Spencer, p.1
Spencer, page 1
Spencer
Hathaway House, Book 19
Dale Mayer
Books in This Series:
Aaron, Book 1
Brock, Book 2
Cole, Book 3
Denton, Book 4
Elliot, Book 5
Finn, Book 6
Gregory, Book 7
Heath, Book 8
Iain, Book 9
Jaden, Book 10
Keith, Book 11
Lance, Book 12
Melissa, Book 13
Nash, Book 14
Owen, Book 15
Percy, Book 16
Quinton, Book 17
Ryatt, Book 18
Spencer, Book 19
Timothy, Book 20
Hathaway House, Books 1–3
Hathaway House, Books 4–6
Hathaway House, Books 7–9
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
About This Book
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
About Timothy
Author’s Note
Complimentary Download
About the Author
Copyright Page
About This Book
Welcome to Hathaway House. Rehab Center. Safe Haven. Second chance at life and love.
Getting into Hathaway House before his friend wasn’t the plan, but that’s how it worked out, leaving Spencer in a state of waiting for his buddy to arrive. In the meantime, he has work to do. Right from day one he wants to establish and to maintain some independence in this way-too-busy center, luckily meeting the groundskeeper on his first attempt at getting coffee.
Bella has been looking after the Hathaway House grounds for over five years. Although she’s seen and interacted with many of the residents here, she never really got close to any—until Spencer. Now she can’t help but watch his progress in awe, as he moves through his program with dedication. Is he trying so hard to show off to his soon-to-arrive friend? Or for her sake? Or because he’s eager to leave the center and start his new improved future?
A future that won’t be in Hathaway House and one that might not include her …
Prologue
Spencer Newcomb shared a semiprivate VA hospital room with his friend Timothy Watkins. “I don’t get it,” Spencer said. “Why are you trying to get into this place so much?”
“Because it’s got a fantastic rep,” Timothy murmured. “And this place sucks.”
Well, Spencer wouldn’t argue with that assessment of their current scenario because, well, it was true. There was an awful lot that they didn’t like about it here.
Timothy added, “And you and I are a team. We’ve been through so much already, and we should stick together in healing as well.”
“And what makes you think this Hathaway place will be any better?”
“How can it be worse?”
“It’s still a long trip for nothing.”
“Or it could be a long trip for everything,” Timothy argued. “You know, in some of the online forums, the guys talk about the different methods the guys at Hathaway House have of getting people back on their feet. I’m willing to try.” He frowned. “I think some of your friends went there too.”
Spencer rolled his head toward Timothy and asked, “Yeah, who?”
“Percy, for one.”
Spencer’s eyebrows shot up at that.
Timothy continued. “Ha, and didn’t you know Lance?”
“Well, I know a Lance,” Spencer replied. “Doesn’t mean I know the one who you’re talking about.”
“No, that’s true, but I think you’d probably do some good to ask them. Then fill me in, but I’m already sold. We both should sign up. You never know. You might get into this place before I do, knowing Percy and Lance.”
“And maybe not,” Spencer argued, with a smile. “After all, it’s not as if I’ll necessarily jump ahead in line. You know, if a place is this good, it’ll have a queue waiting to get in.”
“Yeah, it sure will,” Timothy agreed. “I’m just filling out the application now, but you know how I hate all this paperwork and dredging up all my medical history. Why do they want us to list all this stuff on their stupid forms when they also want our medical reports? Such a waste to ask for things twice.” Shaking his head, Timothy was typing on his phone. “I sent you the link. Maybe if you’re dealing with this headache of paperwork too, I’ll be happier dealing with my application.”
Spencer’s phone beeped, and he looked at the link on his screen, still undecided.
Timothy nodded at his buddy. “Try it. I mean, what’s the harm?”
After Timothy headed off for his therapy session, Spencer looked again at the link and frowned. It sounded a little bit too good to be true. It had been a really long time since Spencer got taken in by a dream, but it did seem to him that, if there were any truth to the Hathaway hype, some of his friends who already did their rehab there might very well give him answers, one way or the other.
So Spencer sent off a couple emails and followed up with a couple text messages. When Lance got back to him and said, If you get an opportunity, go, Spencer was really surprised. Then he got an email back from Percy, saying, Go, man, go. After that, Spencer filled out the application without another thought. He told Timothy to get his butt in gear and finish his application too. Spencer’s internal critic highly expected to not get in; a place like that would have a long waiting list.
Nobody was more surprised than him and even Timothy when, just two days later, Spencer got an email response from Hathaway House, asking for more medical records. Spencer quickly filled out everything that needed to be done and then sent it all off, nudging Timothy once more to get the lead out. “We’re partners in this. I need my partner on this leg of the journey.”
Timothy nodded, but Spencer didn’t see his buddy jumping online.
When Spencer got a phone call not very long afterward, it was from the manager of the center. She introduced herself and said, “I’m calling about your wish to join Hathaway House.”
“Well, I was … I had … I know both Percy and Lance,” he muttered.
“They do give you glowing references,” she noted quietly. “We do prefer to take people who understand just how different we are here,” she murmured.
“I don’t know how different you are, but I can tell you that, in all the other rehab places I’ve been, nobody’s ever given me a good recommendation for any of them.”
She laughed. “No, and it’s not an easy road that you guys are on,” she stated, “which is one of the reasons why we try hard to make your stay here as pleasant and as productive as possible. I do have an opening, but it will be in about six weeks. … Wait. Let me check on that. Hang on a minute.” She came back a few minutes later and said, “I have a cancellation. I could move you up to three weeks.”
“Wow. Seriously?”
“Yes. You just tell me if you want to proceed and arrange for your departure accordingly, and then I need to contact your doctors. We have to start that whole transfer procedure. Your treating physicians must give their permission for you and your records to be moved. In which case the three-week opening could be too tight.”
Spencer frowned at that. “I don’t know if they’ll go for it,” he noted, “but I would like to try.”
“Good enough,” she said. “Leave it in my hands, and I’ll get back to you, when I find out a date that we’re good to go.” And, with that, she hung up.
When Spencer just asked Timothy about the status of his application, he moaned. “Man, you know how I feel about filling out this application. I got started, and I didn’t get any further.”
“Right, but maybe you want to now,” Spencer added, “since I already got in.”
Timothy looked at him, stunned. “What? What do you mean?” he cried out in dismay. “I only told you about it a few days ago.”
“She just called me,” he said, motioning at the phone. “She’ll get the process started. She had a cancellation, and I can get in three weeks from now. Apparently it’ll take that long to get everything together.”
In shock, his friend collapsed onto his bed beside Spencer’s.
“Get your application in,” Spencer urged. “You never know. We could go at the same time.”
And that was finally enough for Timothy to jump on board. “I’d better,” he snapped. “I can’t believe you got in before me.”
“You took too long,” Spencer stated bluntly. “You can’t talk about these places and their queues. You have to make a decision and jump.”
“Since when did you ever jump?” he muttered.
“Hey, you might be surprised.” Spencer laughed. “Sometimes I don’t need to be persuaded. I can see a good thing in front of me.”
“Says you,” he protested. “I’m still in shock.”
“Well, deal with it,” Spencer murmured, “because I’m going. Anything to get out of here will be better than where we are.”
“Exactly.” Timothy looked up and asked, “If I don’t get in right away, you’ll let me know what it’s like, right?”
“Absolutely.” Spencer smiled at his friend. “And you may want to pass it around t hat there’s another option too. We’ve got a lot of friends here who could use a chance to get out and to get something better.”
“I know,” he murmured. “I’ll do that. I’ll start drumming up some more interest in the Hathaway place—but not until I get my spot secured,” he declared. “No way will anybody else jump that line on me.”
At that, Spencer shook his head. “Then jump in again. You were too slow to fill out the application. I just did what you said.”
“Wow, I won’t be slow anymore,” Timothy muttered. And right then and there he finished it and submitted the form. “Done now,” he announced, “and hopefully I can get in too.”
Chapter 1
For Spencer, that three weeks had turned into four, before the doctors were done with the transfer of the paperwork and everybody had signed off to their satisfaction. And joy of joys, Spencer’s buddy Timothy had also been accepted. Apparently Hathaway House had an expanded wing and were taking in people off their waiting list. So Timothy was coming in a couple weeks behind Spencer. The fact that they would be there at the same time was huge. They’d been friends since forever. They’d even gotten injured at the same time, which was not what Spencer wanted his friend to deal with, but, considering the alternatives, still a good place to be so that they weren’t alone when facing what was coming at them.
As soon as Spencer arrived, he sensed a completely different atmosphere to the place. But also a concerning one because, as he sat in the front reception waiting area to get checked in, he was surrounded by chaos. People coming and going. Almost too much by the time the receptionist got up, came around, and smiled at him.
“Hi,” she greeted him.
He looked at her and shook his head. “Are you guys sure you’re ready for me today?”
“Oh, we are. It’s intake day, and it’s a little bit on the crazy side, and technically you weren’t expected for a few hours yet,” she explained. “Apparently your trip went faster than anybody thought it would.”
“Ah, well, as long as you’re ready for me,” he replied cautiously.
She smiled and nodded. “We are, indeed. This is Joseph.” She pointed to a large orderly with a big smile on his face. “He’ll take you to your room, and you can get out of that chair and rest a bit.”
“Good.” Spencer nodded. “Transportation in any way, shape, or form is just painful.”
“Yep,” she agreed, with a gentle smile, “we see it all the time, and we’re sorry. The process is just a little scrambled today. You won’t see this all the time here.”
“Good,” he answered, a little worried. He looked up to see Joseph still smiling at him.
With a wave of his arm, Joseph said, “Come on. Let’s get you settled in.” And he picked up Spencer’s bag and moved the wheelchair down the hallway.
“I could probably push a little bit,” Spencer offered, “if the bag is too much.”
“Nope, isn’t too much. I’ve slung a lot bigger bags in my time.”
“So were you in the military?”
“I was a marine,” he noted, with a proud smile. “Now I’m here.”
“And you’re happy here?” he asked.
“Yep. I came because some of my friends needed the help,” he added, “and now I work here. And I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else.”
That was an endorsement Spencer hadn’t expected to hear. “Wow, is it that good?”
“It is that good,” he responded, “but it’s not for me to tell you. That you’ll find out firsthand for yourself.”
“I hope so,” he muttered. “I wasn’t doing very well at the last place.”
“We hear that a lot too,” Joseph noted calmly. “Don’t lie to your team, don’t cheat yourself here, dive in and do the best you can because it’s your one shot for completely changing your life,” he said. “You won’t even know what I mean, not until you get down the rehab pathway in a few weeks, and then you can see how different things are.”
“I hope so,” Spencer admitted. “We’ve heard a lot about the place and the systems and the staff here, but people talk, and they don’t have the same issues, or you’re always afraid that it worked for them, but it won’t work for you.”
Joseph laughed. “And I totally agree with you. You shouldn’t be listening to anybody else’s take on this. You should be making your own assessments and figuring it out yourself.”
They turned down a short hallway. “And, in order to do that, you must have an open mind, and as soon as you stop the initial judgments, you’ll find all kinds of things filtering inside,” Joseph added. “A lot of power is here, and I haven’t figured out yet whether it’s a positive healing collective mind-set that helps raise everybody’s ability to do better or just that the techniques here are so different and so effective. I’m blessed to not have been part of the side that you’re on,” he shared, “but I certainly see the difference for the people who are patients here.”
“And what about your friend?” Spencer asked curiously.
“Friends,” Joseph corrected. “Several of them, and by now multiples more I’ve convinced to come here. And they’re all doing just fine. We stay in touch. Sometimes they come back for a visit, sometimes just for the memories, because connections are made here. Connections that you want to keep because they mean something.”
Joseph stopped outside a door. “We just recently started a huge reunion every year, and it’s been good to see people. Here they get a chance to learn some new techniques that could apply to their situations or improvements that they can do that nobody knew about back when they were here.”
He put down Spencer’s bag and opened the door, propping it open. “This place is always growing, always changing, because of the people involved, whether patients or staff. So again don’t shortchange yourself, fully explore everything offered here, and I think you’ll be wonderfully surprised.”
Inside Spencer’s room, Joseph helped him out of the wheelchair, as if understanding how stiff and sore Spencer was from the trip, and then onto the bed, where he collapsed on his back, shudders of relief racking through his system.
“Now,” Joseph said, “I’m not a nurse, but I can get one, and we can do something for the pain, if needed.”
“No.” Spencer shook his head. “It’s not pain from the injuries. It’s from being in the same position without moving for so long.”
“I get it.” Joseph nodded. “Whatever it is you need, just ask, no explanations necessary.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Spencer sighed. “My recovery is still pretty rough.”
“It is, indeed, and that’s all right,” he stated. “I know that Dani will be here soon. However, in the meantime, do you want water, a cup of coffee, or something else I can get for you?”
He stared at Joseph in surprise. “Both of those would be lovely.”
Joseph smiled. “How do you take your coffee?”
“Black,” he murmured. “And, if the water’s got no ice, that would be even better.”
And, with that, Joseph disappeared.
Already seeing a change in Hathaway House’s atmosphere, Spencer felt as if he were at a first-class restaurant or a five-star hotel. As he looked around at the fairly sparse but comfortable room with the huge windows, he noted the rolling hills and horses and white picket fences outside. He stared in surprise. “Horses,” he murmured to himself. “Good Lord.”
Somebody rode a lawnmower along the inside edge of a fence, and somebody else trimmed rhododendrons and other plants he didn’t recognize. A team of three or four gardeners currently handled the landscape, but this place was huge, so lawn maintenance would probably be a full-time job.
Spencer eased back into bed again, taking a deep breath, trying to unlock some of the muscles in his back and his hips. He took several deep breaths again, trying not to force his diaphragm to his belly and then cramp his bladder, which was already protesting. He should have made the trip to the bathroom on the way to his bed.
Breathing gently to expand his chest and to open up his lungs—another area where the injuries and scar tissue seemed to be never-ending—he wouldn’t wait any longer, and he slid his feet to the floor and slowly stood. His prosthetic needed to come off soon; otherwise his stump would be sore too. He’d been vain enough to travel with it, but he shouldn’t have. He only had a couple inches of thigh bone, and, of course, that leg was stiff after this trip here. However, if he moved carefully, he should get to his en suite bathroom and back on his own two legs.
