Sorry about that. I had a kink in my neck and was trying to work it out.” More like a kink in her head, but it was pretty much the same thing.
Naomi chuckled. “It’s fine. You should see the things I do when I’m alone.” Another laugh. “Forget I said that. I didn’t mean that quite the way it sounded.”
“I didn’t think it sounded odd at all.” She smiled to reassure her. After all, if Naomi could have gotten a good look at what was rattling around in her head, she might be a little more than shocked. “Can I help you with something?”
“I just wanted to talk with you about Ivy. What you wanted me to work on with her tomorrow.”
With her clear complexion and deep gorgeous skin tones, Naomi was beautiful. And she was a huge hit with all her young charges, including Ivy.
“I’m not her only doctor, you know.”
Naomi entered the office and closed the door behind her. “Maybe not, but right now everyone—if they’re smart—is deferring to you and hoping you’ll solve whatever is going on with her.”
“And if I can’t?” The words that she hadn’t dared say aloud in the hallway with Theo came tumbling out before she could stop them. She dropped into one of the metal chairs that flanked her desk.
The physical therapist came over and sat in the other one. “It’s a bit of pressure, yes?”
“Yes. And I want to figure it out. But I’m at a dead end at the moment.” She didn’t know why she was suddenly voicing her fears, but there was something in the other woman’s eyes that said she’d known fear—intimately—and had come out on the other side.
“Sometimes we just have to give ourselves a bit of space to regroup. And that’s when it normally comes to us. That realization that’s been in front of us all along.”
Were they still talking about Ivy? Or about something else?
“I hope you’re right.”
“I am. You’ll see.” Naomi leaned forward and captured her hands. “Just give yourself permission to take a step or two back and look at the problem with a wide-angle lens.”
Something about those words caught at an area of her brain, which set to work in the background. “Thank you. I think I needed to hear that.” She squeezed the other woman’s fingers before letting go. Gently. Not the way Theo had done in the hallway. “How are things with you and Finn, if I may ask?”
Naomi’s smile caused her nose to crinkle in a way that was both adorable and mischievous. “You can. And it’s great. Better than I have a right to expect.”
“It’s exactly what you should expect. And what you deserve.” From what Madison had heard, Naomi had had a hard time of it, losing loved ones in a terrible conflict in her home country. But she’d overcome it and had learned to live her life in the present.
Maybe Naomi should write a how-to book on how to do that. Madison would be one of her first customers if that ever happened.
“Thank you. Finn’s a good man.” Naomi sucked down a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Now, about Ivy...”
Madison went over what she would like to see happen with Ivy’s therapy tomorrow. Although she couldn’t walk or even hold herself up on the parallel bars they used to help people learn to walk again, they could still try to utilize what muscle strength she did have to its best advantage. Having her kick a large exercise ball and do some resistance bands to hopefully keep things from atrophying any faster than they already were was the biggest goal at the moment.
“I agree. That’s the perfect thing for her. I did a little work with the bands today, in fact. Right now the hope is to slow that downward spiral as much as possible, to buy ourselves time to find whatever’s going on.”
“Yes, and thank you. Do you want me to check with Theo to make sure he agrees?”
Naomi shook her head. “He’ll agree. He’s desperate to find anything that will work. As are we all. We all want her to beat whatever this is.”
With that she stood to her feet. “I think I’ll check in on her on my way out.”
“Thank you. And thanks for the pep talk.”
The physical therapist fixed her with a look. “It wasn’t a pep talk. It was the truth.”
She showed herself out, leaving Madison to think about what the other woman had said. Maybe she was right. Maybe she was going about this the wrong way. Maybe she really was using a microscope and focusing very narrowly when she should be casting a wide net and seeing what she could haul to shore.
Ha! That was easier said than done, but the more she mulled over the idea, the more it felt right. Now all she had to do was figure out what it meant. And then how to go about implementing it.
And she’d better do it soon. Before that slow downward spiral increased its pace, becoming something that no force on earth could stop. Before a child’s modest wish list was nothing more than a memory, and a father’s last hope was pulverized into dust.
SHE WASN’T IN her office.
Theo had knocked and then peeked into the small space before moving inside. He felt a little bit like an interloper, but figured he could as easily wait for her in here as go looking for her. The fact was, he was half-afraid of going to Ivy’s room and finding them in a cute little huddle like he had three days ago. Since then he’d forced himself to let Madison alone to do her work. If he hounded her every moment of every day, he would do more harm than good.
Or so he told himself. In reality, he wasn’t sure he was ready to face her after his panicked flight the last time. And he wasn’t sure why.
He dropped into one of the little chairs, wondering why her office was so spartan when most other doctors’ spaces were decked out with squashy leather chairs and the personal touches of its occupants.
It was because this hadn’t been an office at all. It had been a supplies cupboard, but it was all they’d had available, since the renovations on Dr. Camargo’s office were running behind schedule. But she hadn’t offered one word of complaint or acted like they’d set her in a place that was beneath her status. They were damned lucky to have someone like her, and Theo knew it.
He glanced at her desktop, finding it neat and mostly empty except for the stack of file folders on the left-hand side, at the top of which was Ivy’s chart. His fingers brushed across the cover, the temptation to open it coming and going. There was nothing in there that she wouldn’t have already told him. Then he spotted a small notebook. It was on the right side of the desk toward the back. He was almost sure that was the same notebook she’d tucked into her pocket after her tête-à-tête with Ivy. What was in it? Notes about the case?
No, she’d been scratching in that when he’d caught them giggling. They’d been making plans, Madison had said.
About Christmas.
The
