Magic in Our Hearts Read Free Page A

undergone seven surgeries and is now going through painful physical therapy.”
    “What’s the request?”
    “She wants to hire a physical therapist with sports training experience to help her daughter recuperate. She wants this therapist to commit to a six-month time frame, and she wants the therapy to be exclusive to her daughter. She’s willing to pay and pay well.” Jeb didn’t mention to Taylor that Mrs. Camden had a personal reason to hire her, beyond Taylor’s stellar reputation, and had wanted to speak directly to Taylor. In truth, she was the only physical therapist that Mrs.
    Camden wanted for the job.
    “We don’t do that.”
    “I know, but I think this job might be right up your alley.” Jeb looked at her, his eyes serious. He expected once Taylor understood the request, she would not say no.
    Taylor was intrigued. “Why?” 
    “You know the daughter. She was a world-class downhill racer and a well-known party girl, Brett Andreson.”
    Taylor’s head snapped around as she heard a name from her past. “I didn’t know she was hurt. I just assumed she had stopped racing.”
    “The information about her injuries was intentionally kept quiet because of the circumstances surrounding her accident. She and another woman were party-ing quite heavily at the family home in Boulder when they decided to go skiing.
    Brett was showing off on the downhill slope and lost control, slamming into a tree. That was nine months before the 2002 Winter Olympics. She was to be the shining star of the U.S. Ski Team. Her injuries were devastating.”
    “I do remember noticing she wasn’t skiing anymore. I just thought she’d grown bored with it.” But Taylor knew in her heart that there must have been more than simple boredom that led to Brett’s disappearance from skiing and the Olympics. Brett’s lifelong dream had been to ski in the Olympics. Taylor just hadn’t wanted to know anything about Brett. It hurt too much to dredge up the past.
    “I saw her medical records, Taylor. She was lucky to live through the accident.
    She was in a private hospital for almost four months. The surgeries she went through must have been excruciating.” Jeb watched Taylor carefully. He knew how much she had grieved when the one serious relationship that Taylor opened her heart to had blown up in her face. She had mourned for over a year, never quite healing from the breakup.
    “That all happened over two years ago. Why is her mother looking for a live-in physical therapist now?”
    “The last one quit, and she wants her daughter to be more self-sufficient.” Taylor gazed up into Jeb’s face and waited. She knew that there was more. “Mrs.
    Camden has been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer and has only months to live.”
    “Oh, my God! That will destroy Brett. She loves her mother more than anything.” Taylor’s mind flooded with memories of Brett Andreson, a woman she hadn’t seen or spoken to in over six years. Brett may have been a party girl but her family, especially her mother, had always come first. Jeb sat back and waited, his eyes watching the play of emotions on Taylor’s beautiful face. She could hide nothing from him. He was one of the few people who knew that Brett had broken Taylor’s heart so many years earlier and left her questioning her ability to ever have a successful relationship.

 
    CHAPTER 2
    After college, Jeb and Taylor’s business had started slowly with a big dream and a small office in Los Angeles. As the two of them networked and connected with other physical therapists in the area, Taylor started to make headway with her unique and well–planned program for injured athletes. She called it the mind and body program , being a firm believer that without a positive mindset and healthy lifestyle, recovery would take longer and be less successful. The first four years they barely paid the rent on the two-bedroom apartment over their tiny clinic, but they loved every minute of the struggle.