He wasn’t sure what to think of that. But, as he was spending all his time healing and doing all the work he had to do, she was spending all her time doing the work that she had to do. It’s just that he was doing it for himself, and she was doing it for a paycheck. Not that he wanted to undermine her passion and what she was doing because it was obviously very valuable and because she was good at it too. But he did wonder what she would be like if she had a full-time relationship but was so busy all the time at work too.
His morning was slow, but he was off slightly on his sessions with Shane, even though he tried hard to pick it up now that he knew that Ilse was around again. But Shane was frustrated with him.
“What’s wrong with you?” he snapped. “I said a hundred percent effort. Not sixty-five and that’s all I’ve seen out of you today.”
“No, you’re right,” he said, rotating his shoulders and easing his head back. “I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. I’m just off a bit.”
“Well, get back on again,” Shane said. “We’re done for the day.” He waved his hand. “Go home, go for a swim, and work some of that out of there.”
Keith nodded and quickly made his way to the wheelchair and left. He didn’t like Shane being pissed off at him either. It wasn’t a state that he was used to seeing, but Shane was usually trying to get Keith to do his best, and no way was he doing that today. He wasn’t even sure what was wrong because he’d been upset before, when he didn’t know why Ilse hadn’t been around. But he’d found out she was back, so why wasn’t he “back” as well?
It was frustrating when you couldn’t come up with a reason why something was off. It was just off. Only that wasn’t good enough when you were here for however long; you had these people’s talents and skills available to help you get from point A to point B. Just because Keith wanted to dawdle somewhere in the middle didn’t mean that the staff had the time for it.
Feeling upset at himself, he headed back to his room, where he quickly washed up and changed his T-shirt. He grabbed his crutches and slowly maneuvered his way to the cafeteria. He wasn’t even sure that he’d worked up enough of an appetite. Shane had told him to go swimming, but he hadn’t realized what time it was. Still, he had on his swim shorts, so he should either go swimming first or he could go later.
When he took one look at the long line in the dining room, he decided he’d eat later, and he took the elevator down and made his way to the pool. Stripping off the T-shirt, he jumped into the water.
As soon as it closed over his head, he could feel some of the stress and the confusion in his world floating away. This is what he needed. Just a chance to veg out and to get down here, not be ordered around, not be told what to do by anybody, and just have the time to do for himself. And what he really wanted to do was just swim, and that’s what he did, heading from one side to the other mindlessly. Blindly trying hard to keep his form, he just worked steadily, back and forth.
When he finally broke through the water and eased back to just float, he saw Shane standing there, looking down at him. “Problem?” he asked.
“No,” Shane said, “not at all. Just glad to see you put more effort into that than you did upstairs.”
“Sorry,” he said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Woman trouble?” Shane asked, his hands on his hips, frowning at him.
“Actually not,” he said. “I was worried because she hadn’t shown up for a few days, but she was there this morning.”
“Well, I know the last couple days she’s been slammed in the kitchen,” he said, “because some of the staff members were out sick.”
“I knew that,” he said, “because she came today.”
“Good,” Shane said, “but after all that I didn’t get anything close to your best efforts, so having her show up again obviously didn’t affect things much.”
“It didn’t. You’re right,” he said. “It just reminds me that, although life is changing, it’s not necessarily changing enough.”
“Explain,” he barked.
“I can’t really explain it, but, even if I wanted to have a relationship with somebody, that somebody is here working all the time,” he said. “I can’t stay here forever obviously, so I’m not sure what solution there is.”
“Well, you’re not going anywhere soon,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to see you leave here for at least another two months.”
He stared at him in surprise. “Do you think I need to be here that much longer?”
“Absolutely,” Shane said. “You’ve come a long way, but it’s just the beginning to get you where you need to be.”
Keith nodded slowly. “Okay,” he said, “I was thinking I would only be here for another couple weeks.”
“I would say eight at the minimum,” Shane said. “It could be closer to twelve if not sixteen. Even once we get you back up to peak performance,” he said, “we have to stabilize all those muscles in that spinal column of yours. We’ll be a long time at it, so spend the time getting to know and to enjoy her. If it’s something that you want to keep up when you’re done and you’re healthy,” he said, “you’ll find a way. Don’t start making problems ahead of time.”
At that, Shane turned and walked away. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, going up to the dining room deck, and said, “And, hey, don’t do so much swimming that you don’t eat.”
“Yes, boss,” Keith said and then laughed. He hadn’t wanted to come to Hathaway House and, even when he’d arrived, he didn’t want to stay. Now he couldn’t stop laughing because he could stay for at least another two to four months. And that was perfect. How far he had come was evidenced by that alone.
Chapter 12
Ilse did take two days off. She really needed them. She was completely burned out, and her crew, now that they were back up and running fully staffed, had everything in hand. She went into town and visited friends, saw a movie, and did some shopping. By the time she came back to work two days later, she couldn’t wait to see if Keith was awake. When she walked into his room, he looked up and laughed.
“This time I asked Dennis, and he said you were off for a couple days.”
She nodded. “Exactly,” she said, “I don’t take enough time off as it is. I did mention it before I left.”
“I know. It just seemed longer. I was wondering how that worked,” he said. “In case I ever get out of this place, and we wanted to spend some time together,” he said, waggling his eyebrows, “how do you make time for that when you’re always here working?”
“I’m here a lot because I don’t have any other life,” she said, laughing. “This has been my whole life for a long time now.”
“When was your last relationship?” he asked.
“Years ago,” she said. “I’ve dated since then, but I haven’t met anybody who I really cared about.”
“Until now,” he nudged.