“Hey, I just left a team meeting, which means I’m close by,” I say. “Can I stop by and help? Do you need food?”
“I brought in some leftovers and already scarfed those down in a fit of stress eating, so don’t worry about bringing me food.” She pauses. “But if you honestly don’t have anything better to do, I’d love the company.”
Right as I get there, she unlocks the door to let me in, and I can tell it’s serious. Charlotte’s face is pale. I mean, it’s always pale, but right now, she looks like she didn’t get enough sleep. I wish I could pull her into a hug, and maybe I could. We’re friends, right? And friends can hug.
But I don’t and pretty soon, she’s showing me the supplies and things she’s been gathering.
“Why do you need so much butcher paper?” I ask, pointing to several rolls of white paper propped up against the wall.
“It’s footprint paper. Basically, we roll several feet of it out on the floor, tape it down on the carpet, and then we sanitize thechild’s feet and then have them step on what’s basically a twelve inch square ink pad. And then we have them walk down the paper. We can measure a lot of things just by doing that.”
“That’s so cool.”
She shrugs. “It’s old school. A lot of centers have specialized treadmills hooked up to a computer that records and analyzes the gait data. We don’t have that.”
“Yeah, I think our training rooms have something like that.”
She rolls her eyes. “I bet. And I bet the steel behemoth that is the Sports Medicine Institute has that state-of-the art equipment, too.” She sighs. “It’s all good. This way works, too.”
She taps her mouth and glances at a paper list in her hand. “I have the incentive bucket over here with the stickers and little prizes and stuff.” She picks it up and shuffles through it. “And I’ve got two more big bags of the same thing to refill it with. You can never have enough prizes.”
“Looks like you’re ready.”
Charlotte swings one of her legs back and forth, her hands at her waist, her breaths shallow.
“Hip pain?” I ask.
“Just need to loosen up.” She shakes her head and sighs. “And I hope we’re ready. Thankfully, my colleagues are staying after their caseloads to help. Did I tell you that Skyler and Willa have gotten job offers? Oh, and Ron will be there. He’s back at work now, but he can’t do much, poor guy. I’ve sent them the protocol that we’ll be focusing on, so each of us will be doing something different. We’ll be at separate stations, and each child will get about ten minutes to go through the whole thing. By the end, they’ll be evaluated differently by all four of us OTs. I couldn’t do this without them.” She pauses, her gaze zeroing in on me. “I couldn’t do this without you, either. You’ve been generous with your time and your social media accounts and just…everything.”
Something slides across my belly, a pulsing need to soak up this gratitude from her.
“It’s been a great few weeks, Charlotte.”
Her gaze goes to the floor and her cheeks pink up. “It has been fun, huh?” She looks away. “I wonder how Miley’s doing in her throne room?”
“We should get a baby cam so you can keep an eye on her.”
She laughs but nods her head. “Not a bad idea.”
“My sister, Emma, was surprised by how much stuff a tiny baby needs. And the same is true for Miley. She took over your house within a couple of days.”
“Yeah, Miley doesn’t know how good she has it.”
We’ve stopped talking about someone coming forward to claim her. It’s been enough time that Miley just feels solidly ours.
Which is weird. She’s not mine. She belongs to Charlotte. But tell that to my feelings.
“I just keep thinking about MJ,” Charlotte says, rubbing her forehead with both hands.
“The one who has to have surgery?” I ask.
“Yeah. If she’d come to a gait analysis night even a year ago, if there’d been one available to her, she’d probably be wearing a harness right now, not about to go under the knife.” She shudders. “If we can help even just one kid avoid MJ’s fate, this will all be worth it.”
“You’re going to do a lot of good tomorrow night, Charlotte.”
Charlotte is frowning, opening various cupboards in the back room where they keep many of their supplies.
“Looking for something specific?”
