Page 59 of A Scoring Chance
“Good idea.” Remy pushes to his feet and strolls toward the door. “Just focus on getting back on the ice and let me take care of the rest.”
I take a few moments to regain my composure before I follow him out of the room, heading straight for Beau’s locker. Unfortunately, he’s nowhere to be found. Fuck. I really want to talk to him before the game. Even though he and Cole don’t speak often, they chat occasionally before games and text randomly here and there. I have to get to him before they meet because I doubt I’d be welcome.
“Coop, just the man I’ve been looking for.” Murphy comes into the locker room, a team of trainers following behind him. “Were you planning on ducking out of our meeting?”
“Were you planning on signing off for me to get on the ice tonight?”
“Cooper.”
“I know. You want to give my knee more time to heal.” I raise my hands in surrender.
This is usually when I’d let it go, but not today. There’s even more at stake now than ever before. I need to get back on the ice, and fast. I don’t want any more rumors floating around about me retiring, and I must fix this problem for Cole. I can’t accomplish either of those things sitting on the injured reserve list. “I’ve been working out three times a day and doing every exercise you’ve thrown at me. What else do you want me to do?”
Murphy turns to the team of trainers behind him. “Why don’t you guys give us a minute? You can start on getting everyone taped up and stretched out before warm-ups.”
They file out toward the training room, leaving Murphy and me alone. We stare at each other, neither of us wanting to make the first move, when he finally speaks. “March.”
“March? That’s the start of the playoff season, Murphy. Do I really need to wait that long?”
That’s six months away. Six. Months. I’ve seen guys come back from knee injuries much quicker than that before. Yes, they were younger and not all ACL tears, but I can’t possibly need to wait that long to get back on the ice.
“If you want me to sign off on you returning to play, yes. You can start practicing with the team once the season begins and move to full contact at practices, but no gameplay until the playoffs. It gives you more time to heal. Besides, don’t you have a kids hockey team to coach?”
I sigh, knowing this is the best deal I can get. And Murphy is right. I made a commitment to coach the team through the season, and I don’t back down from my commitments. Not to mention I have a new girlfriend I’d love to spend as much time with as possible. This gives me the opportunity to show her what it would be like to be with me for the long haul while also protecting her privacy as much as I can.
“Deal. But you need to have the team make a statement about my injury. I don’t care what they tell them, but I don’t want to hear any more of these rumors about retirement.”
Murphy holds his hand out to me, and we shake on it. “I can make that happen.”
“Aww, did you two kiss and make up?” Beau strolls into the locker room. He’s already dressed in black long-sleeve Under Armour and his pads. “Thank fuck because I’m sick of you being so grumpy, Coop.”
“I’m not grumpy, but we have come to an understanding.”
“And?” Beau asks, dropping onto the bench in front of his locker and grabbing his skates. He must be getting ready for warm-ups. I wonder if he’s already talked to Cole.
“Cooper will be back on the ice with the team this week, but he won’t be moved off the injured reserve list until the playoffs.” Murphy releases my hand and heads for the training room. Apparently, we’ve been dismissed.
“March. We have to wait until March to get you back on the ice?” I nod my head, not knowing a better way to put it. “I guess that means we better make it to the fucking playoffs.”
“It does.” Beau doesn’t say another word as he pulls on his skates and takes his time lacing them up. “Have you seen Cole around?”
“Way to be subtle there, bro.” Beau chuckles, sliding on his blade guards before standing to his feet.
“We don’t have time for subtlety. Have you seen him or not?”
I could explain everything that Remy told me to Beau, but he’d ask too many questions. What I need to do is find Cole and see if I can get him to at least listen to what I have to say. Maybe we can put our heads together and find a solution that will be beneficial for both of us.
“Not yet.” Beau slaps me on the back. “I planned on stopping by before heading out to the ice for warm-ups.”
Is it really that simple? Images of him walking up to their away team locker room door, knocking, and asking to see Cole just like when we were kids. “Stopping by? You just stop by and hang out in our biggest rival’s locker room before game day?”
“No, asshole. I stop by to say hello and good luck to our little brother. You should try it sometime.” Beau throws his hand up in the air before striding toward the locker room entrance.
I have two choices. I can sit here and twiddle my thumbs, hoping to run into Cole before his team leaves to head back toBoise, or I can follow Beau’s example and try to have a chat with our brother in the locker room.
“Okay,” I respond, storming past him and flinging the door open. He barely makes it through before it clicks shut.
“Okay? Okay, what?” Beau rushes to keep pace with me. It’s not as easy to move with skates, even with years of practice.
