Chapter 14 - He Didn’t Stand for Camille Again
Months later, the legal process was still moving.
Camille faced consequences for secretly administering medication and interfering with Landon’s medical recovery. Travis’s cooperation reduced some uncertainty but did not erase his complicity once he knew something was wrong.
The engagement ended immediately.
No dramatic ring-throwing.
No final kiss.
No speech about lost love.
Landon simply stopped allowing Camille access to his home, health information, schedule, and decisions.
That boundary mattered more than theater.
His rehabilitation continued.
Some weeks improved.
Others did not.
That was emotionally difficult because now every bad day tempted him to ask:
Is something wrong again?
His physician helped him understand that uncertainty was part of neurological recovery too.
Not every weakness was sabotage.
Not every improvement meant a breakthrough.
His body was allowed to be inconsistent without anyone using that inconsistency against him.
One afternoon he managed nine steps with a walker and therapist support.
Nora was there.
She smiled.
Then she did something Camille almost never did during milestones.
She stepped farther away.
“You’ve got it.”
Landon laughed through the effort.
“That’s your encouragement?”
“My goal is unemployment.”
He took another step.
Then another.
His legs finally gave enough warning that he sat back into the wheelchair.
No shame.
No collapse.
The chair caught him because that was what mobility equipment was for.
Not failure.
Support.
Later Nora asked whether he planned to send anyone the video.
Landon thought about it.
“No.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want every step becoming evidence.”
Evidence of recovery.
Evidence of masculinity.
Evidence that Camille failed.
Evidence that the wheelchair was temporary.
He wanted movement without meaning attached to every inch.
Nora nodded.
“Good.”
That evening Landon wheeled himself through his apartment alone.
No Camille behind him.
No one steering.
No drink waiting beside his chair unless he poured it himself.
He passed the vase where Nora had placed one surviving rose from the restaurant bouquet.
The petals had dried dark red.
He almost threw it away.
Instead, he left it.
Not because the night deserved remembering.
May you like
Because the rose had been crushed and still looked like itself.
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