Page 37 of Saving Forever with the Hockey Captain

She notices that much. Instead, every message I save on my screen begins with the name of a teammate.

I type slowly with one hand and stop frequently, deletes more than I send.

Finally, she looks up. "Working?"

I glance over the top of the phone. "Trying."

"I thought I banned that."

"You banned getting out of bed."

"I implied the rest."

I smile. "Lawyers would disagree."

She shakes her head. "Hockey players are exhausting."

"So I've been told."

She returns to the chart and tells me that the operative report is encouraging, and the postoperative notes look exactly as expected. Stable. Healing. Pain controlled.

Then she reaches the older records transferred overnight from the Blizzards' medical staff.

Sprained ankle.

Separated shoulder five years ago.

Broken finger.

Concussion protocol.

Pulled groin.

Broken nose.

Fractured wrist.

She keeps turning pages. There are more that are not catastrophic injuries.

Just...years of saying yes to pain. Jamie notices the silence.

"That bad?"

She looks up. "I was counting."

"Should I be worried?"

"You've accumulated quite a collection."

He smiles faintly. "Occupational hazard."

"I don't think most occupations include these many X-rays."

"No, they probably don't."

She closes the chart halfway. "Do you know what surprises me?"

He shakes his head. "Very few of these injuries kept you out very long."