Page 43 of Wingmen

Another thumbs-up. Dustin narrowed his eyes at it. He pursed his lips and weighed the options, and eventually sent,Thinking about a run in the morning. You up for it?

The reply took a long time to come back, and when it did, it was sassy:are YOU abuelo?

Dustin nearly sent back a middle finger, but restrained himself. He was the grownup. And the kid had a point: he needed to watch the knee. He hadn’t been cleared for running.

Okay, walk, he sent.up for that…?

He expected a shitty response and more elder-abuse. Instead, he got three dots that disappeared and came back a few times, then,walk sounds good.

Dustin felt a smile come from somewhere deep inside his chest.Time?

you choose, said Elliot.

Seven?

Seven????? Like BE OUTSIDE at seven????Four barfing emojis and the screaming face.

Okay how about 7:30,Dustin replied.

How bout 8

Dustin smiled again.Deal.

Another thumbs-up. But this one didn’t annoy him.

The phone lit up as he set it back on the coffee table. Dr. Wu’s name on the screen.

“Dustin!” her voice was slightly harried when Dustin picked up. “I’m so sorry I missed our check-in this morning. Is now an okay time?”

Dustin checked his watch. He’d completely forgotten aboutit too. Had it been two weeks since they spoke? Time was going by fast this summer.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, “I missed it too. Sure, now’s good.”

They went through the usual routine: how’s physio? Fine. Mobility, swelling, any pain? Dustin hesitated before confessing, “I may have overdone it last week.”

“Okay.” Dr. Wu’s voice was careful. “Overdone it how?”

He didn’t tell her about basketball – that would have been grounds for a full-on kick in the balls. Instead, he made something up about going too hard on the agility ladder. When he’d finished, she said, “And how does it feel now?”

“Alright. Not perfect.” He flexed and stretched it. “A little stiff, but not too bad.”

He heard her rattling something into a keyboard on the other end. “Okay. Are you taking ibuprofen?”

“I have some here.”

“And resting it?”

“Today’s a scheduled rest day.”

More typing. “Okay. Well I’m not going to sound alarm bells yet. It sounds like you’re doing the right thing, but I’m texting Tom now to tell him to take you off the ladder. Justtake it easy.If I find out you’ve been pretending everything’s fine when it isn’t, there will be hell to pay.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t do that.”

In the silence that followed, Dustin heard Dad and Tom and Jordan and every coach he’d ever had telling him that was a lie.

Eventually, Dr. Wu said, “I believe that, Dustin. Don’t make me regret it: you’ll only be hurting yourself in the long run.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”