His face didn’t show any exertion when they reached the reception area, but there were little beads gathering on his face and neck. His knuckles were white on the padded handgrips.
Angry and pushing himself too hard. Well, he was Mrs. Moretta’s son. It was to be expected.
They waited in silence for a few minutes until a nurse in cheery flowered scrubs called them back.
“Lieutenant Moretta, welcome to PT,” she smiled at him. “I’m Annalise.” She extended her hand to him. After shuffling crutches, Aldo shook it.
“Aldo.”
Annalise turned her attention to Harper.
“I’m Harper,” she said, taking the offered hand.
“Thanks for coming,” Annalise said, leading the way through tables and cardio machines. “It’s important for family to be involved in recovery.”
“We’re just friends,” Aldo mumbled.
“Well, it always helps to have another pair of eyes and hands,” Annalise said, unphased. She pointed to a pair of chairs next to a set of parallel bars. “Let me get these set to your height and the doctor will be here shortly.”
Aldo glared at the bars while Harper tried not to think of the friendly, funny man who left Benevolence not so long ago.
“Lieutenant.” A slim man in a white coat and glasses approached. “I’m Dr. Steers. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Aldo shook his hand, but said nothing.
“Harper,” she introduced herself.
“Great to meet you Harper. Let’s get started, shall we? Lieutenant, Walter Reed gave me your file and you already have our staff impressed. To be where you are right now, barely a month from the injury, is almost superhuman.”
Harper saw the corner of Aldo’s mouth lift. So he was still in there somewhere.
“He is pretty awesome, isn’t he?” she grinned.
Dr. Steers flashed her a grin. “We can understand the lieutenant’s frustration with the pace of therapy, and we’ll do our best to write a program that challenges him at his level. We just need to make sure we’re not asking too much of your body while you’re still so early in the recovery process. Okay?”
Aldo nodded.
“So let’s get you up. You know the drill.” The doctor pointed to the bars.
Aldo stood and handed Annalise his crutches. He gripped the bars and walked, one foot in front of the other, toward Dr. Steers who paced him backward on a wheeled stool.
“Looks good,” the doctor said, making notes. “Go ahead and go back to the top.”
They had Aldo walk, holding the bars several more times, pausing briefly to make slight adjustments to the prosthesis.
“Lieutenant, let’s try it without the bars.”
Aldo dropped his hands to his sides and sauntered toward Annalise. “That’s perfect,” Dr. Steers said. “Your gait looks great.”
Again, they put Aldo through his paces this time without walking aids.
His impassive face gave no hint of exertion, but his t-shirt was soaked with sweat.
“Let’s take a quick water break and then we’ll move on to some of the balance exercises,” Dr. Steers suggested.
Aldo shrugged, but dropped into the chair next to Harper.
“Harper, there’s some bottles of water in the cooler on the far wall. Do you want to grab a couple for you two?”
