“What does that mean?”
“It means you’re still stuck in that moment when you realized you could lose your daughter, and now you’ve wrapped a cocoon around her and she’s going along with it, but that cocoon is either going to stifle her or hold her back. Sometimes you have to be tough with the ones you love so they can reach their full potential. That’s what Lila was trying to do. She wasn’t being a bitch, man. She was being a mother.”
Armie’s heart seized up at the thought. Was he holding Noelle back? Was his guilt costing them the one woman who might make both their lives complete?
“I’ll talk to her. I’m miserable without her, but I don’t know that she’ll want me again.” It was his fear.
“You should understand that if this doesn’t work out, I’m taking my shot with her,” Rene vowed. “I’ll give you a couple of weeks, but when I’m walking again, if you’re not with her, I’m going to try.”
He was on a clock. He had to figure it out or he could lose it all.
“All right, then.” Rene glanced around. “Where are those sandwiches? Let’s play some poker, boys.”
Armie sat back. The game didn’t matter, but he would have to make the biggest gamble of his life.
On her. On them.chapter seventeenLila watched as Noelle stared at the parallel bars. She’d stood in the background, hopeful that the last session had taught Noelle something, but it was apparent that all it had taught her was she could get away with not trying.
Awesome.
Noelle looked up at Tanya and shook her head. She’d been completely willing to do all the upper-body exercises, all the stretching that was part of her therapy. She’d chatted happily while attached to the TENS unit. Then they’d gotten to the bars and Noelle had completely shut down.
Lila was left with the distinctly crappy choice between walking away or getting into more trouble. She’d avoided Noelle’s father for three days. It had been fairly easy. He was on night shift for two of the days and she’d taken off the other, choosing to be on call. She wasn’t sure what was up with Armie but suddenly he wanted to talk, and that hadn’t worked for them before.
The truth was she’d done a hell of a lot of soul-searching and she couldn’t do this again. He wanted to talk because he missed her. She missed him, too, but she couldn’t trust him. The next time they clashed—and they would—she would get her heart ripped out again.
That clash was coming sooner than any of them suspected. It was coming right now.
If Noelle didn’t choose to try soon, there would be no reason for her to try. Armie wasn’t thinking. He was reacting to something terrible that had happened, but Noelle didn’t have time for things to normalize. Her time was running out.
If she did this, she might be risking her job.
But if she didn’t do this, she wouldn’t be doing her job.
She stepped out and nodded Tanya’s way. “I’ll take it from here.”
Noelle’s eyes widened, but she didn’t see fear or anger in there. “Lila. I’m glad to see you. I thought about calling you a hundred times. I’m so sorry about what happened.”
“I’m sorry, too.” She wished it had ended on a better note. Well, she wished it hadn’t ended at all. She still couldn’t sleep without dreaming about Armie. And beyond Armie, she missed Noelle, but there were some things worth fighting for, some things worth losing it all over. “Now let’s get you up on the bars.”
Noelle sighed, a frustrated sound. “That wasn’t what I meant.”
She braced herself for the fight. “I know, but it’s what you’re going to do. I didn’t come here today to try to talk you into asking your father for a second chance. I came here because I believe in you. Just because your father gave up on me doesn’t mean I’m giving up on you. Do you understand me? I’m going to be here for every session until he gets a restraining order. I’m not going away until I’m forced to, and you are going to get on those bars and do what I tell you to do.”
Her face had flushed and she gripped the arms of her chair. “Why? Why is it so important to you that I walk? Why can’t you like me as I am?”
She had to wonder how often this tactic had worked for Noelle. “That’s not going to work on me. I love you and that’s why I’m not giving up. Sometimes when you love someone you risk everything for them—even your relationship. I will not let a soft heart cost you years of your life. Tell me why you don’t want to walk.”
“Are you fucking with me?”
It was the realest thing that had come out of that child’s mouth in weeks. “No. I am not fucking with you. You won’t try so I assume you don’t want to walk.”