Page 69 of Undeniable Love

“Thanks, Lucy.”

So they did the stretches and then some exercises they’d been doing for almost six weeks. With only fifteen minutes left in their session, Lucy walked over and grabbed a small ball and bounced it against the rebounder and caught it. “What do you say, Marcy? Want to give it a try?”

“I don’t know…”

Another bounce. “I know you’re scared, but I promise it’s going to be okay. It’s okay to still be weak. It’s okay if you can’t catch the ball. No matter what, you need to know that you are doing great.”

It took another few minutes to convince her, but when she finally stepped up and took the ball from Lucy, it felt like a tremendous victory. The first few throws barely bounced because there was no actual strength behind them, but with a few encouraging words, Marcy seemed to gain some confidence. By the time they were done, she was laughing and smiling, and Lucy couldn’t help but hug her as they finished their session.

“I’m proud of you! We’ll do more of this next time.”

“Thanks, Lucy!”

Waving goodbye, she walked back to her station and entered some notes in Marcy’s file. She was Lucy’s last client of the day and as soon as she was done writing things up, she was going to head out and do some grocery shopping. Jax was coming in for barely twenty-four hours and she wanted to make dinner so they didn’t have to go anywhere. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing; he had called her two nights ago and mentioned flying in to see her because he had an extra day off. How could she say no? Especially with how strained things had been.

It wasn’t as if they hadn’t spoken on the phone or via video chat almost every night. She’d also gone to Wichita once since the beach trip, so…maybe she was just imagining that things were weird or that Blake had screwed things up for her. Maybe everything was fine and she was just overly paranoid.

Getting cheated on did that to a person. She had missed so many obvious clues before that she was perhaps just a little suspicious of every little thing.

Freaking Blake.

“Ugh, I really need to stop doing that,” she mumbled as she cleaned up her station.

An hour later, she pulled up to her house and realized Jax would arrive soon. Grabbing the groceries, she balanced them in one hand while trying to fish her keys out of her purse with the other.

“Need a hand?”

She screamed first before realizing Jax was standing on her porch. “Holy crap! You scared me!”

Carefully, he took the bags from her and leaned in and kissed her thoroughly before saying, “Sorry. I wanted to surprise you, not scare you.”

Grinning, she said, “You did both, but only because I wasn’t paying attention.”

That made him laugh as he followed her into the house and shut the door. “Sure, sure. The old ‘I wasn’t paying attention’ excuse.”

Shaking her head, Lucy couldn’t help but laugh. “Not an excuse. Fact. I was trying to find my keys and I was thinking about you and dinner and…”

He moved in close. “What were you thinking about me? Naughty thoughts? Sexy thoughts?”

“Aren’t they the same thing?” she teased as she began unpacking the bags.

“Not all sexy things are naughty,” he reasoned. “So come on, tell me. Which was it?”

She could have playfully led him on, but she went for honesty. “I really was just thinking about how you would be here soon and I wanted to freshen up before you got here. I had a full schedule today that started with an early morning Zoom call with Maddie.”

“Everything okay?”

“Oh, yeah. We have those calls weekly just to make sure the clinic is running properly and to address any concerns.” She held up a package of chicken. “I’m making a stir fry. Is that okay?”

“Sounds good. What can I do to help?”

Together they cooked dinner while Lucy told him about some of today’s patients. Jax always asked questions about the therapy and whether the equipment she used was necessary for the camp and she loved having this in common with him.

And there’s that word again—love.

“Where’s your car?” she asked as she made their plates.

“I didn’t rent one because I know you were uncomfortable last time with having another car in the driveway.”