Even though real-real dating Armie was probably going to make the situation with Miranda worse, she wasn’t about to back down.

And that felt good. That made her feel better than she had in a long time.

She followed his daughter, and hoped he enjoyed the view.

•   •   •

“You are a perfectly healthy young woman,” Lila said twenty minutes later.

“With the exception of the fact that I can’t move my legs?”

“Let’s just call you healthy.” She didn’t have any pressure sores or ulcers. Her weight was in a healthy range. It could be hard for wheelchair-bound patients to get enough exercise. Noelle’s injury was at L-3, low on her spine. As injuries go, it could have been much worse. And honestly it surprised her that Noelle was completely confined to that chair. “Do you have any feeling in your legs?”

“Some,” she admitted. “I can move my toes a little, but I’ve lost all coordination. It’s cool. I’m okay with it. Doc told me about it a long time ago. He said if I was going to walk it would have been in the first few months.”

But only with proper PT. Her records showed that she’d gone to a local therapist for a couple of months and then she’d stopped trying to get on her feet. Now her therapy was about keeping her muscles from atrophying and building her upper-body strength. If she had some feeling in her legs and could move her toes even the tiniest bit, then the injury was incomplete. Messages from the brain were still able to get to her legs. She should have more function than she did. “I want you to think about upping your physical therapy. I think you gave up too soon, and I’m not sure these orders the doctor gave you are the best course of action. Given where your injury is, you should be able to stand and perhaps walk with braces.”

She shook her head. “Nope. Can’t do any of that. I wanted to talk to you about something else.”

She was surprised that Noelle wouldn’t consider it, but then, she didn’t know the case well. She needed to study the records before she pushed harder. “All right. What did you want to talk about?”

The young woman seemed to steel herself. “I want to know how normal you think I can be.”

“Pretty normal. Are you having trouble getting around? I’ve noticed almost every business in town has a ramp of some kind.” She’d been surprised at how well equipped the town was.

Noelle pushed her glasses up her nose and shook her head. “I don’t mean that. When I came to live with my dad, everyone was great. They tried to make it easy for me. I was talking about being able to do things other women do.”