This is the third installment of Melissa's Journey. It stands alone, but the first two stories may add context.
Melissa, known to her friends as Mel, was about to turn 45, but she looked younger. Several years earlier, she had embarked on a journey to explore and examine her sexual desires, fantasies, and interests. It was about two years since her first extra-curricular encounter with a friend of her son who was now in college. And while Mel still fantasized and role played as intensely than ever, it had been almost a year and a half since she took the big step of having intercourse with a man other than her husband. But that was her last dalliance as Mel's journey genuinely was about understanding herself sexually and not necessarily about having sex with different people.
Mel's youngest son, Brandon, was in his last semester of high school and his senior baseball season had just begun. In the second game of the season, Brandon's best friend and the team's best player, Zach, injured his knee in a collision with a teammate. It was a terrible thing to see, and Mel did what she could to comfort Zach's mother and Mel's long-time friend, Susie, who was sitting with Mel in the bleachers. Zach had already been offered a college scholarship, but now he was going to miss his senior year. In the moment, Mel had no idea this terrible development would become a significant chapter in her ever-evolving journey.
Zach was a good student, a star athlete, and a wonderful son. Both he and his older brother Aaron were devoted to their mother Susie, who raised the two boys as a single mom after her late husband, and the boys' father, passed away suddenly about seven years earlier. Zach and his brother were the same ages as Mel's two sons, and they were all close friends who played sports together. Zach had grown into a handsome, well-mannered young man, even if he was a little shy. Susie (and Mel for that matter) never understood why Zach had never had a real girlfriend, but Brandon just said Zach was a little shy and "almost too nice." Mel figured Zach was just a late bloomer socially, which made sense given that he lost his father when he was barely eleven years old.
On a Monday morning a few days after the injury, Zach had surgery and came home wearing a knee brace with a hinge at the knee that ran from mid-thigh to mid-calf. He assured everyone he was fine, but it was easy to see both his disappointment and his discomfort. Zach was not keen on drugs, and he told his mother he didn't want to take any pain medication other than what he absolutely needed to sleep at night. The school arranged for Zach to attend classes remotely that week, although he was such a good student he could afford to miss some classes. Susie took off work for the surgery, but Mel knew Susie was in the middle of a big project and was worried about letting her colleagues down. Mel, who had the flexibility of mostly working from home, insisted she wanted to help however she could, and Susie eventually asked if Mel could prepare a lunch for Zach and check on him once or twice in the afternoon before Susie got home from work.
"Of course, Suze, I wouldn't have it any other way," Mel assured her. "I'll even text you updates." When Susie's eyes filled with tears, Mel hugged her tightly and assured her Zach would be as good as new in no time.
On Tuesday morning, Susie texted that she had given Zach breakfast and made him some lunch that would be in the fridge. She texted that he seemed to be doing ok, but he was getting some awful cramps in his thigh. "I think it hurts a lot, but he never complains," Susie texted. Then another text: "TY soooo much Mel. Take good care of my baby."
"I will. I love you both," Mel texted back. Then she added, "Go do great things."
Just before noon, Mel walked down the street three houses to Susie's house. She knocked on the door but let herself in with the key Susie had given her, so Zach didn't have to come to the door. She found Zach in the living room laying on a sofa with his back and head propped up and his injured left leg on the outside of the couch. He was wearing an athletic department t-shirt and cutoff short sweatpants, and of course he had a phone and tablet. The TV was on in the background, but Zach wasn't watching it closely.
"Hi Mrs. C.," Zach greeted her. "You really didn't have to bother yourself."
Mel faked a frown and said, "If it was a bother, I wouldn't have come, Zach. I'd do anything for your mom... and for you."
Zach blushed. "Thanks. You're the best," he said.
Mel could see swelling from Zach's toes to his knee, but of course he said things were not too bad. "Your mom was worried about the bad cramps in your leg. How is that going?" Mel asked.
Zach seemed surprised that Susie had said something to Mel, and he shrugged. "Not too bad," he said unconvincingly. When Mel raised her eyebrows, he confessed, "Well, a few today. They aren't fun," he admitted.
"I'm so sorry honey," Mel said with a warm smile, using the term of endearment casually. "How about some lunch for my growing boy?" she asked playfully, and she headed toward the kitchen before he answered. In the fridge, Mel found Susie's homemade chicken salad, which was Zach's favorite. She toasted bread, added lettuce and tomato, and put the sandwich on a plate with potato chips and a fresh pickle before heading back to the living room with Zach's lunch. He politely thanked her, and Mel noticed his diet ginger ale was empty.
"Would you like a refill?" Mel asked. Zach already had a mouthful of sandwich, so he nodded affirmatively. "Straight or on the rocks," she teased, genuinely impressed that an eighteen-year-old boy was drinking diet ginger ale. He managed to say the bottle was fine. Seeing how Zach was devouring the sandwich, Mel said "I'm guessing you might want seconds."
"If that's okay," Zach answered.
"Whatever your little heart desires, young man," Mel said as she gathered up an empty and retrieved a new soda for Zach before heading back to the kitchen to make another sandwich. When she walked back to the living room, Zach was having one of the cramps Susie had mentioned. Mel could see the pain on his face as he struggled to fight through the muscle cramp in his thigh. Inside the leg brace, Mel literally could see the muscles cramping. Her strong maternal instincts kicked in, and she set down the food, knelt down by the couch, and used her knuckles and the palm of her hand to try to massage the clenched quadricep muscle. She felt the cramp subside a little, but the leg brace kept her from reaching all of the cramped muscle. Without thinking, Mel undid the top Velcro strap and reached her hands inside the brace under the shorts leg to rub the rigid muscles on the inside of Zach's thigh. After a moment she felt the muscles relax, and she could see the relief on Zach's face. But Mel could see that the pain had been difficult to manage.
