The morning of Lucy's follow-up appointment with Frederick was a disaster.
She went through three pairs of socks that morning because she spilled coffee all over the kitchen floor and stepped in it not once, but twice, before getting it cleaned up. She narrowly avoided locking herself out of her apartment and remembered that the keys were still on the coffee table only when she slammed the door on her—thankfully sneakered—foot.
At work, Lucy called her ten o'clock by her two o'clock's name. She dropped a free-weight and managed to crack the industrial linoleum that must have withstood at least thirty years of wear before she came along. She also pulled out the wrong chart, but managed to catch herself before asking Mr. Herbert how bad his back pain was during his previous pregnancy. The only thing that kept it from being truly awful was that her headache hadn't turned into a migraine.
By the time her lunch break rolled around, she was kicking herself for giving Frederick the after lunch appointment. Now she was stuck with most of an hour to kill and was far too nervous to eat. Lucy sipped at a bottle of water and considered eating the crackers she had packed to go with her thermos of soup, but her stomach trembled and turned at the thought of food. In desperation, she pulled on her rain jacket, pocketed her keys, and dashed down the hall. A good walk would clear her head.
As soon as she left the outer door of the medical building, she knew she had made the right choice. It had rained earlier, but now the sun was beaming its heart out, making the wet ground glitter and shine. The smells of pine and freshly cut wood drifted on the breeze as they always did in Squirrel Falls. Her feet slid a little on the sidewalk in her haste, but she felt better with every step.
Moving always made her feel better. As a lifelong runner, she'd learned that 'running from her problems' wasn't just an expression. It really did help her to calm down, and then maybe she'd be ready to look at those problems with fresh eyes.
Lucy traveled away from the office past the few local business and houses that made up the downtown of Squirrel Falls, letting her thoughts wander as she walked. She wasn't looking for a relationship right now.She wasn't sure she ever wanted a relationship again. And even if that wasn't true, Lucy had to regulate her behavior and stay within the boundaries of a proper patient-therapist relationship. She couldn't even indulge in some harmless flirting.
If she was honest with herself, she wanted to do more than just flirt. Avoiding a relationship didn't mean that she couldn't have any fun at all, right? She wondered how much fun Frederick could be if she wasn't constricted by their current situation.
When she'd gone as far as she safely could in half of her lunch hour, walking along the shoulder of the highway after she'd passed through town, she turned and headed back again. The return trip was harder. She was still feeling both excited and scared at the prospect of seeing Frederick again.
As the smell of bread and deli meat drifted out from the red brick storefront of The Restaurant, she realized that her problem was that she had no idea what her problem was. Frederick was an unknown quantity in her quiet, carefully regulated life. As attractive as he was, Lucy chided herself for making such a big deal out of this afternoon. It was just another appointment, nothing strange or exotic, just something she'd done hundreds of times before.
He was just a man, a collection of bones and tendons that needed attention. And muscles, covered in warm skin that smelled of wood smoke and Earl Grey tea. And a kind spirit, a world-class talent, and a wickedly sexy grin.
See? Nothing to be worried about.
* * * * *
Lucy had just hung up her jacket when there was a knock at the door. Her nervous system zinged. Anticipation shot through her from the roots of her hair down to her toes.
"Come in!" she called, relieved that her voice sounded confident and casual. Well, her voice wasn't cracking and squeaking. Anything that didn't sound like she was in a complete panic was confident and casual in comparison.
"Good afternoon, Lucy," said Frederick, swinging the door wide. He was wearing an adorable black ball cap today, his dark wavy locks peeking out from beneath the brim.
"Mr. Asherton, nice to see you again."
"Last time I saw you, you had your hands over half my body, dragged a sob story from me, and, I believe, discussed my undergarments. I think you can call me Frederick," he said, his deep baritone dropping half an octave with his last few words.
Lucy blinked as he mentioned the undergarment incident, then took a quick fortifying breath before she spoke. "Frederick. Please come in. How has the knee been?" she asked.
"Better. Much better, thanks to you." He gave her a lopsided smile and fixed his mesmerizing pale green eyes on hers. Her insides turned as soft and mushy as the rain-soaked ground she'd been walking on. If he was looking straight into her soul and told her all her deepest, darkest secrets a moment from now, she wouldn't have been the least bit surprised.
"Shall I get changed?"
"Mmm. Yeah." She cleared her throat. "Yes, if you wouldn't mind." He shot her another devastating grin and disappeared into the change room. Only a couple inches of wood separated her from his half-dressed body.
She breathed deeply and slowly, hoping to calm herself. Instead, she got a lungful Frederick's unique scent. How could something that smelled so good make her stomach squeeze so uncomfortably?
He walked out of the change room wearing the same grey shorts as he wore for his last appointment and was - sigh - barefoot. In her mind, nothing said comfortable, casual, and could rip more clothes off at any second than bare feet.
Lucy directed him back to her exam table and, after taking him through the range of motion tests again, was pleased to see that he had improved. She then had him stand and showed him some stretching and strengthening muscles, and suggested trying more strenuous exercise, like running, once he was comfortable with the basics.
The familiar movements and the mini-lessons she gave along with them grounded Lucy and she felt less and less nervous as the appointment went on. Frederick was a fantastic patient, determined to get the most out of each lesson. It may have been her imagination, but he seemed to relax as she did. Lucy got to see his famous grin again when he figured out a tricky series of moves. When he laughed at himself after he nearly toppled over at one point, the sound was deep and wonderful. She found herself smiling right along with him, chattering away during the easy exercises, even managing to crack a small joke.
Exercises completed, she declared them finished for the day and told Frederick that he could change back into his regular clothes.
"So," he said, walking out of the change room and towards Lucy until he was well inside her comfort zone. "Am I to see you again?"
Her heart skittered a little at having him so close. Despite her actually touching him for much of the last forty-five minutes, this felt different. More intentional.
"I'd like to do a follow-up appointment next week to see how you're getting along with your exercises. If you're still here, that is," she said.
"I will be here. I was thinking of something a little less...clinical. Dinner."
What? Frederick Asherton just asked her out for dinner?
The word 'yes' was on her lips, but her higher brain function kicked in just in time. Trust or not, she had an ethical protocol to follow. Breaking it could mean losing her license.
"No. I'm sorry. It wouldn't be appropriate since you're still my patient." Her heart sank a little after saying those words out loud. She backed up half a step.
"Then I shall do my utmost to get better quickly," he said. He stuck his hand in his side pocket and struck a thoughtful pose. "Perhaps you could show me some of the local running trails? Purely for therapeutic reasons."
"That...yes, I can do that. Running is a very good idea," she said, grateful that he had suggested it. She should have thought of that! It actually would be good for his knee, as long as they took it easy.
"Put your number in my phone," he said, stepping back into the small space she'd made between them.
"Service is pretty patchy out here. We usually use land lines."
"I'll need your land line number, then."
"Your assistant person has it. The guy who booked the appointment?"
"Maybe you should put it in my phone. Just in case." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a top-of-the-line phone in a matte black case. He tapped the screen a few times, then handed it to Lucy. It was still warm from being next to his body. She quickly tapped in her number, then remembered to add her name. Then erased her name and re-typed it because she'd spelled it wrong. It was hard to focus with Mr. tall, dark and British an inch from her elbow.
Lucy handed the phone back to him, her fingertips brushing briefly against his. He looked at her number and gave his phone one of the half-smiles that she so coveted.
"I'll call you, Lucy," he said.
She was already looking forward to his call.
* * * * *
Frederick walked out of Lucy's clinic and towards the small parking lot feeling like he'd been hit by a train. Or flipped head over heels by one of those big moose creatures he'd been warned about. He'd had to work hard to focus on the exercises that Lucy had shown him. He didn't have a thick script nearby to hide under today, and his thin gray shorts were not much better than no cover at all.
But now that he was out of Lucy's office, Frederick was flooded with all the sensory data that he'd been working so hard to ignore for the last hour. The way her hair fell across her face when she'd leaned towards his feet, the cool melody of her voice, her warm smile when he'd figured out a tricky move. The soft strength of Lucy's hands. It had been sweet torture having her hands all over him again. But it wasn't much better when she wasn't hands-on. When she was demonstrating various stretches and squats, her fit, nimble body made each move look effortless.
It was a treat to be with someone so self-possessed, someone who looked so happy doing what she did best for an audience of one, not millions. Aside from feeling like a horny clod, Frederick had felt more himself with Lucy than he had with anyone else in a long time.
Frederick climbed into his bland gray rental car and sat unmoving behind the wheel, too lost in thought to trust himself on the road just yet. When he'd gone to change out of his gym shorts, he'd had a sudden compulsion to burst back into the clinic wearing nothing but his boxers and a smoldering look. He was dying to know what Lucy would have done if he'd taken her in his arms and kissed her senseless. There was a bed of sorts in the middle of the clinic room...
When he'd emerged from the change room, regrettably fully clothed, he'd been unable to resist asking Lucy out. Seeing her face light up when he'd asked had made all the suffering he'd gone through during the appointment seem worth it. When she'd said no, he was grateful for the sudden bolt of inspiration to ask her on a running date-that-wasn't-a-date. He would endure today's suffering all over again, and happily, to see that smile once more.