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Chapter 8

Some time later, now relaxed in the sunloungers, the couple watched the boys skim along the edges of the water on their boards. They seemed to take great delight in pushing each other off, typical of brothers. Annie was now propped up a little better with some cushions to stop her tipping out of the lounger. Nate was reading a book, occasionally looking up to see she was okay. Her pale body was liberally coated in sunscreen but he was worried she would have no idea if she was burning. Putting his book aside, Nate stood up and stretched. He reached out and touched Annie’s legs, to which she raised an eyebrow.

“If you want to feel me up, maybe we should go into the bedroom,” Annie raised her eyebrows suggestively.

He grinned. “I’m just checking your legs to see if they are burning. You can’t feel it so I need to check for you.”

“Of course, I didn’t think,” she sighed. “Am I going to look like a turkey at Thanksgiving?”

“No, you’re fine, you might want to turn over for a while though, otherwise you might end up tanned on one side only.”

She nodded and let Nate lower the lounger and turn her over. It was comfortable, but she felt like a beached whale, unable to do much of anything except lie there. After half an hour she was bored and asked Nate if he was in need of cooling down.

“You want to go for a swim?”

“Yeah,” she turned her head to the side and flashed him a grin. “I want to float for a while.” Nate went to lift her into the chair, but she stopped him. “Leave the chair.”

Nate did as she asked and carried her down to the water’s edge. As he got deep enough to swim, he let her go, holding onto her shoulders so her head stayed afloat. Annie’s legs floated and bobbed on the surface. She tried to use her arms to swim, but she couldn’t get her shoulders to lift her arms effectively.

“We should get a life jacket,” Nate grinned, I could let you go then.”

“Maybe we should,” she grinned back.

A while later, Nate carried Annie back up to the beach and as he set her down in the Beach wheelchair, a couple walked over to them, they looked about ten years older than Nate.

“Hi there, I’m David and this is my wife Ellen,” he approached Nate with his hand outstretched. “Scotty and Brian are our boys” he continued, “they told us what happened earlier and we just wanted to check that everything was okay.”

“We were a little worried,” his wife replied.

“Everything’s fine,” Nate replied for the both of them.

“I’m so grateful they came over and rescued me. Your boys were lovely, we were going to call round and thank them properly, but they were having a good time on the beach so we thought we’d leave it until later,” Annie explained.

“Thank you for letting us know, they’re good boys,” Ellen replied.

“Scotty helped me up,” Annie shrugged her shoulders. “My arms aren’t much use, so I got a little stuck.”

“Yeah, he explained,” David replied. “Well, we’re glad you’re okay, but if you guys need anything else while you’re here, let us know, we’d be glad to help out.”

“Thanks,” Nate replied to David, then turning to Annie joked “next time I abandon you on the beach babe, how about I send for the boys to make sure you behave and sit still?”

“Hey!” She protested, but with a grin. “Ignore Nate, he’s just worried I’m still mad at him for taking so long in the house.”

They all chuckled in response.

“How long are you here for?” Ellen asked Annie.

“Just the weekend, we have work on Monday.”

“Really?” Ellen seemed surprised at Annie’s comment. “Where do you work?”

“We’re from Manhattan. I’m a lawyer,” Annie replied, “Nate’s a shrink.”

“I prefer psychiatrist,” Nate puffed his chest out and gave Annie a glare of mock indignation.

“You and I are in the same profession then,” David commented to Annie. “I’m an assistant DA in New Jersey.”

“Annie’s on the opposite side,” Nate got his own back. “She’s a hot shot defence attorney.”

Annie and David talked shop briefly before the two couple went their separate ways.

“Well, it was nice to meet you,” David responded. “See you later,” the couple turned and made their way back up the beach to their house.

“They seemed really nice,” Annie commented as Nate gathered their things and they headed back up the ramp for some lunch.

Nate took Annie for a drive along the coast road after lunch. Instead of staying in the wheelchair in the back, Nate managed to get her in the passenger seat and well strapped in for the journey. They passed through a small town with an outdoor market and decided to pull up and take a walk around, selecting some produce for dinner. Annie found herself enjoying her interactions with others. It was so completely different from her experiences in New York where she went to the anonymous grocery store. She was always appalled by the rudeness of the people who worked the checkouts. It was more often than not, the reason why she ate out so much. The market was full of people who seemed so much happier, the stallholders were tanned and smiling at customers, offering advice about what was good or on offer. There was something so much more personable about everyone away from the city.

Taking their food back to the car, the bags hung from the back of the wheelchair, making Annie feel useful as she steered it round to the rear of the van.

“Just where have you being getting all the stuff from?” Annie wondered how Nate was able to get hold of the medical equipment, but the van was a step beyond.

“The wheelchairs were borrowed on a trial basis, most of the supply companies will let you borrow them for a few days to see if they are what you need. The other bits I got as samples. The benefits of a medical degree,” he shrugged nonchalantly. “The van I bought.”

Annie looked at him, open-mouthed as if she hadn’t heard him right. “You bought it?”

“I did.”

“Why?”

He was thoughtful for a moment. “Because I felt something I can’t really explain last time we did this, I think you did too and its why we’re here again now.” He turned to look at her, squinting in the sun.

Annie looked around, concerned that someone might overhear them in the car park. “I did, I mean I thought I would hate it and I thought I hated you briefly. But then as you helped me do things, I felt so relaxed, like I hadn’t felt in years. Its difficult to explain how hard it is for me to relax normally, but that weekend, I didn’t think about work at all, not once and it became precious time that I rarely give myself.” She raised her useless right hand to her eyes, as a tear ran down her nose. She tried to wipe it away with her wrist and looked at the wetness she couldn’t feel from her tears.

Nate reached in his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, which she took in both hands but failed as attempted to wipe away the evidence of her unprovoked emotional outpouring. Nate took the handkerchief back and helped her out.

“Thanks, I don’t really know what brought that on,” she sniffed.

“I do. You’re finally realising what you have been doing to yourself and its great to see you finally start to let go of your control.” He reached for her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist, then moved up her arm, eventually getting to the part she could feel, up her neck and then finally her lips. He lingered a while, brushing his lips against hers, finally probing her mouth with his tongue.

When they finally parted, Annie felt a difference in her feelings for Nate, it was deeper than she had ever felt it before and it made her realise why he had bought the van, they were happier together doing this than they were back in New York. Their fantasy life was better than the real thing.

“Oh and whilst I’m explaining recent purchases, I thought I should mention that I bought the beach house too, I couldn’t afford to keep up the room service bills!”

Nate had made lasagne with the ingredients from the market and they sat eating at the table in front of the open doors to the beach. The sun was just going down and the moon had just become visible in the sky. The noises of birds in the trees and the water lapping gently against the sand made it seem like paradise. The warm air drifted in off the sea breeze and left the couple totally relaxed and at ease. Nate finished his food and mopped his plate with the last piece of garlic bread, while Annie was waiting for him to finish so he could spoon in the last few mouthfuls of her food, trying to brush her hair behind her ear with her paralyzed hand. She was sat in the powerchair, a napkin in her lap in case any food dropped.

“Ready for more?” Nate asked.

She nodded. “Just a little more, I’m pretty full.”

He lifted the fork to her mouth which she swallowed but refused any more, instead letting him lift her wine glass for a sip instead. As he did so, there was a knock at the door, taking them both by surprise.

Nate went to the door and welcomed in the visitors. Annie turned the chair to face the voices entering from the hallway. She smiled as Ellen and David entered, and welcomed them. Ellen placed a pie dish on the kitchen counter and explained she had made apple pie, but the kids had gone to the movies so they wondered if Annie and Nate would like to share it with them.

Annie was so pleased at the neighbourly spirit which the couple had shown. “That’s really kind of you, thanks.”

“I brought ice cream too,” Ellen added. “A little naughty treat.”

“Nate keeps telling me I need to fatten up a little,” she laughed.

The two men were deep in conversation, so Ellen glanced around the kitchen. This is a really nice kitchen and you have a great view.”

“I don’t get much use of the kitchen, but I love the view.”

“We were glad to hear that the house had been sold, there was hardly anyone here before. The previous owners were quite elderly and didn’t visit often.”

“I never met them,” Annie responded, trying not to give away that she had only just found out Nate now owned the house.

“I guess it must have been in pretty bad shape to need all the work doing to it? We’re down every weekend and they were here when we were for three weeks.”

Annie responded honestly. “I didn’t get a chance to see it before this weekend, but I sort of need things to be accessible so Nate was the one sorting things out.” It was the truth in a roundabout way, but Annie flushed at her words, realising she was speaking as if she would always need things to be accessible.

“Oh my goodness, I didn’t think about that, sorry.”

“No apology necessary.”

“Do you have some dishes I can use for the pie?”

“I’m sure we do, but I have no idea where Nate has them.” Turning the chair with her head towards him she caught his attention. “Honey, where are the desert dishes?”

“Oh, I’m sorry babe, let me get them. I’m being a bad host.” He went to a cabinet on the wall and took down a stack of bowls, then opened a drawer for spoons.

“Here we go,” he placed them on the counter. “I’ll let the cook dish up, I’ll just mess up the presentation.”

Ellen thanked him and started cutting up the pie. Nate invited David to sit and fetched another bottle of wine for their neighbours. Ellen brought over the dishes and placed them down for everyone while Nate filled two more glasses.

Annie wondered what she was going to say next. She didn’t want to freak their guests out, but at the same time knew she was going to have to get Nate to feed her the desert. She looked a little embarrassed as Ellen offered her the tub of ice cream first.

“I’d love some but you better scoop it out if you don’t mind.” Annie used it as a good way of warning them what was to come. “I should have warned you before you sat down that I’m not able to feed myself, so Nate will help me out here.”

“I only do it for the leftovers though,” Nate finally plopped down into the chair next to her with a laugh.

“I keep trying,” Annie added, “but even if I manage to bend my arm a little, it shakes so much, there would be no food left on the fork by the time it got to my mouth.” David and Ellen both looked vaguely sympathetic. “I’m still adapting I guess, maybe if I keep practicing I’ll manage one day,” she grinned.

Nate laughed as well, encouraging the other couple to see the funny side of Annie’s predicament whilst also realising Annie was pretending to have even less movement than he had left her with. That immediately put ideas into his head for future visits.
“I take it you haven’t been er.. in the wheelchair long?” David was curious.

Annie had anticipated someone was bound to ask and had told Nate what they would say if that happened. “No, only a short time. I had an accident and broke my neck,” she added, deliberately vague.

“I guessed as much when we saw you earlier. Scotty said you told him you were paralyzed.”

“Not much function from the shoulders down,” Annie explained.

“Gosh, that must have been awfully difficult to get used to,” Ellen added.

“Yeah, but I’m getting there and I’m not going to stop living because of it,” Annie didn’t know where she got her brazen attitude from.

“Good for you,” David replied. “I guess we should dig in before the ice cream melts?”

“Absolutely,” Annie nodded. Nate scooped up a spoonful of pie and ice cream and held it out to Annie. She took the food and chewed. “God that’s good,” she mumbled. “You’re a great cook, I’m jealous.” Ellen brushed off the comment, modestly. “No seriously, you don’t understand. Being quadriplegic is the best thing for me really, it saves me from having to eat my own culinary disasters.”

Ellen almost choked, again seeing the funny side of Annie’s joke at her own expense.

They continued to eat and drink for a while, getting to know each other better. Annie realised that from now on, each time they came to the beach house, she was going to have to be paralyzed from the shoulders down. It should have worried her but it didn’t.

“Honey, I think we better get you to the bathroom,” Nate interrupted her conversation. Annie looked at him confused. He nodded towards her legs and she peered forwards to see what he meant, momentarily panicking that she hadn’t embarrassed herself again in front of their new neighbours. She looked at the leg bag, still exposed with her shorts on.

“Oh, the bag needs emptying,” she cottoned on. “We’ll just be a minute if that’s okay?” Annie looked at the other couple. They nodded and watched her reverse the chair out from under the table, then with a quick switch of her head, she was moving off towards the hallway with Nate following just behind.

The older pair had seen the exposed leg bag earlier in the day and now realised what it was. Looking at each other they were both thinking the same thing, ‘how awful’. Ellen spoke first. “They’re so nice, what a shame she’s so disabled now.”

“I know, I was thinking the same thing, but they seem fine about everything don’t you think?”

“He must be very devoted to be willing to help her out so much, I’m surprised she doesn’t have an aide to do all those things.”

“Maybe she does at home, but you can see how it would be kind of intrusive as well, to always have someone else around when you’re a couple.” David gave her a knowing look.

Ellen’s eyes widened. “Are you thinking about s.e.x?”

He just gave her a grin.

“Men, one track minds.” She paused in thought. “Do you think they can even still, you know?”

“I don’t know, maybe, not that I’d dare ask or anything though.”

Their conversation ended there as Annie made her way back to the table with a now empty bag attached to her leg.

David was trying not to think about his and Ellen’s previous topic of conversation, so he commented about the powerchair instead. “That’s quite a set of wheels you’ve got Annie.”

She laughed. “You’re right, its pretty quick considering I have to use my head to control it.”

“I was watching you come back in there, how does it work?”

Annie explained the switches. “I’d have problems pushing a hand-controlled joystick because I don’t have use of my hands.”

“Gosh, I had no idea you had so little movement,” Ellen commented.

“Its better than none at all. A few weeks ago I couldn’t move at all and Nate had to push me everywhere, so I’m grateful to be able to control this chair myself, though this is just loaned until we find the right one.”

Annie had her own ideas beginning to form about a purchase of her own.

“I’m intrigued how you get on at work,” David asked.

“I have my own secretary,” Annie smiled. “Which is a good job, because my typing is as bad as my cooking,” she grinned.

The conversation switched to Ellen and David’s boys after that and within half an hour the conversation came to a natural conclusion with the older couple realising the boys would be back from the movies before long and it was getting quite late. They bid farewell to each other and left moments later but not before giving their new friends a hug. Annie was quite taken aback by the gesture, she seldom got more than an air kiss in New York from friends she had known far longer, let alone the proper squeeze of a genuine hug from people she had met only that day.