She was so frustrating and they were so damn close. “You did. You move them more than you think. And you have feeling below your waist. We both know that. I’ve explained to you that given where your spine was injured, there’s a good possibility that you can get some mobility back. But you have to put in the work. Noelle, you only have so long before you won’t be able to come back from this. I know what the doctor told you, but he was wrong.”

“And you’re right?”

Dr. Hamet would eventually show up since he was supposed to be “overseeing” her practice. He was going to get a massive earful and a hearty definition of the word incompetence. “I am. So let’s get up and do ten more minutes and then you can rest.”

Noelle’s deep brown ponytail shook. “Ten more minutes of hell isn’t going to fix anything.”

This was it. She’d seen it before in other patients, heard about it from her friends who’d specialized in physical therapy. There was often one chance to convince a patient they could do it. Especially with the hard cases. If she’d been working in Papillon right after Noelle’s accident, they might not be here. Noelle would likely already be up in her braces, and these sessions would be all about pushing her limits and making her strong. Instead, Noelle and Armie had been fed crappy information and they’d accepted it because they’d both been too traumatized to think to go for a second opinion. She had to get over those hurdles or this wouldn’t work. “No, it’s going to be a long road and it’s going to hurt, and you’ll be walking at the end of it. You might not ever be able to walk without a brace, but you’ll be mobile.”

“Then why don’t I stay in the chair?” Noelle asked, her exasperation evident. “I know you’re doing this because you think if I can move myself around I’ll go to college and study something important, but what about when I actually get there? It’ll still be hard to get around. I still won’t be normal. Do you want to be the freak who everyone stares at?”

She wasn’t even going to deal with that. It was ridiculous. It was time to start some of that tough love. Begging wasn’t working. Softness would let Noelle know she could keep fighting and eventually get her way. “Noelle, get up and finish this out. We’re not moving from this spot until you finish. We can stay here all night. Your father will come looking for us and then you can explain to him why we can’t go home.”

“I’m tired.”