“An inclinometer. Mine broke and we used to have like five of them, but I can’t find a single one.”
“What the heck is that?”
“A device that measures the range of motion of a joint. It looks kind of like a little clock.”
After several more minutes of looking and a text to her coworkers, it’s clear: No one knows where the range of motion tester thing is.
“Want me to order one on Amazon? Do next-day delivery?”
“You can’t just get the kind we need on Amazon. Ours are pediatric-sized.” She massages her forehead. “Ron and Tracy have packed some things up already. I can’t imagine them packing those, but maybe they did? All I know is, I need one and I don’t have one. I called Willa, but she says she hasn’t seen one in a while.
“Sorry, Charlotte,” she says. “The center is chaotic these days.”
When I’m off the phone, Taysom is frowning, his brow creased. “Do you think the Institute would have them?”
“I’m guessing so. Unless their state-of-the-art stuff is too highbrow for that. I’m sure everything they have is digital.”
“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to see if we can borrow one.”
She sighs. “I don’t know.”
“Is it hard to admit the Institute might help you somehow?”
She scowls, then pauses. “Maybe.” A smile curls her lips.
I pull up a contact for the Institute on my phone. I call and it goes to voicemail. I call a couple of other people. “No one’s answering. Let’s just go there and see.”
“We can’t just walk in there!”
“Why not? I have access to the front doors through my phone.”
“Of course you do.”
“They gave it to me last week and will probably take it away. I’m not a diva, okay? It’s because we’re doing a few training videos, so I’ve been going back and forth.”
“You and your videos,” she says, shuffling through a box on the floor.
“Me and my videos got you to the night before your big screening event, so hush.”
She just smiles. Beams, actually. And something happens to my chest. It’s kind of hard to breathe.
I head to the door. “Are you coming?”
“Uh…”
“You have to come. I won’t know what I’m supposed to be looking for.”
“Fine.” Her tone doesn’t match her expression. Because she’s smiling again.
Chapter 23
Charlotte
Theclear,blueskiesand fresh air do little to lift my spirits. “It’s not dark enough out here.”
“It’s like eight o’clock in May. What do you expect?”
I give him side eye. I’m having a hard time not grabbing his hand and swinging our arms as we walk. We haven’t discussedholding hands at taco night last week, and he hasn’t tried to do it again.
