Read 15 Tales of Love for Free Online

him.
    “I hate having to depend on somebody to get around,” he said. “My mother takes me places and then goes shopping. Like she did today.”
    Rose Ellen looked at the Hagan’s big colonial house with its wide lawns and old trees and wondered how much restoration Timmy’s family had done on it. An older man came to help Timmy get out of the car and she recognized his father from hospital visits.
    Timmy rested on his crutches and looked back at her. “Thanks for the outing. It was fun. Andy’s doing great.”
    She said, hiding her hope, “We’ll have to do it again.”
    But he didn’t answer.
    She didn’t see Timmy at the rehab clinic again for two weeks, and then he was still using crutches. “You don’t follow a schedule,” he said, almost complaining. “I stopped by last week.”
    “I can’t always get the same time off to come here. Dad said he enjoyed his chat with you. It’s so nice of you to come. He gets lonely.”
    “Yeah, well. I don’t have a whole lot to do.”
    Rose Ellen thought he was acting a little odd and asked if he was feeling well. “You aren’t as cheerful as you usually are.” She took a better hold on herself. “Has something happened? I’ve always depended on your being cheerful.”
    “It’s just a show.” He looked away from her, at the door into the treatment room, as if willing Andy to be slow in coming out. “All my life I’ve had things easy, everything just like I wanted, until now. And look at you, holding up when everything in your life has gone wrong, and you still smile. When I was down, hurting and broken and wondering if I’d ever walk again, I’d think about how you were doing, sitting there supporting Andy, keeping him going.”
    “I’m not that strong. I had to do it for my father. All those years he cared for Mom. He didn’t have anyone to turn to but me.”
    “And you put your own life on hold. You didn’t say that, but I could tell, like there was another guy some place, one who left you. You deserve a lot more than that.”
    She couldn’t answer. She didn’t think she had told him anything about herself.
    He took a deep breath. “It took a long time, but the insurance people finally decided my family’s company wasn’t to blame for the accident after all. There was a flaw or something in the staging we rented, and I got a settlement.” He didn’t look directly at her. “The medical bills are all paid, and I’ve got a little for all my pain and suffering, as they call it.”
    “That’s wonderful.” She wished her problems could be solved as easily.
    “And I’ll be back working in a few weeks, they tell me. My cast will come off soon.” He tried to laugh and didn’t succeed. “My father says I can ease back in, as long as I stay off the staging.”
    “That’s great, Timmy.” She was genuinely glad for him. But then I will never see you again. What will I have to look forward to?
    “So, I guess I’ll actually be a man again, not some kind of helpless wreck.” He stopped and looked directly at her, his face unusually serious. “So, would you consider me, I mean, going out with me? I know I can’t offer much right now . . .”
    Caught off guard she said, “Of course.” And I owe you so much.
    “I’ve admired you, liked you, since we first met in the hospital, but I couldn’t say anything to you, not until I knew I’d be whole again.” He hesitated, finally looking directly at her. “And I’m not totally sure of that yet.”
    Before she could answer, the door opened and Andy came through. She asked, “Will you go out to dinner with us again?”
    He glanced at Andy, back at Rose Ellen. “If you’ll go out with me after . . . like to a movie? I can manage that.”
    “I’d love to. I haven’t seen a movie in ages.”
    Timmy was there the next time she stopped to pick up her father, and again they went to lunch. But after they had left Andy at the nursing home, instead of seeing a movie, they drove to the nearby