48 One way to kill my mood
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
One way to kill my mood
RILEY
Will was avoiding me. That much was clear. Tripp had drip-fed an excuse about Will missing our weekly check-in earlier this week, and now at practice he wouldn’t even look in my direction.
I should’ve let that be the case. Life would be simpler if we went our separate ways. But I couldn’t. And honestly, I didn’t want to live that way again. If things ended, it wouldn’t be because we didn’t have the courage to talk to each other this time.
While I tended to a junior who’d jolted his shoulder, my focus kept drifting to Will. He was back in his head. I could see it in the way he skated. Ryan had completely shut him down today, which wasn’t usually the case. Judging by the way Levi kept skating over to Will and murmuring in his ear, he’d noticed too. My stomach sunk knowing I might be partly at fault for that.
I forced my focus back to the player in front of me when Richard stepped out of the tunnel. Dad hadn’t been lying. Along with inviting me to attend Saturday night’s game, Richard had asked me to join training this afternoon. He had a surprise for the team, one I expect they were about to hate me for.
“Coach Hall is wrapping up training in five minutes. Everything is set.”
The junior nervously glanced at Richard. “For what?”
I lightly tapped his shoulder. “Trust us. Your shoulder is going to love it.”
I followed Richard back into the recovery room, where five ice baths were set up. I felt cold simply looking at them .
To keep things interesting, we’d turned the recovery into a game. One that would hopefully bring out a competitive side in the guys and dim their frustration about the ice baths.
“What is your upcoming schedule looking like?” Richard questioned. “We have a double-header coming up in Colorado. It would be worth your while if you can make it work.” He quickly checked around, ensuring the room was empty. “I’ll be frank, I haven’t extended the offer to the other student physical therapists. There’s a reason I talked Coach Hall into allowing me to bring an extra student on this late in the season.”
Richard stood to his full height, which was at least six-foot. Not as tall as many of the athletes on his team, but enough that he fit in around here.
“As part of the program, I need to write a recommendation letter. Neither of the other two undergrads are the right fit.”
“Oh.”
I was unsure what to say to that. I didn’t want to bag the others – after all they were in my class, but I also didn’t want to shoot Richard down.
“They’re good students and they’ll make excellent PTs, but I don’t believe sports physical therapy is their calling. They’d be better suited elsewhere. Somewhere slower paced.”
Sports physical therapy certainly wasn’t the only specialty – the list was long. But sport was certainly the area that interested me most.
Last year I’d completed a twelve week intensive in a hospital ward, assisting patients with their post-surgery recovery. There’d been an array of cases, from those recovering from ACL surgery to those being treated for cancer and hip replacements. While it had been interesting, being permanently based in a hospital was a little unnerving, especially given the grave memories at mum’s bedside. I liked the freedom of being out and about more.
“You, on the other hand, you impressed me from the get-go with your assessments,” Richard went on. “I have a lot of contacts in the sporting world still. If that’s what you’re interested in.”
Interested was an understatement. I was so flattered a blush painted my cheeks pink. I worked well with Richard, better than I had with any other athletic trainer over the past few years. He trusted me with the players and didn’t constantly breathe down my neck. And he also took the time to educate me on things he was doing. If my pride hadn’t existed, I could’ve been working with him for much longer.
“I’ll check my classes then get back to you,” I answered.
That bought me time to talk to dad – and Will. Speaking of the latter, the team ambled into the recovery room dressed down to their base layers. Will pointedly moved straight to the far side of the room, away from me. Rather than dwell on that, I kept my focus on Richard as he addressed the guys .
“Riley recently reminded me of the importance of recovery,” he announced. “So we’ll be introducing ice baths at the end of each practice from now until the end of the season.”
There was a collective groan from the team, which wasn’t surprising at all. Nobody took an ice bath for the fun of it.
Richard gestured to the white board where each player was listed. They’d been divided into five teams.
“Each player will be timed, with your duration added to your team’s tally. At the end of the season the winning team gets to punish the other four teams. I haven’t decided how yet. I’m open to suggestions.”
That caused a few murmurs and snickers from the team. Tripp’s eyes glimmered mischievously. I’ll bet he had plenty of ideas.
“We’ve gone through the tactics of an ice bath before. You guys know the drill. Find your team and get timing.”
After a little while of chatter and team-versus-team-banter, the first group slipped into the ice baths collectively. Their teams huddled around them, trying to keep them grounded.
Beth and the social media team were all over it. They began capturing countless videos and pictures. I’d definitely be checking in to watch the footage after. This was going to make for good content.
Despite the countless number of shirtless guys in here, the only one who pulled my attention was Will. When he slipped off his training shirt, I had to fight the urge to rip off my own clothes too. Now I’d been reminded what it was like being with him, five days of abstinence was like a lifetime.
With determination etched on his face he lowered into the ice bath, his taut stomach muscles clenching. In the parallel bath, Levi started at the same time. They discreetly glanced at each other in their peripheral. The competition had well and truly begun.
“You’re a fucking sadist, Dover,” Ryan said, slipping into the ice with his teeth clenched.
“She’s a genius is what she is,” Beth excitedly said. “This shit is going to go viral.”
I paced towards Will. His gaze was downcast as he inhaled deeply before exhaling slowly.
“How long has he been in?” I asked one of his teammates.
“Four-and-a-half minutes.”
Impressive, I’ll admit. Ten minutes was the cut off time, but I doubt any of the guys were going to make it that long.
Richard caught my attention across the room. “Coach Hall wants to see you. ”
I gulped. That was one way to kill my mood. Not that it had been particularly great to begin with.
I tried sounding nonchalant when I asked, “Did he say why?”
“He didn’t. He’s in his office.”
“Right.”
When I looked up, I caught Will already watching me. Even though he was the one soaking in ice, his eyes searched mine as though I was the one who needed comfort. He had no idea how right he was.