“It hurts.” Noelle stared up at them with a sullen frown on her face.

Of course it hurt, but sitting in that chair for the rest of her life and never giving herself a chance to try would hurt more. The trouble was sixteen-year-old girls thought they knew everything. She should know. She’d been one. “Pain is feeling, and feeling is good in this case.”

“I’ve been telling you this for months. It will hurt, but it will also get easier every time you do it,” Tanya explained. “You’ve got this. You can do this.”

Noelle said nothing, her eyes not meeting either of them. Lila glanced around. They were the only ones left on the floor. Maybe privacy would be a better idea. Maybe then Noelle would actually tell her why she wasn’t trying. “Tanya, I think I can handle the rest of the session.”

Tanya nodded as though she understood and then sighed as she looked down at Noelle. “You should listen to her, sweetie. I’ve been trying to get Doc Hamet to change up your PT for months. I would trust this woman with my own daughter. I’ll see you next week.”

Lila waited until she was gone and they were alone before turning back to her very stubborn patient.

“Noelle, I need you to trust me. I know it doesn’t feel like it, but this has been a very encouraging day. Let’s do ten more minutes and then we’ll get you back to massage.”

She would take little victories with Noelle. If she were anyone else, Lila knew she likely would have given her the tough-love speech and walked away until the patient was willing to do the work. She knew damn well that unless the patient wanted it, no amount of pleading or bargaining would work.

But this was her patient. Her kid. She knew she shouldn’t think of her that way, but she’d come to love Noelle. She wasn’t willing to let this lie, and she knew after today that she was going to have a big discussion with Armie about this. It might break her if he wouldn’t listen. She wasn’t sure she could live with herself if she didn’t convince them to try.

Noelle stared at her, a stubborn set to her jaw. “I can’t walk, Lila. I’ve told you that a hundred times today.”

If only she would put as much will into actually trying as she did arguing, she might already be walking. “Do you think I didn’t see your hips move? It wasn’t the wind that moved them.”

A startled look came into her eyes. “You saw wrong. I didn’t move them. I can’t move them. I can’t move anything from the waist down.”