk or something.

“The milk.” Neil grinned and shook his head. “Okay, mum’s the word, I promise.”

When the potatoes were peeled, Kit started slicing them, pausing once to check on the roast and add some water to the pan. With a grin he added a couple bulbs of garlic, too. “So, when do you think you can find out about us using the pool?”

“I’ll look into it when I get into work tomorrow. Get back to you on my lunch hour.” It was great, seeing Kit so excited about something.

“Okay. That would be cool. Something different than the usual. Uh, not that usual isn’t a rollicking good time.”

Neil snorted. “I know what a rollicking good time you think the usual is.”

“Oh, I doubt you truly get the depth of my feelings on the matter,” Kit said, laughing.

“You’d be surprised.”

Kit glanced at Neil. “Has a patient ever actually tried to knock your block off?”

Neil took a half step back. “Maybe. Why?”

Kit laughed. “I was curious, is all. I mean, I know what I’m thinking when you’re pushing me and pushing me and the end is so far away. I wouldn’t actually do it, but I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t occurred to me.”

“You just need to keep reminding yourself that I’m the good guy -- that I’m pushing you to a goal we both want. You probably more than me.”

He was pretty invested in helping his patients, though. Going the extra mile like this was not out of the ordinary for him. Of course it helped that Kit was good looking -- it made being around the guy enjoyable, even when Kit was being an ass.

Neil mentally kicked himself. No sexualizing the clients. Not even a little.

Kit seemed to be watching what he was doing with the peeler with exaggerated care. “I have a fantasy,” he said, as if confessing something unpleasant. “I try not to make it an obsession, but sometimes it’s all I can think about.”

“Yeah? What kind of fantasy?”

Kit shrugged one shoulder and didn’t say anything for a moment. “You know I was on my motorcycle when I got hit, right?”

“Yeah.” Neil thought motorcycles were a pretty stupid way to travel -- he knew Kit wouldn’t believe it, but the man was one of the lucky ones. He wasn’t dead, and he wasn’t going to be in that wheelchair for life. That put him ahead of a large percentage of motorcycle accident victims.

“I loved my bike.” Kit sounded almost wistful. “It got completely totaled; my dad had it taken away, and I never saw it after the accident. But before I got hit I was pretty active. Not like a super athlete or anything, but I took care of myself. And now, when I think about what I want to do, what I want my body to do, it’s not running or riding a bike or anything like that. It’s climbing. I want to climb walls and mountains and trees.” Kit looked up from his hands, having run out of things to peel. “Pretty lame, huh? Just climbing trees?”

“Why would I think that’s lame? I think it’s pretty cool, actually.” Neil grinned and handed over all the vegetables he’d peeled. “I happen to be a climber myself.”

“What?” Kit’s head jerked back as he lifted his face to look fully at Neil. “You are?”

“Yeah. I mostly do indoor climbing. There’s a couple of really great places that do it. One of them’s pretty challenging.”

Kit looked almost upset, his eyes intent and his face serious, his mouth drawn into a thin line. “I. That’s my goal,” he finally blurted out. “Walking, of course, but my idea of total recovery is really being able to climb, to test all my strength. No one knows that.”

“Hey.” Neil put his hand on Kit’s shoulder and squeezed. “Thank you for sharing that with me.”

Kit nodded sharply, then put his hand over Neil’s and squeezed back. “Don’t tell Dad. He’ll freak out about safety.” Kit smiled a little and let go. “I guess I should tell my therapist, huh?”

“Yeah, I think you should.” Neil nodded and then gave Kit a wicked grin. “You do realize that you’ve just given me a very effective tool in my arsenal to make you do the work.”

“Two, if you count the pool idea.” Kit rolled his eyes. “I hope you realize you’re going to have a hard time getting rid of me.”

“I can think of worse things. Now do you realize that with your upper body strength, there’s a few of the walls that you could probably already start climbing? There’s a facility south of the city that actually has a couple of their walls set up for paraplegics.”

Kit’s jaw fell open. “Are you serious? I had no idea.” He pointed to the computer in the living room. “Show me.”

“No. You have to finish getting everything cooking first. Then we go look things up.”

“Seriously?” Kit narrowed his eyes. “This is my life,” he wheedled. “I’ll get this on the stove, you pull up sites.” He clearly thought that was a brilliant plan.

“It’ll all still be there when you’re done, but if I get you hooked up now, you’re going to forget all about supper until your stomach starts making creepy-you’re-hungry-enough-to-eat-me noises.”

Kit scowled for a moment and then looked Neil over once more, all the way down and then back up. “I don’t make a lot of noise, to tell the truth.”

Neil frowned for a second, and then it clicked and his eyes widened. Hell, he could feel his cheeks start to heat, and he fought the blush, even as the words “I do,” shot, unbidden, out of his mouth.

“That’s something to keep in mind.” Kit sounded smug as he turned toward the oven to peek at the roast.

Oh, God. Neil couldn’t believe he’d said that out loud. “I’m, uh.” He cleared his throat. “If you’ll finish everything in here, I’ll go ahead and find that site for you on the computer. It’s in the living room you said?”

Kit laughed. “Is that your Achilles heel, Neil? Flirting makes you run?”

“Not exactly.” He flirted with his patients all the time; it was never serious, never leading to anything. It made them feel good and made the work a little easier, that was all. With Kit, though... well, that wasn’t necessarily true. He wanted to mean it with Kit.

“Okay.” Kit was still grinning at Neil, but he was also getting busy with the food, assembling side dishes with quick movements. “If you say so.”

Neil shook himself and went into the other room, looking for the computer as he lectured himself over the evils of lusting after patients. It wasn’t something he did. At least, not usually. Kit had somehow gotten under his defenses, though under his skin. He had to forget that he was attracted to Kit. The man was a patient, and either of them could so easily get hurt.

The computer was already running, so all he had to do was open a new tab in the browser and go to Google.

In the kitchen, Kit had started to hum, the clatter of pots punctuating his musical phrases. Who knew what was going to make Kit suddenly cheerful? His moods were in flux, which probably was part and parcel with his recovery from trauma, but maybe he was always unpredictable.

Neil was going to have to get this attraction he was feeling under control if he was going to continue to be Kit’s physiotherapist. He’d thought he did in fact have it under control, but it seemed he liked the man a little more than he’d realized. They were just really getting into a groove, though, with Kit trusting him and opening up about the kinds of therapies he was interested in and what his goals were.

It wouldn’t be fair to Kit if Neil had to recuse himself because of this; it certainly wasn’t Kit’s fault Neil was suddenly having trouble keeping it a hundred-percent professional.

Clicking on the link to Indoor Mountain Adventures, Neil pushed everything else to the back of his head, behind a door that he then put a lock on.

He was good to go.

***

Kit got everything cooking, setting two timers so he’d be on top of what was finishing when, and took advantage of the few moments while Neil was busy to take quick stock of himself.

Amused, yes. Confused, for sure. A little aghast at the way he was suddenly being... well, not aggressive. Not by a long shot. But considering the last few months of not even flirting, this was aggression.

He stirred the vegetables and added a tiny bit of pepper. He wasn’t sure why he was suddenly flirting, aside from the obvious -- Neil was gay, attractive, reliable, and there. He was a nice guy who, yes, Kit occasionally had impulses to loathe, but that feeling always went away the instant Neil said, “Okay, that’s it for now.”

Neil also saw Kit at his very worst -- his moods, his abilities, and his appearance. No one looked good in a ratty T-shirt and an hour’s worth of sweat from trying to force limbs to move and failing, more often than not. But Neil never seemed to care about that stuff, and until a day or so ago Kit would have sworn Neil didn’t care at all how Kit looked. But then there was helping him last night, and in the shower, and a bit of flirting made Neil blush. Kit sensed a challenge, but one he shouldn’t push too hard too fast.

Thinking about that -- the parts of him that weren’t thinking about pools and climbing walls -- Kit checked all his pots and timers and wheeled over to the computer, his chair almost silent. “Got something to show me?” he asked, not meaning the entendre until it was out, then totally meaning it.

Neil jumped, began to blush, and then cleared his throat. “Here’s the site for the place I was telling you about.”

Kit got his chair in real close and leaned to see the monitor better. “Does insurance cover this as therapy?”

“I’m afraid not. It’s not working the right muscles, you know? Your upper body is already doing great, and this doesn’t do anything to improve your leg muscles.”

“Boo. Still. An hour or three can’t cost too much, right?”

“Well, it’s not cheap, but it isn’t outrageously expensive, either.” Neil clicked on a link and showed him the page for the gimps. There were a couple of pictures of guys with their legs wrapped in black... bags? “See, they’ve got the equipment so your legs don’t get banged around as you climb.”

Kit made a face, but studied the wall intently. “There’ll be bruises, but that’s nothing new. I assume you have to partner with someone, either another paraplegic or an able-bodied person?”

“Yeah. I think these guys want you to bring your own able-bodied with you. At least that’s always how I’ve seen it done. We can call and find out.” Neil shrugged. “Well, I’ll be volunteering to be your partner anyway, so I suppose it’s a moot point.”

“You don’t have to,” Kit said, trying his best to be polite. “But I’d appreciate it. Since you climb already and all.” His gaze went right back to the images, and his fingers itched to curl around an edge and hold on.

“No, I love climbing, and I don’t know if I’d feel right sending you to do it on your own, seeing as I’m the one who suggested it.”

“Uh-huh.” Kit nodded, barely paying attention. He leaned more, reaching for the mouse so he could scroll through the site. “Have you been there before? To this facility?” Kit’s arm pressed against Neil’s, practically sharing the chair’s armrest.

Neil shifted, letting him take over the armrest. “Yeah. It’s one of the better ones in town. I’ve seen them doing the climb on these two particular walls. They’re safe, good. And lots of fun.”

Kit noticed when Neil moved, grinned to himself and wiggled his chair a fraction closer with a fast back and forth motion. “All right, then. I’ll take a look at my calendar and let you know what dates and times work best around my other appointments and see what matches your schedule. Although, honestly, weekends are best.”

“That would work best for me. I can’t always get away during the week.”

Kit nodded. Even with his days filled up with various doctors and therapies, he had a lot more room to maneuver than Neil did, with his full-time job. At least Neil’s hours were regular. “Maybe this weekend or next. I want to see how long I’m stiff from falling yesterday before I do more damage.”

“Yeah, I think we should look at next weekend. Give you all the time you need to get back to where you were BTF.”

“BTF.” Kit laughed. “I like it. Do you think you can get me into the pool before then, though?” That would be awesome.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Neil’s hand landed on his shoulder. “Speaking of being stiff, do you need a massage?”