“There’s a first time for everything. Sure.” Phoenix shrugged, assessing the wall’s height.
“When you try it, you might find it almost easier if you’ve never done it before,” Tara assured him. “You won’t have to unlearn how you used to climb.”
“It’s all about shifting your center of gravity, and now your center of gravity’s different,” Aaron explained.
Tara led them towards the rock-climbing wall while Caleb hung back.
Along the way across the massive hall, Phoenix observed men and women working on balance and strength. One guy with no legs was strapped into a bowl-like bucket, and he moved forward with two crutches.
“Hip disarticulation,” Tara explained, noticing Phoenix’s glance. “The higher the loss, the harder it is. In his case, he’s lost ankles, like you, but also knees and hips.”
“Oh,” Phoenix murmured.
Aaron strode along next to Phoenix. “You see me? Double above the knee? It takes me at least ten times the exertion it takes you to do the same thing.”
“Geez, sorry,” Phoenix offered.
He shrugged. “It’s not that bad. I don’t even consider myself disabled. I can do whatever I want, so it’s not a big deal.”
Phoenix was floored. This was a new concept. He’d simply assumed that without his leg and his hand, he wasdisabled, or at leastdifferently abled.Depending on the day and on the struggle, he perceived himself as more disabled or less disabled.But not disabled?The possibility felt good.
“There’s always someone worse off,” his new friend said, nodding towards a guy with no arms or legs, seated on a padded table, wearing one prosthetic hand. A duo of therapists tossed buoyant plastic balls towards him and he practiced batting each one back, shifting and balancing on legs only a few inches in length. “Quadruple amputee.”
Phoenix glanced away, not wanting to stare. From what he’d seen, though, the young warrior looked focused, not bitter or frustrated. A fresh-faced woman, who also appeared to be in her early twenties, looked on with pride.
“He doesn’t look too bad off,” Phoenix commented.
“You’re right. He’s doing really well,” Tara confirmed, continuing towards the rock-climbing wall, which now loomed larger as they drew closer.
“He’s got his own cheering squad,” Phoenix noted.
“Huh, some guys have all the luck,” Aaron said, his face twisting. Phoenix wondered if the effort of traipsing across the enormous gym was physically too much for him.
“His woman left him,” Tara said, explaining his new buddy’s sudden sourness.
“Of course,” Phoenix said before he could stop his sarcastic tone.
“She said it wasn’t working out anyway, even before I came back all blown up,” Aaron said. “Yeah, right. Nothing to do with the missing parts.”
Tara threw him a glance. “It happens. People react all different ways.”
“That quad’s girlfriend is a saint. She’s here every day,” the guy added, nodding back towards the spot where the batting exercise continued. “You married?” he asked, curious.
Phoenix shook his head, keeping pace with the group. “I’m single. There was someone. But this is too much for her,” he shrugged his arm as evidence.Dark hair, charcoal-shadowed eyes, lips like velvet, a husky laugh, arms thrown around him with abandon. The memories swamped him.
“Boom,” Aaron said, cheered despite Phoenix’s somberness. “There you go. Some girls just can’t deal. We’re like soulmates, you and I. After the climb, we should go grab a beer or grub or something.”
Yup, soulmates with this dumped triple-amputee, who confirmed the truth Phoenix already knew.Some women just can’t deal. He was smart to nip it in the bud before Orchid broke his heart.
“Sure, a beer sounds good.”
CHAPTER 28
I’M SHAKIN’
Phoenix
FRIDAY OCTOBER 12
