Free Montana Secrets by Kay Stockham Page A

tossed the pillow behind her. She reached out to grab his covers next.
    Seth slammed a hand down on top of both of hers to hold them where they were. “I don’t want to get up.”
    Her brows rose, and even though her heart kicked up several beats, she didn’t back down. This time with him was critical. She had to set the boundaries. Make sure he knew how far she’d go to help him. Despite the fear eating away at her confidence, she squared her shoulders and plunged in with both feet.
    â€œYou can’t stay in bed all day,” she said, pulling.
    He drew in a sharp breath. “Let go. ”
    She tugged again and all of a sudden she realized why he didn’t want to get up—
    He already was.
    Grace released the blanket as her face burned with heat. “Oh, uh, y-your chair. How could I have forgotten to get your chair?”
    Seth’s chair wasn’t but a few inches away from the bed, but for all the effort she put into positioning it, repositioning it and making sure the supports were at the right height, one would’ve thought she’d never seen a wheelchair before in her life.
    â€œBe th-thinking about what you want to get out of our session today,” she murmured when she finally worked up the courage to face him again.
    â€œI’m not going to therapy.” But in one quick motion Seth threw the covers off his waist and legs with a look that dared her to say a word about his…problem. “You can help me out of bed. But that’s it.”
    Grace hesitated—who wouldn’t given the situation?—then moved into position and locked her hands beneath his arms. “On three.” She counted off the numbers, transferred Seth to his wheelchair and placed his feet in the supports. All without a word from him. Or to him, considering she still couldn’t look at him.
    Finally the silence got to her. She was an adult. She was a professional. That happened.
    And just because it was Seth, well—
    â€œYou’re not doing yourself any good sitting in your chair or lying in bed all day. You have to move around, be as active as you can so that your muscles and nerves get working again. And you need to keep your upper body strong. You should be getting yourself in and out of bed without assistance.”
    â€œYou don’t want to do it?” he drawled, not bothering to disguise his intent. “Leave.”
    Not for the first time she wished she could. Usually she traveled from patient to patient, with little downtime in between. She’d lived briefly in California, Ohio, New York, Tennessee and, lastly, North Carolina. If she had a break between clients, she tried to do something fun, sort of like a minivacation to unwind. But as she’d only just taken on Seth’s case, she didn’t have another client lined up yet and—
    She wasn’t quitting.
    Grace swung Seth’s chair around to face the bathroom and grabbed a fresh pair of flannel drawstring pajama pants and a T-shirt from atop his dresser where she’d lain them before waking him up. Without comment she dropped them onto his lap and then rolled him through the bathroom door.
    â€œLet’s get you showered.”
    Â 
    S ETH SEETHED AT HER WORDS . Jake or whatever male therapist present usually helped him remove his pants before transferring him to the seat lining his specially equipped stall, but no way was he going to let Grace perform that chore.
    â€œI’ll do it.”
    â€œCan you?”
    He grabbed the wheels of his chair so she couldn’t move him any farther. “Get out.”
    He’d stopped wearing underwear after the accident. All he had to do was lift himself up and shuck his bottoms.
    But that wasn’t easy to do when he couldn’t use his legs for balance, and he didn’t have a third hand to pull his pants down. Where was Jake? Had he left without helping to get back at him for their argument? “Fine. Shower.