Waiting for You (RightMatch.com Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF

area of her life and she vowed to make more.
    “Why was that performance the most successful?”
    She explained about the fourettés , picturing strong legs that could do incredible feats. She rubbed her thigh beneath the table. “I executed them perfectly and got a standing ovation for over three minutes.”
    He smiled encouragingly.
    “I was the last to leave the wings.” Dana heard the hoarseness in her voice and cleared her throat. “Unbeknownst to me, the grips had started taking down the set because we were on tour when this happened, going to several cities a month. That night, a fan came backstage. She told me she was a big admirer of mine and had watched all the video releases of my ballets. She confessed they got her through her husband’s untimely death and she wanted to thank me.”
    Dana had felt like she’d been given credit for a very good deed, one she hadn’t even known she’d done.
    “I was about to walk out with her when a girder came crashing down from above. I had seconds of warning and lurched forward, knocking the woman aside, but the beam caught my legs. The pain was so intense, I passed out and I don’t remember anything else before I woke up in the hospital.”
    “You saved that woman’s life, Dana. Or her health, anyway.”
    “That’s what she thought. And my friends in the dance troupe agreed. But my actions weren’t so cut and dried. I really was trying to get out of the way myself. In any case, she was spared.”
    His brow furrowed. “I think she was at fault. If she hadn’t gone backstage nothing would have happened to you.”
    “Bad things happen, Joe, and sometimes nobody’s to blame. If the grips hadn’t thought I was gone, if I’d left sooner… Those are counterproductive thoughts.”
    “I guess.” He gave her a small smile. It seemed forced, but this was a lot to take in.
    And for her, it was a lot to tell. She’d talked about the accident in rehab, then later in private counseling, but not to anybody else other than Ruth. And in the last few years, she’d put the specific course of events out of her mind. But Dana had known if she started dating, she’d have to relive the whole incident. And as she’d suspected, remembering caused the deep and slicing pain buried in her to resurface. Her heart was heavy with it.
    “Dana, are you all right? You seem…far away.”
    “Sorry. Any other questions?”
    “What’s the exact nature of your injury?”
    “It’s called a crush injury, where the nerves are dead from the knees down. I’ll never walk again, Joe.”
    “Are you sure about that? It’s not a spinal-cord injury, is it?”
    If it had been, she’d have no control of her bladder and wouldn’t be sexually functional, but from his job, Joe would have had some medical training and probably knew that. “No, thank God. When I was in rehab, I met paraplegics. They were so much worse off than me.”
    A flicker of pain flashed in his eyes. “But, Dana, the accident happened twelve years ago. There might be new treatments, medication, some advancements in all that time.”
    “I get regular checkups to make sure my physical therapy and massages keep my muscles from atrophying.” Despite all that, her calves and feet were withered, something else that had been hard to accept. Even now she hated looking at them. “No miracles on the horizon.”
    He didn’t respond.
    Dana felt her throat get tight. His questions indicated he thought her situation could change. She wondered if their dating was dependent on that. “Let’s be clear, Joe. I’ll never be able to walk again.”
    “And I’m incredibly sad about that.”
    At least he didn’t argue for her to check out experimental cures. Her situation would remain as it was, and now, with her confession, the ball was in his court. She’d told him what had happened, her current physical condition, and the decision to date her was his. Though she was scared about pursing a relationship with him, she wanted to, even