Zane flips open a folder and flips it around for me to see. Sure enough, I have seven weeks to get back to full steam. Maybe Hannah can treat me three or four times a week instead of two if my shoulder can even handle that at this point.
I don’t know what to say to Zane, so I just keep staring at my last certification letter as if, by some miracle, the date will change, giving me more time. But I’m also fighting the surge of panic that’s trying to push its way into my head.
Zane drags the folder back, his features pinched with concern. He lowers his voice. “Do you think you’ll be ready in time?”
My heart is pounding in my ears now. I drag a hand over my mouth, trying to estimate how much I’d need to accomplish in the time I have left based on my recovery rate so far. “I think so. I mean, the written part, yes. That’s a no-brainer. But the swimming part…I’d have to talk to Hannah, I guess. See if she can work with me more frequently.”
Zane leans back in his chair. He taps the pen he’s holding on the table, lost in thought. “The next open-water training isn’tuntil spring… What about testing for poolside certification if you’re not ready? Then we could put you on?—”
“No, I don’t want to work at the public pool.” Just the thought tightens my chest, making it hard to breathe.
His expression imploring, Zane holds his hands up. “It would just be temporary. A way to get you back to doing what you love until you can go through training again.”
I push up from my chair. “But I want to be here with the team and on the beach.”
“I know, man. I’m just trying to help you figure things out.” He stares up at me as if he’s waiting for me to agree, but I can’t. This all seems like a huge step backward, and I’ve done enough of that already to last a lifetime.
I turn around to study the main room, remembering my workouts with Graham in the workout area, team breaks, meetings spent at the tables near the kitchenette, and wild volleyball matches after work. Something else I may not be able to do very well…
“I’ll talk to Hannah, and we’ll restructure my therapy plan. If anyone can help me make it happen, she can.”
When I turn around, Zane gets up and sits on the corner of his desk, hands clasped on his leg. “We’re here for you, Nick. Whatever you need. Trust me, I want you back out there as much, if not more, than you do.”
I chuckle. “I don’t think that’s possible.”
He raises his hands. “No one can replace you, man. We’re managing, but I won’t lie. This place is better with you here. But that’s not what has me chasing my tail at the moment.”
“Trouble in paradise?” And by paradise, I mean him and Callie.
“Paradise is good. It’s the wedding that’s become the issue. Callie would like her parents to come, but we’d have to wait over a year to make that happen.”
“And you don’t want to wait.”
He shakes his head.
“Then don’t. Sounds like her parents’ problem, not hers.”
Zane lifts his brows. “Speaking from some experience, I assume?”
Besides Graham, Zane’s the only one who knows most of my story, but even he doesn’t know everything. I shrug off his question. “You two are starting a life together. That’s all that matters. If they don’t consider it important enough to rearrange their plans for their daughter’s wedding, that’s on them.”
Zane shoves off the desk. “I know. Callie knows that, too. But she wanted to try.”
“You two are going to be great. You already are.” I admire what they have. Not just a romance, but a friendship that bonds them because of their shared passion for lifeguarding and the youth lifeguard program. The more I’ve watched them operate, the more I’ve realized I want that, too. Something that lasts with someone to share my life with.
Thus, why I mostly stopped a while ago. Before seeing Hannah regularly for physical therapy, the only other woman I’ve spent time with on a regular basis is my financial advisor. Graham and some of the other guys assumed they were dates, and I just let them because I didn’t want to explain what I was really up to.
He nods. “Yeah, seeing the youth program take off has been gratifying. And now we’re getting asked to bring the model to other programs, so we’re trying to figure out how we can make that work.”
“That’s fantastic, man.” I’m genuinely excited for him and Callie, but I’m also bummed I’m missing so much. I tried just hanging around the first couple weeks after my surgery but wound up bored, sitting in the break area or sitting on the beach watching my colleagues do what I couldn’t. Not yet, at least.
Zane rests a hand on my good shoulder and squeezes. “I need my right hand-man.”
I lift my right arm as I chuckle at his double meaning. “You know I’m working as hard as I can to get back on duty.”
“I know. Before long, you’ll be back, and all this will be behind you.”
Behind me…Zane’swords replay in my head the entire way to Hannah’s office. If I want to get ahead of this situation, I need to deal with it head on as fast as possible. Seven weeks isn’t a lot of time, but my progress so far seems to be better than expected. But I’m basing that solely on Hannah’s input.
