One Step Forward

Chapter 2. Lincoln

Mya's POV

A long silence followed between us. Staring at him had me in a state of daze. In my head, I prayed he would say something, but he didn't. The nurse missed the tension between us. 

"Lincoln, this is your physical therapist, Mya Monroe," she said and gestured to me. "You can go with her now."

"I'm not going anywhere with her. She's not going to be any kind of damn therapist to me," he spat and glanced back to his nurse. "Take me back to my room."

"Linc—" she started.

"Now!" he boomed.

Everyone in the waiting room turned to stare. To say it was humiliating would be an understatement. My gaze fell to the floor, unable to look at him any longer. This was the reason I tried to get Nancy to switch it around. I knew Lincoln didn't want to see me and to be frank; I didn't want to see him either. 

"Oh. . . okay," she stammered. 

I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry about this." 

***

During lunch, I went to the drive-thru and parked my car back in the lot as I ate. I called my mother to tell her who I had run into and to point a bit of a finger at her. She knew—I thought bitterly.

"Hello?" she answered

"I have a huge bone to pick with you, mother," I snarled.

"Um, excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"I don't know what your problem is, Mya Lindsay, but I can assure you that you won't take that tone of voice with me," she said. Mom never called me by my first and middle name unless she was very upset with me.

"Guess who my first patient was this morning. . ." I trailed off.

"I give," she said sarcastically.

"Lincoln Rider," I said with so much venom in my voice it barely sounded like me.

"Oh. . ." she trailed off.

"You knew he was here. You must have known," I accused.

She sighed. "I knew about the accident. Your father did mention it, but how was I supposed to know he would need physical therapy and that you, of all therapists, would get landed with him?"

"Well, Mom, a lot of times when people are severely injured in a crash, they do take therapy to try to get their strength back. Of course, you'd know that since you didn't miss a single one of my therapy appointments," I said. "You must have known there was a chance."

"No, Mya, I didn't. I wasn't even aware that he had woken up."

"Wait, what?" My eyebrows knitted together, and I froze with a french fry halfway to my lips. 

She sighed. "He was in a coma. They weren't even sure he'd wake up."

"Why didn't you tell me any of this when I got back? How long was he out for?"

"Well, why would I bring him up? You haven't spoken to him in years. Anytime he was mentioned, you'd all but blow up or shut down completely. Of course, I understand your reasons completely. You have every right to be upset with him."

I sighed and put my fry down. I rubbed my fingers across my forehead to push it out of my mind. "You didn't answer my second question."

"He must have woken up recently. He's been in that coma for over six months, I believe."

"Okay, I have to finish eating and get back to work. Don't forget to grab Lilly from school."

"Your father is grabbing her after school. He's leaving early today and taking her out for ice cream."