Butterfly Bayou (Butterfly Bayou 1)

A startled look came into her eyes. “You saw wrong. I didn’t move them. I can’t move them. I can’t move anything from the waist down.”

She was so frustrating and they were so damn close. “You did. You move them more than you think. And you have feeling below your waist. We both know that. I’ve explained to you that given where your spine was injured, there’s a good possibility that you can get some mobility back. But you have to put in the work. Noelle, you only have so long before you won’t be able to come back from this. I know what the doctor told you, but he was wrong.”

“And you’re right?”

Dr. Hamet would eventually show up since he was supposed to be “overseeing” her practice. He was going to get a massive earful and a hearty definition of the word incompetence. “I am. So let’s get up and do ten more minutes and then you can rest.”

Noelle’s deep brown ponytail shook. “Ten more minutes of hell isn’t going to fix anything.”

This was it. She’d seen it before in other patients, heard about it from her friends who’d specialized in physical therapy. There was often one chance to convince a patient they could do it. Especially with the hard cases. If she’d been working in Papillon right after Noelle’s accident, they might not be here. Noelle would likely already be up in her braces, and these sessions would be all about pushing her limits and making her strong. Instead, Noelle and Armie had been fed crappy information and they’d accepted it because they’d both been too traumatized to think to go for a second opinion. She had to get over those hurdles or this wouldn’t work. “No, it’s going to be a long road and it’s going to hurt, and you’ll be walking at the end of it. You might not ever be able to walk without a brace, but you’ll be mobile.”

“Then why don’t I stay in the chair?” Noelle asked, her exasperation evident. “I know you’re doing this because you think if I can move myself around I’ll go to college and study something important, but what about when I actually get there? It’ll still be hard to get around. I still won’t be normal. Do you want to be the freak who everyone stares at?”

She wasn’t even going to deal with that. It was ridiculous. It was time to start some of that tough love. Begging wasn’t working. Softness would let Noelle know she could keep fighting and eventually get her way. “Noelle, get up and finish this out. We’re not moving from this spot until you finish. We can stay here all night. Your father will come looking for us and then you can explain to him why we can’t go home.”

“I’m tired.”

“I don’t want to listen to excuses. You can come up with a million and one and none of them are valid. People will always find a reason to point and stare. You think the braces are worse than a wheelchair? God, is that the reason you don’t want to try? Because if you try you won’t have an excuse to not leave town? Are you afraid of the big bad world, baby girl?”

Finally there was some real fire in her eyes. “Screw you, Lila. You think I don’t know why you’re doing this?”

Sometimes a knock-down, drag-out fight was exactly what was needed. “I’m doing it because you’ll thank me in the end. In here I’m not your friend. In here I’m your primary care provider, and what I say goes. I won’t coddle you.”

Noelle got enough of that at home. It had become very clear to her as she’d watched Noelle deflect every time the therapist tried to get her out of the chair that something was driving Noelle, and it wasn’t pain. It was fear. There was only one way to break through it, but they were running out of time. They’d already wasted a bunch of it. She wasn’t going to be the one who simply let this brilliant young woman throw away a chance at more normalcy.

“You’re not my friend at all. You’re trying to get at my dad.”

It was obvious this would get nasty. Luckily she didn’t back down from a fight. “I already have your dad. Believe it or not, I’m doing this as much for him as I am for you. One day he’s going to figure out he handled this wrong, and that guilt will eat him up forever. Now give me your hands and we’ll get you on the bars.”

“You want to get rid of me.”

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Sure. I want to get rid of you. I want your dad all to myself. You’re wasting my time.”

Tears shone in Noelle’s eyes. “Why are you so mean?”