Dirty Little Secret

twenty | grief

Lucas

"We're late," Riley mutters.

"I know." I breathe out. "I'm sorry. Practice ran late."

"It's okay. We just need to go." I grab her purse off the counter as she walks out the door on her crutches. "Is it stupid that I want to cry?"

"Why do you want to cry?"

"Because I'm scared."

"Scared of what?" I asked, hitting the button for the elevator.

"To walk on it." She admits.

"It's gonna be okay. They know what they're doing." I reassure her.

Riley nods and we head out to the car, before driving to the orthopedic office where her physical therapy is.

The physical therapist explains to Riley how they're going to work on rebuilding strength in her knee and yadda-yadda.

"Can you put any weight on it?"

"I haven't really tried," Riley says.

"Okay. Let's go ahead and stand."

I lean back in the chair and watch as Riley slides off the exam table. The physical therapist takes both of Riley's hands and instructs her to shift her weight.

I watch Riley's face for any pain, but only discomfort appears.

"It doesn't hurt." Riley shrugs. "It's weird, I dunno."

"You don't trust it, that's the problem." The physical therapist explains. "You've gotta trust that you can walk on it again. You'll still be in the splint, we just want to take away the crutches. Look," She gently taps on her kneecap. "it doesn't hurt, so you have nothing to worry about." She looks at me. "You, come hold her hands. She'll trust you more than me."

I stand from the chair and step in front of Riley. "It doesn't hurt at all?" I ask and she shakes her head. "Okay." Riley slides her palms up my forearms as she applies her weight to her injured leg. "How does it feel?"

"I can't explain it."

The therapist kneels down beside Riley. "Go ahead and bend it for me, sweetie." Riley bends her knee slowly. "Does that hurt?"

"A little."

"Okay." She stands and walks over to some drawers. "Let's try a few exercises."

I help Riley the entire time, and by the time we're done, she's walking without crutches again.

"Um, you missed the turn to--"

"You're not going home yet," I tell her, giving her thigh a squeeze.

"Well, where are we going?" She asks as I pull into the cafe parking lot. I roll into the drive-thru and put the car in park.

"What's your favorite kind of smoothie?"

"Hm, strawberry banana, I guess." She answers, twisting her lips to the side.

I pull up further and order her smoothie, an iced coffee for me, and two chocolate croissants. When I get to the window I pay before Riley can protest.

"You didn't have to do that." She says when we pull out of the parking lot.

"It's a good thing I wanted to then." I smile over my straw.

Riley smiles too as she stabs her lid with a straw and takes a sip of the smoothie. "Ohmigod, I think this might be the best smoothie I've ever had." She turns in her seat to look behind us. "How'd you find this place?"