Tobias: Book One of the Cantrell Series [Re-Write]

Chapter One

"So, how exactly did you break your hip?"

"I fell off a roof."

She looked at him. "You fell off a roof?"

He laughed, his ears turning a little red. "Yeah, I was re-shingling a roof, and I got up to go get some more nails, but then I tripped and just . . . fell right off."

"How many stories up was it?"

"Just one. But that was enough to do the trick."

"Yeah, I bet," she murmured. Jane asked him a few more questions about his different limitations and what he had done for treatment already before handing him a clipboard. "If you could please fill this out real quick. It's just a waiver form that allows me to talk about this with the other therapists, just in case if you want to switch over to one of them."

Jane watched him as he filled out the form. His brow was furrowed in concentration, and that knee was still bouncing. He handed it back to her, and their fingers brushed. He felt warm. The room seemed to heat up, and she hoped to God that she didn't start to sweat.

"So, if I don't want to switch, then I don't have to?"

"Yes. You can stay with me if you would like, or you can go to somebody else. Whatever you prefer. I do have a team of P.T. assistants that will take care of you when I'm gone or have to do an evaluation, though. But for the most part, you'll be with me. If you want," she added.

"Oh, okay. I'm sure I'll be just fine with you." He smiled.

That was the first full smile she got from him, and she definitely wanted to see it on him again. He had nice teeth and a really nice smile. It was silent after he said that, and Jane realized she was just staring at him, smiling.

Clearing her throat, she said, "Now, if you could just stand up for me, please. We're going to do some flexibility tests for today, just to get some baseline measurements. And then we'll monitor improvement along the way."

Tobias stood up, favoring his left leg. He seemed especially big now, here in this small room with her sitting on the tiny stool. "Are you going to make me touch my toes?"

"How'd you know that?

"They always ask me to do the impossible," he explained as he bent down, the tips of his fingers coming just barely to the middle of his shins. "See?"

She bent down and measured how far away he was from his toes. "We can definitely make improvements on your flexibility. This'll help prevent against future injury." She stood up, having to back up to fully look at him. "Now, you can lie down on your back."

She waited until his head hit the pillow and almost laughed at how small the table looked when he was lying on it. His feet were hanging off. Picking up one leg behind his calf, she bent it to a ninety-degree angle. "I'm just going to swivel your leg around into the joint. Contract your lower abdominals so that your lower back is pressed against the table."

"Like this?"

She put her hand on the table and checked to make sure there wasn't any space between. "Perfect."

Jane picked up his leg once more and began pivoting his hip in different positions. She did the same to his other leg and then laid them both out to make sure they were equal in length. They were.

"If you could just flip onto your stomach, please." Once he did that, she said, "Now, bend your left leg to a ninety-degree angle. I'm going to gently push until your calf bets closer to your thigh, but you have to make sure that your leg stays on the table, okay?"

"Okay."

Jane stretched one leg and then the other. He was tight just about everywhere where his left leg was concerned. They did a few more exercises, and she took a few more measurements. His flexibility could definitely improve. His strength was good, though, despite being on crutches for the past two months.

"Would you like me to print off a list of all the stretches that we did today?"

"Yes, please."

She put the pictures and descriptions onto a word document and then sent that to the printer. Jane was a little disappointed when she handed him the list and their fingers didn't brush. His smile was wider this time, and he thanked her. His shoulders were less tense, too. That was good. She didn't want him to be nervous around her.

"So, you should do these at least two times per day every day. Did you exercise a lot before breaking your hip?" She wanted to roll her eyes at her own question. Of course he exercised. He looked to be in good shape, even though he had to stay off his leg for almost four months now.

"Yeah. Quite a bit. But I've only been able to do some weightlifting since I broke it."

"Good. Let's keep it that way. I wouldn't recommend doing any lower body work for awhile yet. We'll get there, but it's going to take some time. Even walking, I would be careful with."

"What about biking? Would that be okay?"

"Yes, as long as you don't overdo it. If it starts to hurt at all, then stop. If anything hurts at all, then take a break, ice it, and rest."

"Okay. Sounds easy enough."

"Do you have any other questions about the exercises?"

"No." He shook his head. "I think I got it."

"Good." Jane opened up the door and led him down the hall to the reception area. "If any of these start to hurt, like I said, just stop doing that exercise. If you have any questions in the future, don't be afraid to call." She turned to the receptionist at the front desk. "Jessica, Tobias needs to schedule a few appointments with either me, Jacki, or David. If you could get him in on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the next couple of weeks, that would be perfect."

"Thank you," Tobias said. "

"Of course, no problem. Oh, and you're going to want to wear shorts next time and make sure to drink a lot of water. We're probably going to be doing some non-invasive therapy, and you can't really do that with jeans."

His ears looked red again, but he smiled. "Okay, I'll do that."

"Sounds good. Then I'll see you next week!"

He smiled again, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "Looking forward to it."

"Have a great weekend."

"You, too. Thank you."

She walked back to the evaluation room and couldn't stop smiling.