the cleanup job didn’t take long.
Dan stared at the stack of presents Josh had accumulated. “I’m not sure we’ll be able to fit all this in the trunk of my car, along with Josh’s wheelchair,” he muttered. But he’d rather cut off his arm than ask Molly for help, even though he wanted to finish their conversation more than he wanted to breathe.
“I’ll help you. Between the two of us we’ll get the car packed up, no problem,” Molly said.
“Only if you’re sure,” he said, looking down into her bright green eyes. “There’s no scorecard, Molly. If you want to go home, we’ll handle it. You and I can always talk later.”
Her tremulous smile tugged at his heart. “I know you can handle anything, but I’d like to help, if you’ll have me.”
Have her? Little did she know he wasn’t about to let her go without a fight.
MOLLY WAS IN AWE OF HOW well Dan had handled the wheelchair football game, along with the subsequent meal for Josh’s party, especially the not-so-nice kids like Craig Albert. Scary how much that kid was like his mother.
Just thinking of the way Dan had stared at her in horror when she’d mentioned Stephanie Albert made her feel warm and gooey inside. Clearly, he wasn’t attracted to the woman, not even one little bit. And he wanted a second chance.
With her.
And, heaven help her, she wanted that, too.
She let out a little sigh of relief when Dan pulled into the parking garage beneath his fancy high-rise apartment building. “You don’t have to carry those,” he protested, when she gathered a bunch of Josh’s presents into her arms. “I can make a few trips.”
The way he was falling over himself trying not to take advantage of her made her smile. “Dan, it’s fine. No scorecard, remember?” she chided lightly.
He grimaced and pulled Josh’s wheelchair out, before loading up on gifts and leading the way to the elevator. Josh wheeled himself alongside, with his remote-controlled truck sitting on his lap, as if he wasn’t about to be parted from the gift. She’d noticed that one was from Dan, and she silently approved of his choice. Perfect for now, with Josh being wheelchair bound, yet something he could still use once he was walking again.
Once inside Dan’s home, they stacked the gifts in the corner of Josh’s room.
“You realize you need to write thank-you notes for these,” she said to Josh.
He wrinkled his nose, his face falling in dismay. “I do?”
“Yes. You do.” She fought a grin as Dan sighed heavily at the news. “I’m sure your dad can get them to your teacher, who can hand them out to the kids at school.”
“We’ll work on them tomorrow, Josh,” Dan assured him. “The sooner we get them done, the better.”
“That’s probably best.” She glanced around, and noticed that Josh was bending over in his wheelchair, trying to massage his calf muscles. “What’s wrong?”
“My legs are sore,” Josh admitted.
“Really?” Dan scowled a bit and knelt beside his son’s wheelchair to feel his legs. “That’s strange because we didn’t play the ball game very long this morning. I would think your arms would be sore after the game of wheelchair football, not your legs.”
“Actually, using a wheelchair does exercise the core muscles along with the upper arms,” she felt compelled to point out. “But even with that, it’s possible Josh was unconsciously tightening his leg muscles while he played, especially when he was making those sharp turns on the field.” She turned toward Josh. “You’d better let me massage them for you.”
Dan looked relieved and nodded. “If you wouldn’t mind, that would be great.”
“Of course I don’t mind.” She helped Josh get settled on his bed while Dan brought in the bottle of lotion she’d used last time. “Do you have a heating pad?” she asked. “Heat helps to relax tense muscles, too.”
“I’m not sure, I’ll check.”
As Dan went in search of the heating pad she instructed Josh to roll over on his stomach. She began to massage his lower legs, starting with the gastrocnemius and then moving onto the soleus, which was only slightly less tense.
“Feels good,” Josh murmured groggily, as if he was half-asleep. She smiled, suspecting that the excitement of the day was catching up with him.
“I’m glad,” she said, soothing the angry, tense muscles with her fingers. As before, his right leg was far worse than his left.
“I found it,” Dan said in a low voice, bringing in the electric heating pad. He set it up while she finished the massage. She applied the heating pad to Josh’s right leg and within moments the boy was out for the count, sound asleep.
She followed Dan from Josh’s room, partially closing the door behind her. When they reached the living room, he surprised her by drawing her toward the sofa. “Please sit down for a moment.”
She sat, knowing he meant to continue the conversation they’d started during Josh’s party. She linked her fingers together to hide her nervousness.
He sat in the chair to her right so that he could face her. “Molly, there’s so much I want to say to you, I don’t even know where to start. First of all, thanks for everything you did today. Your idea for Josh’s birthday party was brilliant. And I’ll never forget the look on Josh’s face when he saw all of you standing behind the banner, yelling, ‘Surprise!’”
She couldn’t help but smile. “The look on his face was priceless, wasn’t it? And you did a lot of the work, too.” She paused, and then added, “I’m so happy when I see how you and Josh are together now, compared to the day we first met. You’ve accomplished a minor miracle, Dan.”
“You’re the miracle, Molly,” he said in a low, husky tone. “I owe everything to you.”
“No, Dan, I’m sure you would have found your way back together again, even without my help.” She lifted her gaze up to meet his. “You’re a good father. You love Josh and I’m convinced your love can get you through any thing.”
“Molly.” He reached over to rest the palm of his hand against her cheek. “You have to understand something. I don’t really know much about love. My mother—well, let’s just say I was a major inconvenience in her life. She never once let me forget how everything that was bad in our lives was my fault.”
She felt herself pale, and brought up her hand to cover his. “That’s terrible, Dan. How terrible of her to say those things to you!”
He rubbed his thumb across her cheek, but then pulled away, rising to his feet and turning his back as he began to pace. “Leaving home, going to college and then getting into medical school was the best thing I ever did. Everyone kept telling me what a great doctor I was, how much talent I had. I was at the
