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“Damn, Lettie, why didn’t she tell us? You know we would have been over like a shot. The man doesn’t have any family.”
“You know Sam’s too proud for that. But Pearl told me and Ma and Little Grandma, so we went over in shifts when Pearl had to stay at her restaurant. It was easier for us, since we close the diner at four.”
Harvey nodded. “How bad was the stroke, Lettie?”
“It wasn’t good, but you know how it is these days. They boot you out of the hospital as soon as you can blink on your own.” Lettie sighed. “Okay, it wasn’t as bad as that, but Sam lied to them and said he had someone at home who would be there to take care of him. His left side isn’t good, he’s having trouble with his left leg still, his left shoulder and arm are getting somewhat better. Pearl gives him and her other two full-time employees insurance, but it’s not the best, so rehab was out of the question, so I got him exercises off the internet to do.”
I winced. The longer Sam went without doing proper physical therapy, the more likely he was to not recover his full range of motion. What’s more, his pain could get really bad if his muscles atrophy and joints contracture.
Fuck!
Kai, you’re not here to get involved. You just wanted to find out where you came from and maybe meet your brother. You didn’t want to get involved. Remember?
“Is there a physical therapist in town who could work with him?” I asked.
Harvey and Lettie’s gazes swung to me. It was obvious they had forgotten that Marlowe and I were sitting at the table.
“No, no physical therapist,” Harvey answered. “There’s only Doc Evans who’s about Little Grandma’s age. For anything more than a sliver removed, you need to go to Gatlinburg.”
“Shame on you.” Lettie glowered at Harvey. “He’s my mom’s age, and he’s delivered most everybody here in Jasper Creek.”
“Which explains why most of the population of Jasper Creek is a few bricks shy of a load.”
“Starting with you, Harvey Sandowski. Starting with you,” Lettie muttered, shaking her head.
“Nah, I was delivered when he was still at the top of his game,” Harvey chortled.
“Apparently you weren’t, if you’re dumb enough to be talking about me when I’m three tables away from you.”
Am I in a fucking soap opera or what?
I watched as a gray-haired old man walked over to our table. Despite the gray hair, he seemed pretty spry. Actually, he was moving a whole hell of a lot better than Harvey was. I bet he wasn’t eating the cardiac kicker for every meal.
“Lettie, I have to say I’m very disappointed in you, your ma, your grandma, and Pearl for not telling me about Sam. I could have helped some.”
“You were taking care of Carrie and her son. You didn’t need anything more put on your plate,” Lettie protested.
Doc Evans ran his hand through what was left of his white hair and sighed. “Carrie and Rick were out of the woods last week, and you know it. You could have brought me in then.”
“By that time, Sam was back at work,” Lettie disagreed. “There wasn’t anything you could do.”
“I could have helped with his exercises.”
“You needed some downtime. Anyway, the last time someone needed PT, you sent them to Gatlinburg, and Sam doesn’t have the money for that.”
I cleared my throat, and all three of them looked down at me. “I could help with the PT.”
“Are you a physical therapist?” the doctor asked.
“No, but I spent six months at Walter Reed getting physical therapy on my back, arm, and leg. I know how important it is, and I know how to do the exercises properly. I can talk to my physical therapist and ask him which exercises Sam needs, and then help him do them properly.”
I watched as Doc Evans again ran his hand through his sparce hair. No wonder he was almost bald. “So, you’re the missing Brady Beaumont, huh? How long are you planning on sticking around for?”
I shouldn’t have been surprised that he knew who I was. Apparently, everybody knew everything about one another in this town.
“I go by Kai.” I stood up and offered my hand. “Kai Davies.”
“I didn’t deliver you and your brother. I was worried about delivering twins, so you were delivered in Gatlinburg.”
