Chapter 31

Waking up with Natalie the next morning was a totally different experience than it had been the last time. This time, I was the first one to wake up, courtesy of the sounds of birds chirping outside the open window and the bright sunlight filtering through the crack between the curtains. I found myself lying on my left side, in the same position Natalie had put me in halfway through the night. My back was to her, but I could hear her snoring softly on the other side of the bed. I wished I could roll over and watch her sleep, but I didn’t want to wake her up with the effort it would take me just to turn onto my back. So I lay there with my eyes closed and listened to her slow, deep breathing instead, letting the sound lull me back into a light sleep.

I must have dozed off for a while because when I woke the second time, Natalie’s arm was wrapped around me, her hand resting lightly on my bare chest. “Are you awake?” I heard her whisper, her warm breath tickling the back of my neck.

I nodded, glancing back over my shoulder to find her spooning me from behind, her body pressed against mine. “Morning,” I murmured, smiling at her.

“Morning.” She flashed me a sheepish smile back. “Hope you don’t mind me snuggling up close to you. I was cold and didn’t feel like getting up to close the window, and you felt so nice and toasty…”

I chuckled. “Not at all. Usually I’m the one who’s cold. Thanks for keeping me warm.”

“You’re welcome.” After a pause, she giggled and added, “I guess it’s a good thing you can’t feel my freezing cold feet rubbing against your legs right now.”

That made me laugh out loud. “Well, if they suddenly start spazzing, I’ll know why.”

“And if I get kicked, it’ll be my own fault. I accept full responsibility,” she replied, laughing along with me.

We lay like that for a few minutes before she helped me roll over onto my back. She curled up next to me, pulling the crisp, clean sheets around us again. It felt good to spend a lazy Sunday morning relaxing in bed rather than getting up right away, but eventually, we decided it was time to get ready for the day.

Natalie got out of bed first and wrapped herself in one of the fluffy, white robes she’d found hanging in the wardrobe before she walked across the room to close the window. “Looks like it’s gonna be a beautiful day,” she said, pulling back the curtain to peek outside. “What do you wanna do today?”

“Well, before I knew you were gonna be here, the guys and I were planning to go to Hampstead Heath. We thought it’d be good to get outside for some fresh air and sun after being cooped up in the studio all week,” I said. “The film crew was gonna meet us there this afternoon to get some shots of us enjoying our day off. You’d be welcome to come along if you want, but if you’d rather do something different with just the two of us…”

“No, I’d love to hang out with the rest of the group!” she replied eagerly. “Sounds like a great way for me to get to know the other guys.”

I nodded, relieved to hear her say that. I had been looking forward to spending the day enjoying nature, and I knew the other guys would give me a hard time if I ditched them to spend it with my girlfriend instead.

While Natalie put together my portable shower chair, I called Keith to find out the plan for the day. “We’re gonna go out for brunch before we head to Hampstead Heath,” he told me. “You and Natalie wanna meet us at the restaurant?”

“Yeah, as long as we can get ready in time, we’ll be there,” I replied, my confidence fading as I looked over at Natalie, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by parts, studying the assembly instructions with a frown. “I’ll, uh… I’ll keep you posted.”

After I hung up with Keith, I tried to talk Natalie through the process of putting the chair together, feeling impatient and frustrated by my inability to physically help her. Watching her struggle made me realize how much I took Dawn for granted – she had always made it look so easy. What normally took her less than ten minutes took Natalie almost half an hour to accomplish.

“It doesn’t look very sturdy,” Natalie said uncertainly, biting her bottom lip as she stood back to look at the fully-assembled shower chair. “Are you sure this is gonna work?”

I chuckled. “Babe, I’ve been using this chair every day for the past two weeks. It’s not as nice or as big as my shower chair back home, but it’ll be fine. Just make sure you’ve tightened all the screws before I transfer to it.”

Natalie nodded. “I probably seem so inept compared to Dawn,” she said with a sigh as she knelt down to double check each screw.

“Nah… just inexperienced,” I replied. “She’s been doing this for a lot longer. You’re still learning.”

“I know. Thanks for being patient with me.”

“No problem. It’s not like I have much of a choice,” I pointed out. “But I appreciate your willingness to learn.”

“Well, it’s not like I have much of a choice either,” she replied with a shrug. “The way I see it, my only options are to learn how to help you myself or deal with Dawn going everywhere with us.”

I frowned. “You’re not still jealous of Dawn, are you?”

She shook her head. “No, of course not; I didn’t mean it like that. Dawn’s great! I just don’t want her to always be the third wheel in our relationship, you know? I’d love for the two of us to be able to go on a weekend getaway without having to worry about bringing a caregiver along.”

“I would love that, too,” I said wistfully, but I knew I would never be able to spend more than one night alone with Natalie. I had gotten past the embarrassment of having a caregiver help with my bowel program, but I still refused to subject a romantic partner to that part of my routine.

Would I have felt differently if it were Kristin? I wondered briefly, then decided it didn’t matter. Kristin was dead. I would never know how we would have navigated life as an interabled couple – and, in a way, I was okay with that. It was oddly comforting to realize that my late wife’s last memories were of me as the man I had been, rather than the man I had become. To her, I would always be the tall, well-dressed husband who had taken her out dancing, not the withered, naked invalid who needed help just to move from his bed to his wheelchair.

“Sorry,” Natalie apologized after I finished transferring. “I feel like that took a lot longer than it should have.”

“It’s okay. We can make up for lost time by showering together,” I told her with a wink. Maybe I wasn’t the man Kristin had married anymore, but I was still a man. I wasn’t going to waste any more time wallowing in self-pity when there was a beautiful woman standing right in front of me, wearing nothing but a bathrobe.

Natalie laughed. “Sure, why not? I guess I would get wet helping you in the shower anyway.”

“Oh yeah… I’ll get you wet all right, girl.” I flashed her a suggestive grin, watching her face turn red as she realized what she’d said.

“Dirty boy!” She gave me a playful swat as she moved behind my chair and pushed me toward the bathroom.

***

Hampstead Heath was a huge park in the heart of London. Somehow, in our fifteen-plus years of traveling overseas, the Boys and I had never been there before.

“This is beautiful,” I said, looking around as I rolled across a wide bridge that went over a tranquil pond. “It doesn’t even feel like we’re in London anymore.” Through a gap in the trees to my right, I could see the back side of several brownstone houses in a nearby neighborhood, but when I looked to my left, I saw nothing but the natural beauty of the pond and the woods that surrounded it.

“I know,” Natalie replied, nodding as she walked next to me. “It’s so nice here… like an oasis. Aww, look!” She smiled and pointed at the water below, where a few ducks floated, occasionally dipping their heads beneath the surface in search of food. We stopped to watch them for a few seconds before we followed the rest of the group across the pond.

The documentary crew stayed behind Natalie and me so they could film us without getting in the way. “Just pretend we’re not here,” they had told her when we’d met up with them in the parking lot. I tried to follow the same advice myself.

Ahead of us, Nick had paused to snap a few pictures of the pond with the big camera he’d brought with him. “How you doing, bro?” he asked as he lowered his camera, letting it hang from the thick strap he wore around his neck.

“So far, so good,” I said, pushing my chair along the shady, tree-lined path that led away from the pond. “As long as the footpaths are paved like this, I’ll be fine.” Prior to our visit, I had looked at the park’s website, which promised it was largely wheelchair-accessible. I knew there would probably still be some areas that were inaccessible to me, but up to that point, I’d had no problems.

“Let me know if your arms get tired and you want a push,” Natalie offered, patting my shoulder affectionately.

“I will. Thanks,” I replied, flashing her an appreciative smile. She hadn’t tried to push my chair without asking since I’d told her how much it meant to me to be able to push myself.

I did fine on flat land, but when the path began to lead us uphill, I felt the strain in my arms. “So this is why AJ wanted to go somewhere else,” joked Howie, who must have felt it in his legs. “His knees couldn’t handle hiking up this hill.”

Keith chuckled. “I’m not sure mine can either,” he admitted as he walked in the middle of the group, where he could keep watch over everyone. He was the only bodyguard with us, since Q had accompanied AJ to Camden Market while the film crew followed the rest of us to Hampstead Heath. I didn’t like that AJ had ditched us to go shopping on his own again, but Howie had a point – aside from playing golf, AJ hated most outdoor activities.

“Hell, I’m an overweight, middle-aged woman. If my knees can handle hiking up this hill, so can the rest of y’all’s,” I heard Dawn say as, huffing and puffing, she hurried to catch up to Brian, who was well ahead of us.

“It’s not my knees I’m worried about,” I muttered to Natalie and Nick, who were walking nearest to me. “They’ll be just fine.” I leaned forward a little, throwing my shoulders into each push to compensate for my lack of tricep function as I tried to generate enough force to keep my wheels turning in the right direction. But I could feel myself slowing down, falling behind the others.

Nick and Natalie slowed their pace, staying close to my side as we continued up the hill. Glancing back over his shoulder, Keith stopped when he saw that I was struggling to keep up. “You okay, Kev?” he called down to me.

“Yeah!” I called back. “Just fightin’ gravity! I think gravity may be winning…”

No sooner had the words left my mouth than I suddenly felt my chair sliding backward, the wheels rotating the wrong way as the push rims slipped right through my weakened hands. Even with my gloves on, I couldn’t get a good enough grip to stop them.

Natalie gasped as I began to roll backward down the hill. “Kevin!” she shrieked, reaching for my arm rest. Her fingertips brushed the padded surface, but it slipped out from under them.

“Whoa!” Thankfully, Nick had noticed, too. He managed to dart behind my chair before it picked up too much momentum and grabbed the push handles, bringing it to an abrupt stop.

I felt my upper body slam against the backrest and then flop forward, landing face down in my lap as my seat belt caught me across the middle, causing me to fold in half. “Kevin!” I heard Natalie cry again as she hurried to help me, taking me by the shoulders and pulling me back into an upright position. “Are you all right?”

For a few seconds, I could hardly breathe; my heart felt like it was hammering inside my throat. But, finally, I caught my breath and swallowed hard, my heartbeat slowly returning to normal. “Yeah… I’m fine. Thanks.” I flashed her a sheepish smile, then glanced up over my shoulder at Nick. Now that I’d recovered from the shock of almost rolling down the hill like a runaway train, I felt embarrassed. It had been a long time since I’d lost control of my chair like that – not counting my fall the week before. “I guess I’m gonna need some help getting to the top after all.”

“I got you, bro,” he said with an easygoing grin. “You ‘bout gave me a heart attack, though.”

“What happened? Is he okay?” I turned my head to see Howie, Brian, Keith, and Dawn hurrying down the hill toward us, their faces full of concern.

“He’s okay,” Nick replied quickly, squeezing my shoulder. “He almost reenacted that scene from Mac and Me, though. You remember that eighties movie about the kid and the alien? It was like a bad E.T. rip-off?”

Their blank expressions told me none of them had the slightest idea what he was referring to. Neither did I. Only Natalie’s eyes lit up with recognition. “Oh my Lord, I remember that movie! I watched it with my sister once when we were little.”

“Thank you!” Nick said loudly. “See, Natalie knows what I’m talking about! I guess the rest of you are too old to get the reference. But haven’t you guys seen Paul Rudd play that clip of the kid in the wheelchair falling off a cliff on Conan? It’s like a recurring bit he does every time he goes on the show.”

“We’ve all got kids,” Howie said with a shrug. “We’re in bed by the time Conan comes on.”

“A kid in a wheelchair falling off a cliff?” Brian repeated, raising his eyebrows.

“Yeah, he goes rolling down a hill and flies off a cliff into a lake or something, and the alien saves him from drowning,” Nick explained. “It’s not supposed to be funny, but it’s freaking hilarious.”

“Sure, Nick… that sounds real funny,” Howie said sarcastically as he and Brian exchanged looks that clearly said, What the fuck?

Nick sighed. “Never mind. I guess you had to have seen it for yourself.”

“You sure you’re okay, Kev?” Keith asked, glancing down at me.

I nodded. “Yup. Let’s keep going.” As the others started walking again, I turned back to the film crew, who had caught the whole incident on camera. “Delete that part of the footage, please,” I told them, polite but firm. “I don’t want it in the documentary.”

Nick pushed me the rest of the way up the slope without pausing to complain about the toll it took on his body. His back and legs must have burned from hiking uphill while hunched over a heavy wheelchair, but he never said a word. He must have realized how lucky he was to be able to feel and move his legs at all.

Eventually, the path led us out of the woods and into an open field with tall grass that rippled like waves in the warm summer breeze. The terrain leveled out as we reached the top of the hill. Here and there, wooden park benches were scattered across the summit, giving people a place to sit and rest while they took in the truly spectacular view of the sprawling city below. An elderly couple sat side by side on the bench closest to me, while a young woman in a bikini top lay across another, soaking up the sunshine. Looking around, I saw a woman in workout clothes walking her dog, a group of tourists taking pictures, a couple of kids playing tag, and a sweet little family sitting on a blanket, enjoying a picnic lunch. I smiled at the sight of them, missing Mason.

Heads turned as we approached. As usual, I wasn’t sure if people were staring because I was in a wheelchair or because we were being followed by a film crew. Most likely the latter, I told myself. We weren’t exactly inconspicuous. Brian and I had both put on hats, and Howie was wearing sunglasses, but Nick – the most likely one to be recognized – hadn’t bothered with either.

“I can take it from here,” I told him. “Thanks, brother.”

“No problem,” Nick replied, patting my back as he let go of my push handles.

I planted my hands on my rims and rolled to the very edge of the pavement to find a perfect vantage point from which to view the London skyline. The film crew followed the other guys through the wild grass I knew my wheelchair would never be able to navigate, but Natalie remained by my side.

“Beautiful,” she said, lifting her sunglasses as she looked out over London.

I nodded. “Go ahead if you wanna get a better view,” I said, waving my hand toward the rest of the group. “Don’t feel like you have to stay here with me the whole time.”

“I can see fine from here,” she insisted, lowering her sunglasses again.

“All right. Well, have a seat if you want to.” I patted my knee. “I’m sure your legs are tired.”

She perched on my lap, crossing her legs and putting one arm around my neck as she leaned back against my chest. I wrapped my arm around her waist, watching with envy as the others wandered around the grassy hilltop. “So we finally got to the top of the hill,” I heard Howie say as he walked by, filming on his digital camera, while Nick knelt down on the ridge in front of us to take pictures with his telephoto lens. I wished I still had the freedom to go wherever I wanted without having to rely on other people to get me there. A hard lump rose in my throat as I realized just how much I missed being able to explore the natural world on my own two feet.

Natalie reached up to stroke the side of my face. “Are you sure you’re all right?” she asked, frowning as she studied my expression.

I nodded. “I told you, I’m fine. Why does everybody keep asking me that?”

“You don’t have to snap at me,” she said, withdrawing her hand. “I just wanted to make sure. You don’t look very happy.”

“What’s not to be happy about? It’s a beautiful day, and I’m sitting on the top of a beautiful hill with a beautiful view and a beautiful woman in my lap.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to be happy.” She paused, turning her head to follow my gaze toward Brian, who had climbed onto one of the benches to get a better view. As he jumped over the back like a little kid trying to show off for the cameras, Natalie looked back at me. “Is it hard for you to see other people having fun, doing the physical things you can’t do anymore? You told me once you used to love hiking.”

I looked around to make sure none of the cameramen were lurking nearby before I answered. “Yeah, sometimes,” I admitted, both impressed and annoyed by her seemingly innate ability to read me. “But I try not to be too bitter about it. My body isn’t what it was, but I’m still blessed in a lot of ways.” Looking at her, I forced a smile onto my face. “Sorry for snapping at you.”

“It’s okay. Sorry for prying,” she replied. “But, you know, you’re allowed to have negative emotions, even on beautiful days. You don’t have to hide them around me. I don’t blame you for feeling bitter sometimes. I would probably feel the same way if it were me.”

Well, it’s not, I wanted to say, so don’t tell me how to feel. But I held my tongue, knowing Natalie was only trying to empathize with me. Her words were well-intentioned, even if they came across as slightly patronizing.

“Hey, Kev!” Nick suddenly came trotting toward me, his camera bouncing against his black t-shirt. “I found a cool spot where we can sit and chill for a while, away from all these other people. The crew’s gonna keep it clear so they can film us there.”

“I can’t get through this tall grass in my chair, Nick,” I said, shaking my head.

“It’s okay. I’ll carry you,” he offered.

I chuckled. “Thanks for the offer, but I’d rather not have all these people see you haul me around like a sack of potatoes.”

“I’ll carry you on my back,” he amended.

“Like a piggyback ride?” I laughed harder at the thought of that. “Yeah, and throw your back out.”

“I’m only thirty-two, dawg; I’m not gonna throw my back out,” Nick insisted. “Besides, I’ve been lifting weights with Lauren lately. I can bench press two hundred pounds. You weigh less than that, right?”

“Yeah, but it’s mostly dead weight,” I reminded him. “I won’t be able to help you much.”

He shrugged. “It’s okay. You won’t have to.”

I wasn’t crazy about the idea, but Nick seemed so earnest that I finally agreed to go along with it. Keith and Dawn came over to help lift me onto Nick’s back as he squatted in front of my chair. “Tell me if I’m choking you,” I said as I wrapped my arms around his neck. I worried I wouldn’t be able to hang on tightly enough without a good grip.

“You’re fine,” he replied, holding my legs on either side of him as he slowly stood up.

Keith stayed right behind us, ready to catch me if I fell backwards as Nick carted me over the ridge. Dawn carried my wheelchair as she and Natalie tagged along.

“Y’all are too cute,” Natalie said when she caught up to Nick, smiling at the sight of me clinging to his back like a big baby koala. I could only imagine how ridiculous I looked – a forty-year-old man receiving a piggyback ride.

“This better not end up in the documentary either,” I muttered under my breath.

Nick left the path behind, picking his way through the tall grass to get to the hillside pasture where Howie and Brian were already sitting, taking in the view. “See?” he said. “It’s perfect, right?”

I couldn’t argue with that. “Yeah, this is great,” I agreed, gazing out over his shoulder at the tall buildings and cathedral spires of the London skyline.

“Let me make sure your chair is parked on level ground before we put you back into it,” Dawn said as she set my wheelchair down.

“Actually, I would love to sit in the grass for a while,” I said, glancing at the other guys again.

“You got it, dude.” Nick bent down, letting Dawn and Keith help him lower me gently to the ground. As Dawn stretched my legs out in front of me, I put both arms behind me, planting my hands firmly into the ground for extra stability. Even then, it was hard for me to stay balanced.

Natalie must have noticed how wobbly I was without my wheelchair. “Here, babe… you can lean on me,” she said, sitting down behind me. She spread her legs apart, one on either side of me, and wrapped her arms around my waist, acting as my side guards, seat belt, and back rest as she held me.

“Hey, you even come with a built-in headrest,” I joked as I reclined against her chest, which provided plenty of cushion. I’m not sure how comfortable of a position it was for her, but I was perfectly content.

Natalie let out a belly laugh, sending little vibrations through my body. “Oh, I’m sure you just love that, now don’t you?”

“Yup,” I said, smiling.

“Here, Nick, would you like to lay your head against my bosom?” Brian asked, batting his eyelashes at Nick as he patted his chest. Everyone laughed, even Natalie and me.

“Thanks, bro, but I’m good,” Nick replied, plopping down next to Howie instead.

“Suit yourself.” Brian flopped backward, lying flat on his back in the grass. He let out a low sigh as he stretched his arms over his head and closed his eyes, tilting his face toward the sun.

“He looks just like Colby when he rolls over for belly rubs,” Natalie whispered in my ear, making me laugh.

“If you wanna rub my belly, Natalie, go right ahead. I wouldn’t mind,” Brian muttered without opening his eyes.

“You want me to smack him for you?” I asked her. Before she could reply, I reached over and gave Brian a playful punch in the gut.

“Oof!” He held his stomach, pretending to be hurt. “Damn, Kev. You hit hard for a quad.”

“Sorry, cuz.” I shrugged. “Guess I don’t know my own strength.”

“Guess you shouldn’t ask another guy’s girlfriend to rub your belly,” Howie added in an undertone, giving Brian the side eye as Nick snickered.

Keith and Dawn sat down a few feet away, allowing the film crew to focus on the four of us. “I know how captivating I can be,” I heard her tell him jokingly, “but I wouldn’t wanna steal the show. After all, this is the Backstreet Boys’ movie. You and I are just bit players.”

Hearing Keith laugh, I smiled to myself. I was pretty sure he and Dawn had bonded just as much as the Boys and I had in London, if not more so. Of course, they had known each other for as long as Dawn had been living with me, but they had never spent this much time together before. It was nice to see them getting along so well.

For a few minutes, we just sat there, enjoying the fresh air, the warm sunshine, and the scenic view. But it didn’t take long for Nick to get bored and start messing around. I flinched as I felt something tickle the side of my face. At first, I thought it was a bug, but then I looked over to see him twirling a long piece of grass he’d picked between his fingers. Grinning, Nick turned to Howie and poked him with it next, making him twitch and yank his head away.

“Crazy kid,” Howie muttered, smiling nonetheless. When Nick wasn’t paying attention, he snatched the piece of grass out of his hand.

“Ha… Stealth D!” Grinning, I reached across Nick to give Howie a fist bump.

Nick rolled his eyes. “I can literally just pick another one.”

Ignoring him, Howie held up the long grass leaf and looked at it thoughtfully. “Did any of you ever learn to whistle with one of these when you were kids?” he asked. “I never could figure out how to do that.”

“Sure,” I said, surprised. “I can show you.” I reached down to pick a better blade of grass before realizing it was too narrow for me to grasp. Even when I used tenodesis, extending my wrist to force my fingers to close, I couldn’t get a tight enough grip to pull a piece out of the ground. It just kept slipping out of my hand.

“Need some help?” Nick asked.

With a sigh of frustration, I finally admitted defeat. “Yeah. Get me a piece that’s shorter and a little bit wider. The one you had was too long and thin.”

“Like this?” After foraging for a few seconds, Nick found just what I was looking for.

I nodded. “Perfect.” Using my teeth, I tugged off my wheelchair gloves and tossed them aside. “You may need to straighten my fingers for me. I dunno if I can do it with my hands cupped like this,” I said, holding them up in front of me. Nick uncurled my fingers so I could press the palms of my hands together with my thumbs facing me. “Now, put the piece of grass longways between my thumbs.” He leaned over and carefully fit the grass into the gap between my thumbs. “You have to pull it nice and tight, or it won’t work,” I told him, pressing the bottom of my thumbs together to keep the piece of grass in place as Nick pulled it taut from the top.

It took us a couple of tries to get it right. When it looked good, I raised my hands to my mouth, pressed my lips against the gap, and blew as hard as I could. But nothing happened. The only sound I heard was a soft hiss of my breath.

Uncomfortably aware of everyone watching me, I asked Nick to pull the blade of grass tighter before I tried again. After a few more unsuccessful attempts, I finally realized what was wrong. “I can’t do it. I don’t have enough breath support,” I said, shaking my head. “You need abs to blow like that.”

“That’s what she said.” Nick smirked and held out his hand. “Here, lemme try.”

“No, wait.” I wasn’t sure why, but I felt determined to figure out a way to do this. “Lemme try it one more time. But, this time, I’m gonna have Natalie help.” I glanced back at her. “Babe, I want you to put your hands over my diaphragm and push while I blow – kinda like you’re giving me the Heimlich. You know how to do the Heimlich maneuver, right?”

“Of course, but… that’s for people who are choking.” I couldn’t see the expression on Natalie’s face, but I could hear the uncertainty in her voice. “I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“You’re not gonna hurt him, honey,” Dawn spoke up. “It’ll help him exhale with enough force to whistle.” When I gave her a grateful look, she caught my eye and added, “You haven’t shown her how to do a quad cough yet, huh?”

I shook my head. “It hasn’t come up. But Nick knows how,” I said, turning my attention back to him. “Can you show her what to do?”

Nick shrugged. “Sure.” Placing his hands over Natalie’s, he helped guide them into the proper position, halfway between my belly button and the bottom of my breastbone. “Okay, on the count of three, you’re gonna push up and in, and Kev’s gonna blow out. Got it?”

“How hard do I push?” she asked nervously.

“It doesn’t need to be as hard as the Heimlich,” Dawn advised her. “You’re not trying to clear his airway here; you’re just trying to create enough abdominal pressure for him to exhale more forcefully.”

Natalie let out a shaky breath of her own, her chest rising and falling beneath me. “Okay. Let’s give it a shot,” she said.

“You ready, Kev?” Nick asked after making sure the blade of grass was tight between my thumbs.

I nodded, taking a deep breath and holding it as I positioned my hands in front of my mouth again.

Nick counted: “One… two… three!” On three, Natalie thrust her hands toward my diaphragm, throwing me back against her body as I blew out, forcing air through the thin gap between my thumbs. This time, I heard a high-pitched sound, like the screech of a red-tailed hawk.

“Hey, that’s it!” Brian cried, suddenly popping up out of the grass as the others clapped and cheered. “Way to go, cuz!”

“Thanks.” I smiled with satisfaction as I lowered my hands, letting the blade of grass fall. It was such a small, stupid trick, but it gave me a sense of accomplishment to be able to do it again – with some assistance, of course. “Couldn’t have done it without Nick and Nat’s help, though.”

“Teamwork makes the dream work,” Nick replied, giving Natalie a high five. “Now can I try?”

“Go for it.”

We watched Nick and Howie attempt to make their own grass whistles as the cameras rolled. “This is gonna be one riveting documentary,” Brian joked, earning a round of laughter.

“So this is what you country boys did for fun growing up in the backwoods, huh?” Nick said, fumbling with a fresh blade of grass.

“I dunno about Brian, but we sure did – didn’t we, Keith?” I called over to him.

Keith grinned and nodded. “You know it.”

Natalie giggled. “We country girls did, too,” she admitted as Dawn nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, I remember making grass whistles as a kid,” Brian said. “But, you know, Lexington’s the second largest city in Kentucky – not exactly ‘the backwoods.’”

Nick shrugged. “Sorry, bro. That part of the country all kinda blends together for me. But that camp where Kevin grew up – where your wedding was,” he added, glancing at me. “That was definitely the backwoods.”

“I don’t deny it,” I replied, chuckling. Recalling my most recent trip to Cathedral Domain, I was struck by a sudden idea. “Hey, speaking of the documentary… You know what we should do? When we get back to the States, we should take a road trip together to all of our hometowns and show each other where we grew up. We could film it for the documentary; I’m sure the fans would like to see that, too.”

“That’s a great idea, Kevin!” Howie said enthusiastically.

Nick and Brian both agreed. “We can talk to AJ about it tonight, and if he’s on board, we’ll tell Mia at our next meeting,” Brian suggested.

“Sounds like a plan,” I said.

After lounging on the hillside for half an hour or so, we were ready to move on. “Careful, Kev!” Brian called out to me as we made our way back down the hill. “We don’t want you to pull another… what the heck was that movie, Nick?”

“Mac and Me!” Nick shouted back over his shoulder.

“Yeah, no more runaway Train this time,” Howie added, laughing at his own little pun.

“Don’t worry, y’all.” I glanced back at Natalie, who kept a firm grip on my push handles while she walked behind me, making sure my wheelchair didn’t pick up too much speed as the path sloped downwards. “I’m in good hands.”

Ahead of us, Nick nodded. “We know.”

***