Road to Recovery Read Online Free

therapy.
Surely you have gotten a new doctor to work with by
now?”
    Brooke sighed louder this time. And
there was the main reason for the text this morning. “No, Mother. I
haven’t had time yet, but it’s on my list of things to do. I’m
fine. I’ve been doing my own rehab in the hospital gym the last few
weeks. I worked with my old doctors enough in the last few months.
I know what I’m doing by now.”
    Paula was not someone to be put off.
When she had an opinion, she made sure everyone around her heard
and agreed. And if they didn’t, she would keep hounding and nagging
until you threw your hands up and gave in. “I’m sure you do. But
just in case, you need to have someone to follow up with. The last
thing you need is to injure yourself. It’s only been a few months
since your last surgery. The doctors told you it would be a good
year before you were back to yourself. Maybe I’ll ask your father
to look into some local doctors for you.” She slipped in, “How does
that sound?”
    Brooke groaned. True to form, her
mother threw the father card out there. No one ever went against
Richard Malone’s wishes.
    Peeking at her slim gold watch, she
interrupted her mother. “You’re right, Mother. I’ll look into it
this week, I promise. Right now I really need to go. I’ll talk to
you later in the week.”
    “ OK, dear. If I don’t hear
from you by Friday, I will call back. I expect you to tell me you
have an appointment scheduled,” she chided.
    Brooke hoped her voice didn’t relay
the sound of her teeth grinding. “I’ll talk to you later,” she
repeated.
    “ You know we only want what
is best for you,” Paula reminded her daughter, ignoring the
attempts Brooke made to end the call until she was good and ready.
When met with Brooke’s silence, Paula finally added, “Bye,
Brooklyn.”
    Brooke ended the call, shoved her
phone back in her purse, slipped her heels on, grabbed her
briefcase and sweater, then rushed out the door.
    Thankfully the ride in was quiet and
she still managed to beat the morning traffic. After parking her
car, she reached over to grab her briefcase and realized she never
made a lunch. Since she knew she would need an extra dose of
caffeine after her mother’s call, she decided she would run to the
hospital cafeteria and grab something to put away for later, along
with an extra-large coffee.
     
    ***
    Lucas was reading an email on his
phone when the elevator doors opened. He lifted his eyes, stepped
in, went to push the button for his floor, and saw another hand
beat him to it. Stepping to the back of the elevator, he resumed
reading his email.
    The doors opened again on the next
floor, more people piled in, and he felt a nudge on his briefcase
that was draped on his shoulder. Reaching up to secure it more
firmly in place, he made eye contact with the source of the nudge.
Whiskey-colored eyes with flecks of gold met his pale blue
ones.
    “ Sorry about that,” she
said politely.
    “ No problem,” he replied,
and went back to his email. Then quickly turned his head back
around to her face. He ran his eyes from the top of her head down
to her incredibly sexy heels. Heels, almost the same color as her
legs, giving the illusion of height, even though she was easily six
inches shorter than him standing in them.
    It couldn’t be. He was having a hard
time believing his eyes. This couldn’t be the same Brooke from the
gym on Friday. But it was. The same face, the same eyes, hair,
which was now flowing in waves down her back, rather than twisted
up on top of her head.
    He realized she was speaking to him,
and, feeling kind of dumb, he asked, “What?”
    She looked around, leaned in, and
lowered her voice. “I said, do I have something on my face? You’re
staring.”
    Where his normal cool confidence had
just gone was beyond him. He felt as if he had been smacked upside
the head. He didn’t know why he only thought she was pretty when he
first noticed her in the gym. She was more