“Yes,” I said finally. “I’ve regretted it every single day.”
A silence settled between us, and Dr. Blake merely watched me, unspeaking, as if reading my insecurities like an open book. When I didn’t speak further, she merely nodded, smiling reassuringly at me.
“That was a big thing for you to admit, Korbin, and I’m proud that you were able to. So today, we’ll leave it at that for now,” Dr. Blake said. “Onto other business; how’s your knee feeling?”
“Really good,” I said, relieved to be free of the conversation that still haunted me to this day. “It’s been healing faster than expected. If you didn’t notice, I don’t have the crutches anymore, either.”
“I noticed.”
“That’s good, right?” I asked, and Dr. Blake nodded.
“It’s excellent. In fact—” she grabbed the clipboard from the side table and a pen, jotting something down on the sheet. “I spoke with your doctor and gave him an update on how the therapy is going as well as how the PT is going, and we both agree that now would be a good time to release you back to work.”
“Seriously?” I leaned forward again, hoping I hadn’t misheard her. “I can go back to work?”
“Yes,” Dr. Blake said with a smile. “But only for light duty for a while, okay? We don’t want you to re-injure that knee before it heals completely.”
“Yeah, yeah, of course.”
“You’ll continue your physical therapy every week, as well as these appointments,” she continued, and I sighed, annoyed.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. So, with that being said, should I expect to see you back here next week?”
“It sounds like I don’t have a choice,” I moped, but on the inside, I was raring to go back to work, whatever the cost. Besides, seeing Dr. Blake each week hadn’t been the worst thing in the world, let alone all the extra one-on-one time I got to with my physical therapist. “Thanks, doc,” I said, rising to my feet to shake her hand. As I headed for the door, Dr. Blake spoke again, stopping me.
“If this person that you’re with is making you this happy, Korbin, I would suggest you do all you can to make it work.”
I turned just a little and looked at her over my shoulder. “Yeah, doc, I think I agree. Thanks.”
I found Peyton waiting for me in the staff lounge, finishing up some patient paperwork before going home for the day.
“So?” she said as I came in. “How was the session?”
“It was great.” I slid into an empty chair across from her and reached out, taking her hands in mine. “They’re letting me go back to work.”
Peyton was silent for a moment, but just a fleeting moment before her apprehension was replaced with a grin. I opened my mouth to call her out on it, but she spoke before I could.
“I’m so happy for you,” she said. “Truly.”
I knew there was more to say, from both me and from her, but this wasn’t the time or place to hash it out. “Let me take you to dinner,” I said, getting up from the table to come around and hug her. “A celebratory dinner, yeah?”
“That sounds great,” Peyton said, but I could sense the uncertainty in her tone. She was hiding something, refusing to say what she wanted to say.
“Perfect,” I said. “We can stop by your house if you want to change and invite Susan along. Maybe she’d enjoy getting out, too.”
Peyton got to her feet then, and the apprehension of whatever she’d been thinking moments ago had melted away. She was smiling again. “You have such a big heart,” she said softy, popping up onto her tip toes to kiss me on the cheek. “Thank you.”
I kissed her back, gently at first and then with more burning passion. I couldn’t keep my hands off the girl, though that hadn’t changed in all these years. In fact, now it was more prominent, and being again with Peyton forced me to remember what I’d had with her. I’d had everything.
Taking my hand in hers, Peyton and I left the clinic and headed towards the car. She pulled her keys out of her pocket and tossed them to me with a grin.
“If you can work, you can drive again, right?”
I looked down at the keys in my hand, just realizing that I hadn’t driven a vehicle myself in over a month. “Well hot damn,” I said. “I think you’re right.” I went to the passenger’s side of the car to open the door for Peyton, bowing slightly as she slid into the seat with a chuckle.
“This is more like it,” she said. I slid into the driver’s seat behind the wheel and took a deep breath, realizing just how much I’d missed being able to drive my own ass around and not have to rely on Peyton and my mother to do it for me.
