“If you can help carry plates to the table, Ha—uh, Connor will get Gio sorted,” she said.
I nodded and she directed me through her process.
“How did you land on physical therapy, Waverly?” Maisie asked once we were seated.
“I think it was kind of kismet in a way. My grandmother took a fall when I was about sixteen and it had been her and I against the world for about four years at that point. My parents had been killed in a small plane crash and my grandfather died two years after that.” I shook my head. I couldn’t believe I’d just told them all of that.
“Oh my lord,” Maisie exclaimed. “I’m so sorry, love.”
“It was a long time ago. Sorry, that was a lot,” I breathed out. “I didn’t mean to make everyone sad. My life is really good.” I forced a smile. “But she’s the reason I’m a physical therapist because when she took that fall, I helped her rehab, and I found I really liked it and she encouraged me by telling me I was good at it. She always told me I could do anything.”
“Is she still alive?” Gio asked.
I shook my head. “She died six years ago.”
Gio reached over and squeezed my hand. “Sorry, Fizzy.”
“Gosh, I’m just bumming everyone out.” I blushed and took a sip of my wine. “Sorry.”
“Safe space, love,” Maisie said. “We’ve all had tragedy, and you should always feel free to share your memories, whether they be happy or sad ones. They make up who we are after all.”
I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “You know, despite years of therapy, you’re the first people who’ve made me feel like I can be myself. Well, besides Lennon.”
“Lennon’s your best friend?” Gio asked.
I nodded. “Yes. She’s currently in Africa doing field research.”
“Wow,” Maisie said. “What’s she researching in Africa?”
“She’s studying black rhinoceroses. She’s actually studying the social behavioral patterns of endangered species, and she chose to focus on the black rhino. She has a job waiting for her at the Denver Zoo when she gets back.”
“Goodness, you’re both quite amazing young women,” Maisie said.
“Well, thank you.” I smiled. “She certainly is. She’s the best human I know. Despite her choice of... uh, sorry, never mind.”
“You can’t choose who you fall in love with,” Maisie mused, pouring herself more wine.
“I disagree,” I said.
Maisie smiled gently. “Well, if you figure out how to do that, you let me know. I fell fast and hard for Connor and believe me, as a widow with a twelve-year-old daughter at the time, I tried very hard not to.”
My eyes widened of their own accord. “Wow, really?”
She nodded. “We met when my car broke down outside of his friend’s shop. He just happened to be there delivering parts. He got me on my way, anddespite the fact we didn’t even live in the same city, we seemed to run into each other. Much to my chagrin, he wore me down.”
Connor chuckled. “This is very true.”
“Did you not want to be with a mechanic?” I asked, glancing at Connor. “No offense.”
“Some taken,” he retorted, but tempered it with a grin.
“No, not at all,” Maisie said. “I didn’t care what he did. I was still grieving the loss of my husband, despite him being ten years gone. He died of cancer when Poppy was two. At the time, I was trying to run a business, raise a pre-teen, and grieve the loss of the man I’d loved since I was five, so it didn’t really leave me open to possibilities.” She smiled at Connor. “But then I met this man, and he tore down all my walls, showed me that my heart could expand a hundred times more than I could have ever imagined, and I couldn’t have stopped falling in love with him if I tried. Not to mention, Poppy was determined for us to be together.”
“Really?”
Maisie nodded. “She loved him first, I think.”
“No, she didn’t,” Connor countered. “She just helped you pull your head outta your ass.”
