Page 6 of Through the Snow Globe
“You’ll do that again,” Diana promised. “But right now, we’re taking baby steps. Your body is building back what it lost during your cancer treatment. Come on, let’s go.” Diana clapped her hands, doing her best basketball coach impression.
It worked. Addy began to slowly shift and move. She looked like she was feeling more than a five on the pain scale as she dropped her legs off the edge of the bed and grimaced. Then she stood, took a breath, and walked toward the bathroom with Diana sticking close behind her just in case her legs gave out.
When Addy got to the mirror, she stood there and stared at her reflection as if she hadn’t seen herself in days. Diana wondered what the girl was thinking. “Am I still pretty?” Addy finally asked.
Diana’s lips parted. “Of course you are, Addy. It’s just hair. It’ll grow back.”
Addy’s gaze cut to hers in their reflection. Her eyes glinted angrily. “That’s something only a person with all the hair they could ever want would say. Would you look at an amputee and say it’s just a leg?”
Diana drew back. “A leg can’t grow back. Your hair can.”
Tears swam in the girl’s eyes.No, no, no. Please don’t cry.“And I suppose you’ll tell me that losing my boyfriend and my best friend is also no big deal? I can find new ones, right?”
Diana searched for words, feeling like the wrong ones might make this session combust. “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend,” she finally said.
“Well, I don’t. Not anymore.” Addy swiped at a tear that slipped down her cheek.
“Listen, whatever I said to upset you, Addy, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“It’s notjusthair,” Addy said through clenched teeth. She leaned against the sink, bracing herself with her thin arms. “It’s not even just cancer. This is my life—don’t you get it?—and it feels like it’s over right now. My biggest achievement today will be walking to the sink and standing here for five minutes. This sucks!” Her voice shook as more tears rolled down her flushed cheeks. “No one understands how I’m feeling, which makes me feel even more alone. Not to mention the fact that Iamall alone in this room.”
“Not true,” Diana said. “I’m here.”
Addy’s gaze caught hers in the reflection. “I don’t even really know you. You’re just a stranger with a familiar face.”
Diana flinched. Yesterday Addy had called her an Elsa and today Diana was labeled a familiar-looking stranger. Teenagers could be harsh. “Addy, I . . .”
“Whatever.” Addy turned from the sink and attempted to step past Diana. “Excuse me. I just want to go back to bed. I need to conserve energy. Isn’t that what you’re always harping on? Energy conservation?”
“Yes.” Diana released a weary breath and stepped to the side. Going back to bed sounded like a good idea for Diana right about now too.
Chapter 3
At 2:00 p.m., Diana absently twisted her pearl earring, trying to stay focused on her meeting with Mr. Powell and not on the events of the morning that included Maria being carted off in an ambulance and Addy pretty much kicking Diana out of her bedroom. Then there was the fact that Linus still hadn’t texted her back. He’d seemed fine when he’d left the apartment, but maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he was more upset about last night’s argument than he’d let on.
Well, she’d make things up to him tonight. After this interview was behind her. Last month, she’d put in for a promotion at Powell Rehabilitation Center, and she could only assume that’s why her boss had asked her here today. She’d been working with the company for seven years, rarely missing a day and never garnishing a single complaint. It was time for something new, and this felt like exactly what she needed.
“This morning must have been scary,” Mr. Powell commented.
Diana forced a confident smile. Despite the rough start to her day, she felt good about this meeting. This day was about to turn around for the better. She could feel it to her core. “I’ve never had to call nine-one-one before. It was definitely an experience,” she said on a small laugh. “Not one I’d like to repeat any time soon.” She sat up tall with her shoulders pulled back, mirroring the man sitting across from her. She wasn’t exactly confident by nature, but she purposely presented herself that way.
Mr. Powell nodded. “Well, I’m glad you were scheduled with Ms. Harris. Otherwise, who knows how long she would have laid there calling out for help.”
Diana didn’t even want to imagine her patient being so vulnerable and helpless. “Maria is one determined woman. When she mentioned needing to get her holiday decorations down from the attic, I told her not to do so on her own. She’s in physical therapy for a reason. I guess I underestimated how stubborn she was.”
“Stubbornness is a good quality for patients to have. I used to find those patients worked the hardest.” Mr. Powell chuckled. “And decorations are important to the holiday diehards. My mother was always one to drag out the Christmas items on the day right after Thanksgiving.”
Diana wasn’t sure what Maria and her holiday decorations had to do with Diana’s promotion, but she smiled through the conversation even as her palms began to feel slightly damp. She crossed her legs and leaned back into her chair. “Anyway, the ambulance took Ms. Harris to East Medical. I’m sure she’s doing fine by now. At least I hope she is.”
“You haven’t checked on her?” The skin between Mr. Powell’s brows pinched behind his glasses.
The note of judgment caught Diana by surprise. “No, not yet. I had another patient to see after I left Ms. Harris’s home.” Surely Mr. Powell wouldn’t have wanted Diana to cancel her physical therapy schedule. “I’ll call her cell phone after I leave here, though. I might even stop by the hospital to visit.”
This garnered a smile. “Good idea. And when you do, please tell Ms. Harris we would be happy to come to her home and put up her decorations for her. We don’t want her getting reinjured, after all.”
Diana’s lips parted. “We?”
“The staff here at Powell Rehabilitation. As you know, we’re a family-owned company, and our patients become like family to us. If Ms. Harris wants a festive home, it’s easy enough to make that happen for her. In fact, William has already offered his help.”
