Lance: A Hathaway House Heartwarming Romance

he asked. “I’ve got chia seeds, pumpkin, sesame, and more fruit. And we could do a little bit of cheese on the side.”
“Maybe I’ll mix up something,” she said. Walking over and picking up a bowl, she started with fruit on the bottom, then yogurt. She added a heavy layer of seeds, more yogurt, and topped it off with fresh berries. She looked at it and smiled. “This looks perfect.”
“Couldn’t have made it better myself,” he said with a chuckle. “You should enjoy that.”
“I absolutely will,” she said. Then she walked over, poured herself a cup of coffee and an orange juice, put a spoon into her bowl, and, with her tray in hand, she headed out toward the sun. When she heard a voice, she turned to see Lance, calling out to her. She walked over with a smile and said, “Wow, it’s good to see you up.”
With a motion to the gentleman across the table, he said, “I presume you know Jaden, right?”
“Yes, we’ve met several times,” she said cheerfully. “Is it you we get to thank for bringing Lance out of his bed?”
“Hey,” Jaden said, “I just invited him to have breakfast with me.”
“And I’m glad you did,” she said.
“I would have come earlier,” Lance said, “but I was struggling with the whole getting-out-of-bed thing.”
“Bed is an easy and comfortable place to stay,” she said with a laugh. “So it only makes sense that you wanted to stay there.”
“I guess that’s the problem though, isn’t it?” he said. “It becomes too comfortable.”
“Often, yes,” she said with a smile. “But that’s not the issue. Right now the fact is, you’re up, and you’re moving, and I’m sure the rest of the team will be happy about that.”
He winced. “So now they’ll put me to work, won’t they?”
“They sure will,” she said, chuckling. “So eat your breakfast. Just don’t eat too much.”
“Will I regret getting up?”
“Had to happen one day,” she said with a gentle smile. “And no better day than today.”
And, with that, she picked up her tray again and headed out to the sunshine. If there was one thing she absolutely loved about Hathaway House, it was the location of the center. She could see the animals and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. The food was great too, and it was hard to argue with very much about the place. She had worked in this field for some time and was thrilled to be working at this center that achieved such amazing results.
The fact was, she also got to meet some pretty special people, whether they believed in themselves or not. She had suspected that Lance would be another one who struggled with self-confidence now that his whole world had shifted. But maybe he’d surprise her. Maybe his problems would be something completely unrelated. She knew that, over time, they’d find out one way or another. This place was all about wiping out the false fronts and making the real person show up. Good, bad, or ugly, each was forced to deal with who they really were on the inside. Sometimes it was painful, and sometimes it was incredibly invigorating to watch. The bottom line was, she looked forward to seeing who Lance was on the inside.
“You haven’t been here very long,” Jaden said. “Yet it looks like you’ve already got Jessica’s attention.”
“She’s the nurse who’s been looking after me since I first arrived,” Lance said, by way of explanation. “Now that I’m up and about, I feel like I’ve been hibernating in my room. I’ll have to kick that habit pretty fast. I don’t want anyone to think I’m not pulling my weight or taking this opportunity for granted.”
“Give it your best, and you’ll move on,” Jaden said. “The thing about Hathaway House is that only so many beds are here. So they really need to have people who will make good use of it.”
“Right,” he said, wincing. “Definitely time to get going on that then.”
“Don’t push yourself beyond what you can do,” Jaden warned. “But, when you find you can do more, do more. If you give it your all, you’ll leave here with no regrets.”
“Glad to hear that,” he said, and he listened to the words of his friend over the next few days, as he went through testing, testing, and more testing.
When Shane looked at him at the end of a session, he said, “You look disappointed.”
“I guess I figured I’d be doing something constructive by now.”
Shane laughed. “You are doing something constructive. Or I am, at least. I get it, but it’s all about finding the starting point. In order to do that, we have to find out what’s wrong.”
“I would have thought that was pretty obvious,” Lance said.
“To you, yes,” he said, “but I need the details, so I can fix things.”
“If you say so,” he said.
“Have you met with everybody on your team so far?”
“Except for the shrinks, I think,” he said with a mock shudder.
Shane laughed. “Everybody has the same reaction,” he said. “Don’t worry. Even the staff who works here have to see them twice a year,” he said.
“Why is that?” Lance asked.
“Because our mental health is affected by being around all these patients all the time,” he said with a grin. “But it’s all good.”
“So, these shrinks aren’t something I have to be scared of?”
“I hope not,” he said. “They’re just here to help you. Remember that. And, if you have trouble and need a little room, just ask them to back off a bit.”
“I wonder what they’d think of that,” Lance said with a laugh. “I doubt if too many people tell them to get out of their heads.”
“Actually I think a lot of people do,” he said, “but it’s all about setting boundaries. The thing is, it’s better to set a boundary and to know that both of you can cross it, if you need to, than to slam a door shut and lock yourself inside. Because we can’t help you if