“Both of you, finish your stretches. Actual stretches, not whatever you were doing by the window.”
“We were stretching our necks,” Rodriguez protests. “Very important for hockey.”
“Stretching your necks to watch a figure skater walk by.”
“Multitasking.”
They finish their cooldowns and I watch them, cataloging without meaning to. Rodriguez’s movement is clean—no favoring, no compensating. Good. Almardon’s still got some tightness in his hip but it’s improving.
When they’re done, Rodriguez hesitates.
“Hey Doc? Your mom. How’s she doing?”
Nobody at work has asked directly. They’ve been careful, giving me space, not pushing. But Rodriguez just asks.
“She’s okay. For now.”
“That sucks,” Almardon says. Simple. Direct. “My grandma died last year. It was really bad.”
“Yeah.”
They’re both staring at the floor, awkward as hell, trying to figure out what to say or how to help. There’s no good answer and they know it.
“If you need anything—” Rodriguez stops. “I don’t know what you’d need. But we’d help.”
“I know. Thanks.”
“Also Cap’s been less murdery lately,” Rodriguez adds. “Like, still murdery. But targeted murdery. We figured you probably needed that.”
“He threatened to make me run suicides yesterday for using my water bottle wrong,” Almardon points out.
“Yeah, but you do drink water super annoyingly. He’s been goodto the rest of us.” Rodriguez looks at me. “We just mean he’s trying. To make things easier. We all are.”
My throat is tight but I manage, “You’re doing fine.”
They leave and I sit in the quiet gym trying to process the past three days.
Mom in hospice. Roman visiting her without me asking. These two idiots offering help in their completely inadequate but genuine way.
Everyone just kept going while I was gone. Adjusted. Made space for me to fall apart.
The thought should be comforting. Instead it just makes me aware of how much I’ve been holding at arm’s length. Work. The team. Roman.
All of it kept at a careful distance because getting close means it can hurt.
Mom’s voice in my head:You’ve been scared since your father died.
She’s not wrong.
My phone buzzes.
Roman
You good?
Yeah. Found the idiots. You were right.
Roman
