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As soon as his new Ford F-150 truck entered the pick-up lane in front of me, I slung my backpack over my shoulder and started crutching toward the curb.
I flung open the backseat’s door and I threw my crutches in first while muttering my thanks. I hopped around a bit on my good foot before I was able to hoist myself up into his pretty high backseat.
TJ and Ellie were both straining their necks to get a better look at me over their center console.
“What?” I snapped. I wasn’t in the best of moods. I was actually pretty pissed about leaving Claire behind and knowing that our time together had run its course. She was at home recovering, she didn’t need me anymore, and I couldn’t delay ending things anymore…
“Yeesh, slow your roll, bud,” TJ warned, cutting a look to Ellie. “It’s just… in all the years I’ve known ya, I’ve never seen you without your pretty boy hair,” he said with an amused smile on his face. “Is your helmet even going to fit?”
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled. What could I say, this year was fucking me up pretty badly.
“It doesn’t look bad!” Ellie said tightly. I shot her a‘get-real’look. She was a terrible liar. She pushed her long auburn hair behind her ears. “It’s just different for you! It’s really giving young Channing Tatum.”
“Yeah right,” I said sarcastically. “Whatever. Tried some new things, turns out, I just got burned.”
TJ laughed as he eased his truck into drive. “Well, the ladies of Detroit will be very sad that the flow is gone.”
I shook my head. I no longer gave a shit about what “the ladies” thought. There would be no replacing Claire. If I couldn’t give my heart to her, I wouldn’t be giving it to anyone.
Ellie turned to look at me in the backseat, sensing that I was upset. “You wanna talk about it?” she asked with a sympathetic smile.
“Nope,” I replied flatly.
Her face fell a little, but she nodded and turned back around.
I leaned my head against their car window and fell asleep while they drove me to the team doc’s office.
———
After about a million different X-ray’s and tests, it looked like the team of docs were finally satisfied and set on getting me out of the cast and into a walking boot. Apparently my little “hero stunt” as they called it, only pushed my recovery back by maybe a week or two, but even they admitted that guesstimating something like that was hard to tell.
All I cared to hear about was the term “walking boot.” My ears perked up every time I heard them say it. I’d be happy if I never saw another pair of crutches for the rest of my life.
When they finally sawed off the cast, the sight of my foot was pretty depressing. From my knee down had practically shriveled up from not using it… It was the first time I felt like the road to recovery might take more work than I originally anticipated.
The team doc must’ve sensed my thoughts, because he patted me on the shoulder and said, “It always looks like that, son. You’ll make a full recovery in no time.”
I swallowed hard and decided not to think too much about anything that was out of my control. It’s not like I could start building back those muscles in my current state anyway. Besides, at least those muscles would get a bit of stimulation by limping around.
“You got about three more weeks in the walking boot, then we can reassess. Good?” Doc asked.
I clasped my hands together. “Perfect. So I can get on skates at the end of August.”
I think he caught a bit too much excitement in my voice, because he regarded me with a hesitant face. “Now, I wouldn’t plan on skating in the preseason games, I’d just work on getting prepared for the regular season.”
I flashed him a grin as I hopped off the exam table onto my good foot. “You got it, Doc.” I’d placate him for now, but if I could be ready by the preseason, I’d definitely be skating in at least a couple of those games.
“And Coach wants to see you.” He pushed his glasses up. “He’s running a camp at the practice facility. I told him I’d relay the message.”
That made my mouth go dry.
I knew he’d chew me out over taking a risk with my foot. Whatever. I’d do it again in a heartbeat if I had to.
Guess I just had to get the lecture over with.
_______
Our rink’s practice facility was a regular old rink in metro-Detroit that got tapped to be converted for our use in the offseason. During our regular season, we practiced more in our stadium, and this rink was mostly used by a AAA youth hockey organization.
