Nothing Lasts Forever

After sitting through another agonizing two hours of awkwardness, Adam finally decided to leave, promising Nikki that he would see her again the following day. Genevieve attempted to start to clean up the table, but she soon realized that she wouldn’t be able to take too many dishes to the sink at one time.

Nikki walked over, trying to take the dishes from Genevieve, and Genevieve groaned. “Nikki, I can do it myself. You already got dinner ready by yourself. At least let me help clean up,” she begged.

“Gen, the dishes can wait. We need to talk,” Nikki said, walking out the living room and sitting down on the couch. Genevieve wheeled her wheelchair out there and placed it across from Nikki.

“I’m sorry,” Genevieve said immediately. Nikki looked up at her, wondering what she was apologizing for. As if she could read Nikki’s mind, she added, “I’m sorry for how I acted towards Adam. I’m already planning on apologizing to him the next time I see him.”

“Gen, you do know that he was just trying to be helpful, right?” Nikki asked.

“I know. It’s just that it’s frustrating when I can’t do things on my own. And, I know he was just trying to help. I was out of line by getting angry at him,” Genevieve told her.

“Do you know what happened with Adam?” Nikki asked suddenly.

“I know that he got into a car accident a few years ago, and he broke his leg. Other than that, I don’t know all the details,” Genevieve told her.

“Yeah, we were in that car accident a few years ago. He got thrown out of the car, and he got messed up pretty bad. He not only had a broken leg, but he broke like four other bones. He had cuts and bruises everywhere. It was terrible,” Nikki explained.

“Wow,” Genevieve breathed.

“Yeah, Gen, he knows what you’re going through. He’s just trying to be helpful. That’s the type of guy he is. “

“I’m going to go apologize to him. Do you know where I could find him?” Genevieve asked.

“Let me call him and see if he’s home,” Nikki said with a smile as she grabbed her cell phone off out of her pocket, scrolling down to Adam’s name.

Forty-five minutes later, Adam came over to Nikki’s apartment. Nikki had gone to the rink, leaving Genevieve there by herself, knowing she wouldn’t want an audience for her apology. The doorbell rang, and Genevieve called out that he could come in.

“Hey,” Adam smiled at her. “Where’s Nikki? She asked me to come over here,” he asked Genevieve.

“Um, actually she called for me. I was hoping that we could talk,” Genevieve told him, and he nodded his head, walking over to sit in the chair across from her. Genevieve took a deep breath and began speaking. “Adam, I owe you an apology. I’m sorry for acting the way I did yesterday,” she told him.

“It’s okay,” Adam assured her.

“No, it’s not. I know that you were just trying to help me out, and I shouldn’t have acted the way I did. It’s just I’m used to being independent, and it’s kind of hard to let people help me,” Genevieve explained.

“I understand,” Adam told her, and when she looked into his eyes, she knew he was telling the truth. “I’ll try to back off, but if you ever need anything, just know that you can ask me at any time.”

“Thanks,” Genevieve smiled.

*************************************************************************************

Two weeks later, Genevieve had a doctor’s appointment to see how she was progressing with her injuries. She was praying that her leg had healed well enough that she could go on crutches instead of having to be in a wheelchair all the time.

She walked into the doctor’s office, sitting impatiently, waiting for the doctor to come in. Fifteen minutes and five magazines later, Dr. Link finally walked through the door. “Genevieve, how are you feeling?” she asked.

“Um, pretty well,” Genevieve answered.

“How have you been getting around with your leg and wrist?” Dr. Link asked.

“Well, it was a struggle at first, but I’ve been managing pretty well lately,” Genevieve said, thinking back to the numerous times she had forgotten about her wrist and leg and put pressure on one, pain shooting through her entire body.

“Good,” Dr. Link smiled. “Well, we’re going to take some x-rays and see what’s going on, okay?”

“Sounds good,” Genevieve replied as a nurse came in and wheeled her down to get x-rays taken.

Genevieve was back sitting in the room, waiting on Dr. Link to come in and tell her what the x-rays said. All of a sudden, she walked through the door, the x-rays under her arm. “So, what do you say that we take a look at these and see how you’re doing?” she asked.

Genevieve nodded her head, and Dr. Link put the x-rays up on the board to shine light on them so she could read them. Dr. Link stared at them for a few moments, a frown forming on her face.

Genevieve began getting worried the longer that Dr. Link went without saying anything. “Is something wrong?” Genevieve asked.

“Well,” Dr. Link began. “Your tibia doesn’t seem to be healing like it should be,” she told her, pointing to the bigger of the two bones on the x-ray.

“What does that mean?” Genevieve asked.

“Well, the tibia is the bone that all your weight is put on when you’re standing. If it doesn’t heal properly, there is a chance that you’ll never walk properly again,” Dr. Link admitted.

Genevieve’s eyes went wide, and the tears stung the back of her eyes. “Wh-what?” she choked out. “I’m never going to walk again?”

“Well, we won’t know for sure for a few weeks from now. We’re going to keep monitoring how you’re tibia is healing, and I’m going to have you start physical therapy next week. I’m hoping that if you start some physical therapy that the tibia will heal better,” Dr. Link told her.

“Okay,” Genevieve said quietly as Dr. Link put some papers together for her about local physical therapy facilities.

Genevieve wheeled into her apartment, letting the tears finally fall down her face, and the first thing she saw was Adam sitting on the couch. “Hey,” he smiled at her, but his smile immediately fell when he saw that she was crying. “Genevieve, what’s wrong?” he asked. She shook her head, not wanting to tell him, but he kept persisting. “Genevieve, tell me.”

“They don’t know if I’m going to walk again,” she said between her tears.

Adam’s heart broke as he watched Genevieve. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. He rubbed her back soothingly, telling her, “It’s going to be alright. Everything’s going to be fine.”

“You don’t know that!” Genevieve suddenly cried. “You have no idea if I’m going to walk again or not! Don’t tell me that everything’s going to be okay!”

“You have to have faith that it is,” Adam told her. “If you believe it’s going to be alright, it will be.”

His calming words had the opposite effect on her, and she was beginning to get even angrier. “No, it’s not going to be okay,” she yelled, making fists with her hands and pounding Adam in his chest. “I may never walk again! It’s not all going to be alright!”

Adam continued to hold her, letting her hit him, not saying a word about it. He knew she needed to let everything out, and he was fine being the punching bag for a while.

Genevieve’s punches soon grew lighter, as she was growing more exhausted. “It’s not going to be alright,” she said quietly one last time, her voice weak from all the yelling, as she stopped hitting him and just let him hold her.