Perfectly Matched. Lois Richer

you imagine if anyone besides you had overheard his words to me?” Her cheeks burned. “I would have felt so ashamed. The things he said—” She couldn’t go there. Not with Nick watching her. “I’m ashamed that I couldn’t stop him on my own.”

      “You did the best you could, Shay.”

      “Did I?” She shook her head. “I wonder about that now.”

      “Why do you doubt yourself?” Nick demanded.

      “It would have been better if I’d told more people about him.” Keeping her secret had weighed heavily. Even Eric hadn’t known until that last, horrible date, and by then he didn’t want any explanations—he wanted a girlfriend who showed her love, not some shrinking violet afraid to let him even kiss her cheek. But tonight, with her friend Nick, it felt good to talk about what she’d kept hidden for so long. “But I was worried that stories would leak out. I had sponsors and a lot of media attention then.”

      “I remember you came out in support of that kids’ charity around that time, too,” Nick said. His brown eyes gleamed. “Just getting to share a cup of coffee with you made me feel like I’d won a triathlon.”

      “Silly.” She smiled at him but felt compelled to keep explaining. “My agent was afraid that if I went public, it might have brought more weirdos out of the woodwork.”

      “Too bad he didn’t try to stop the jerk.” Nick’s grim face expressed his opinion.

      “My agent was a she,” Shay protested mildly, warmed by his caring. “And she’s the one who first insisted I call the police. That didn’t help, so I did the only thing I could think to do and pretended everything was all right.” She made a face. “But eventually I couldn’t pretend well enough. I knew Dad had always wanted me to reach the top but he was gone and I was scared and lonely so I decided it was time to move on, to fulfill my promise to join Jessica’s clinic. And now here I am.” She was not going to tell Nick about her crippling panic attacks—he didn’t need to know everything.

      “I’m glad you’re here.” His brown eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled.

      “Thanks.” Her heart gave a bump at his kindness. “Anyway, that brings me to the reason I asked you to come tonight.”

      “Maggie. Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about her, too. You go first.”

      “Okay. Well, I met with her doctors this morning. They asked me to start on her therapy immediately.” Shay wasn’t sure how well Nick understood what Maggie’s future would entail so she proceeded cautiously. “Has anyone said anything to you about her progress?”

      “The doctor today said Maggie isn’t doing as well as he’d hoped, but I don’t know exactly what that means.”

      “Maggie’s internal injuries have healed very well, according to the reports,” Shay began. “Though her leg muscles were badly damaged when she was crushed inside the car, the surgery appears to have been successful. Yet Maggie hasn’t regained her strength.” Shay studied his face. “You must have noticed that.”

      “She can’t bear her own weight yet, if that’s what you mean.”

      “She should be able to do that by now, Nick. In fact, Maggie should be walking.” Shay reached out and touched his fingers, hoping that would ease what she was about to say. But she had to draw back or risk exposing her anxiety. “The fact that she can’t even stand is a bad sign. It means she’s losing her mobility much faster than anyone thought.”

      “My medical knowledge wouldn’t fill a teaspoon, Shay. Talk to me plainly and bluntly,” he demanded.

      “Unless Maggie regains her mobility soon, there’s a strong possibility she will never walk normally again.” Shay watched horror fill his face.

      “But she does exercises,” Nick protested.

      “Your mom does them with her?” Shay waited for his nod. “All the time?”

      Nick’s face altered.

      “I’m guessing she skips them sometimes because Maggie says they hurt too much.” From the look on his face Shay knew she was right. “Your mom probably hasn’t felt able to make the long, twice-weekly drives to Las Cruces for therapy either.”

      “No. But they’re just little leg lifts and things. It’s no big deal,” Nick argued.

      “You’re an athlete, Nick. You know how quickly the body loses muscle strength if it’s not regularly used.” Shay tried to make him understand. “You probably still follow a postsurgical therapy program to keep your shoulder from tightening up. Right?”

      “Yes.” He flexed his arm as if she’d reminded him.

      “It’s the same for Maggie. In the months she was in traction and healing from her internal injuries, there was little to be done except let her heal. Now she’s done that.”

      “The doctor said that today,” he admitted.

      “She should be moving by now. Yet on the swing today, you saw that she could barely point her toes. That’s not good.” Shay wasn’t finished, but Nick’s sudden shifting in his chair made her wonder if he’d hear all she had to say?

      “I don’t mean to, but I think I hurt her when I lift her,” Nick confessed, his guilt-filled stare lifting to meet her gaze.

      Shay nodded. “But that’s primarily because she has no strength to lift herself and ease the strain. She’s barely using her leg muscles at all from what I saw.” This was the hardest part, getting people to see what was only visible to the trained eye. “Maggie’s become too comfortable with being carried. She makes no demands of her body. My hunch is that no one’s challenged her to do more.”

      Nick sat still, assimilating her words. Then he looked up.

      Sun-streaked wisps of hair had drifted onto his broad forehead, and in that moment he looked very much like the determined teenage boy who’d once proclaimed he would never be anything like the father who had abandoned him.

      “I refuse to accept that my sister’s child will never walk again if it’s even remotely possible that she can,” he said, his voice tight with control. “So what do we do?”

      “We get Maggie moving, Nick,” Shay said with a grin, delighted by his response. “It won’t be easy and it won’t be fun, but it will work if we don’t give up. Are you up for it?”

      “Me?” He gaped at her, eyes wide with surprise. “But my mother—”

      “Your mother can’t do this, Nick. She’s too close to Maggie and in too much pain herself. I saw her at the grocery store. Her hands must be killing her.”

      “Uh—” Nick gulped as Shay held his gaze and laid out the blunt truth.

      “If you commit to overseeing Maggie’s treatment, this will be totally on you. Are you sure you have what it takes to get it done?”

      “Of course I do,” he growled, lips drawn tight.

      “You won’t be Maggie’s favorite uncle anymore, Nick. In fact, she might even hate you for putting her through the pain.”

      Nick’s eyes darkened to almost black. “You’re saying...?”

      “Maybe you should think about finding someone else to do this?” Shay asked, hoping that he wouldn’t.

      “Like who?” he demanded. “My sisters? Cara’s got her hands full with twins. Lara travels constantly for her job. And let’s just say Simone has enough trouble that I have no intention of adding to it. There is nobody else, Shay.” Nick studied her, old friend to old friend. “To clarify, you’re saying that if Maggie follows a regimen you cook up, she will be able to walk?”

      “I’m ninety percent sure she could regain all of her mobility.”

      “Ninety