kitchen and put the kettle on. I was making some toast when Justin came out on his scooter. He looked still half-asleep.
“Morning,” I said brightly.
He grumbled and I handed him his coffee. He never was much of a morning person, and seeing this familiar side of him made me smile. “You always so chipper in the morning?”
“Yep. And you’re always cranky. Actually, never thought I’d miss seeing you scowl at me first thing in the morning until you did it just now. I’ve missed it.” It was a sure sign he was improving.
He grumbled something else as he sipped his decaf coffee.
I had to bite the inside of my cheek so I didn’t grin. “Cast comes off today. That’s gotta be a good thing, right?”
He didn’t grumble, so that was a yes.
He became a little more human with every sip of coffee and each passing moment. He ate some toast, and by the time he was showered and dressed, he was his usual smiley self. I raced his scooter and his papers down first, then helped Justin down the stairs, and he laughed as I helped him into the ute.
And he was still smiling as we arrived at the hospital, though I was fairly sure he wouldn’t be smiling by the time we left. It was going to be a long, gruelling day for him.
He stopped at the entrance of the hospital, looking up from his scooter to the sign above the door. “Not too keen to come back here,” he said.
“Me either,” I admitted. “I must have walked through these doors a hundred times in the last month.”
“Just promise me one thing,” he said very seriously.
“Anything.”
“We won’t have lunch here. No more hospital food, ever. I don’t care if they’re giving it away.”
I laughed. “Promise.”
We made our way to the plaster clinic and went through all the paperwork, and thankfully we didn’t have to wait too long. Justin was adamant that I was going with him, so I sat and watched as they cut his cast off. His arm was paler than the rest of him and thinner than his left arm. He had final X-rays done, and he had to wear one of those collar-cuff things, which just kind of kept his hand tucked up to his chest. The bone from his shoulder to his elbow still needed to sit right for another week or so, but at least the collar-cuff wasn’t heavy and cumbersome like the full arm cast.
“How does it feel?” I asked as the nurse fitted his hand into the cuff thing.
He smiled at me. “Much better. Can’t wait to have a shower and scrub it.” He ran his fingers along his forearm. “Why isn’t it itchy now? So not fair.”
“No doubt the doc will have a whole lot of exercise and physio for it too,” I said.
He grimaced. “More homework.”
“Well, at least they let you leave. You could still be doing all this from your hospital bed.”
“Yeah, no thank you,” he said. “I’m done with hospitals forever.”
“You are done,” the doc said, giving him a big smile. “Well, you’re done here.” She gave him a few tips and pointers about his arm, but I didn’t think he was listening. His mind was already out the door.
His physical therapy appointment was with a new out-patient doctor. Doctor Michaels seemed nice enough, though he gave me a questioning look, obviously wondering where I fit into Justin’s care. But as soon as Justin transferred himself from his scooter to his seat, he reached over and took my hand. “This is Dallas,” Justin said to him. “He’ll be sitting in with me.” I grinned at Justin—that was a pretty ballsy move for him—and he squeezed my hand in response.
The doc just smiled. “Okay then, let’s get started.”
The appointment itself was more of an introductory thing. Sure, he had Justin’s file and could read all about his injuries, but he was more interested in observing and listening. He had Justin show him his range of motion in his leg, and now that his arm was out of his cast, he showed him what strengthening exercises he could do. Justin’s daily routine was mostly all from a sitting or lying perspective because dizziness was a factor with brain injuries, and fatigue, of course.
By the time we were done, Justin’s blinks were getting a little longer. It might not have been too noticeable, but I saw it; he’d had enough. And, of course, we had to wait for Doctor Chang—she was