Chapter 4 - June
June
The next two weeks were a blur of activity.
First, the team flew to Tampa to play the Lightning.
I got to travel with everyone else, flying on the plane and staying at the same hotel.
That’s when it really sank in that I was a member of the team, and not just an outsider who showed up to diagnose injuries.
I had studied the team roster before the first game, but now I was slowly learning more about the players than their names and positions.
Cole was a calm leader, choosing to speak quietly to each of his teammates rather than making big speeches in the locker room.
Elias Nystrom, the goalie from Sweden, was even quieter than Cole had suggested.
I only heard him say one word in those first four games, and it was a firm “no” when one of the other guys asked if he wanted to get a drink after the game.
The Atlanta Reapers were a well-rounded team, with several star players who could take command of the game on any given night.
But Rhett Lawson was, by far, the flashiest player.
He glided around the ice with the skill of a figure skater and struck with the quickness of a rattlesnake.
He seemed to feed off the energy of the home crowd, raising his hands and gesturing for the fans to make more noise whenever he scored.
He also kept pestering me after every game, pretending like his shoulder was injured and that he needed a deep tissue massage. It was all in good fun, and I brushed him off every time with a biting comment that always made him grin wider.
Until the game against the Utah Mammoth during a road trip out west.
We lost in overtime after what Coach Jay said was a “bullshit slashing penalty.” The team filed into the visitor’s locker room, tired and unhappy.
I was watching from the doorway of the trainer’s room.
Elias, the goalie, was touching his ribs again.
It didn’t seem to be affecting his performance, yet.
But part of my job was helping the players avoid injuries that would force them to miss time.
He was intimidating, though. Six-foot-six, broad-shouldered, and with a thick blond beard, he really did look like a viking had come to life and put on a bunch of hockey equipment. Not to mention Cole’s warning that I should leave him alone.
But the way he sat on the bench and very carefully removed his shirt, as if his left side was paining him…
“June?” Rhett suddenly asked me.
I tore my eyes away from Elias. “Let me guess. You need a massage with baby oil and scented candles.”
But Rhett wasn’t smiling. He was holding his shoulder and staring at my feet like a boy who had gotten caught doing something wrong.
“Shit,” I said. “You’re not faking it, are you?”
His sapphire eyes met my gaze for a split second, then he looked down again and shook his head. He had already stripped down to his compression shirt.
I sighed. “Come on, let’s take a look. The facilities here aren’t great, but I’ll see what I can do.”
“It happened in the third period,” he offered without me needing to ask. “I was, uh, fighting for the puck behind the net…”
“…when you got into a fight with the Mammoth’s defenseman,” I finished for him. “I saw. Didn’t I tell you not to get into any more fights?”
His lips curled in a small grin. “That’s like telling a chili pepper not to bite.”
The moment I took his arm and moved it, he hissed in pain. That was a bad sign. “Where are you from?” I asked to distract him. “I can’t quite place your accent.”
“Savannah,” he replied.
“Ahh,” I said. “I’m from Charleston.”
“Right up the beach.”
I moved his arm in a circle. “We used to say Savannah is like Charleston, but without all the culture.”
“That hurts,” he said.
“Your shoulder?”
“The Savannah insult,” he replied. “But also my shoulder. Everything you’re doing hurts a little, but it’s really sharp when you extend it like that.”
“I’ve never been to Savannah,” I admitted while I worked. “I’m just passing on what I’ve heard.”
“It’s a great little beach town,” he said. “Humid as hell as soon as you go inland, though.”
“How’d you get into hockey?”
“I wasn’t good enough to play football,” he replied with a laugh.
“I tried little league baseball for a few years, but wasn’t much good at that, either.
Then a Canadian transplant moved to town and opened a youth league right up the road.
Mom was afraid I would get into trouble after school if I didn’t play a sport, so she made me sign up.
I’d been roller blading my whole life, so I took to the ice real quick.
Traded my baseball bat for a hockey stick and never looked back. ”
“I was expecting a story about your dad forcing you to play or something.”
“If only,” he muttered. “Dad disappeared before I was old enough to wear deodorant. Hence my mom tryin’ to find ways to keep me out of trouble.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Not lookin’ for sympathy, just answering your question.” He flashed a smile, as if that made it all okay.
But now my heart was aching for him. It made me appreciate how loving my parents were, even if it felt smothering sometimes.
“What do you think?” he asked, glancing at his arm.
I lowered it to his side. “Rotator cuff. I don’t think it’s torn—probably just strained. You should only be out a couple of weeks.”
Rhett flinched like a bomb had just gone off in the next room. “You’re joking.”
“Afraid not. I’d still like to get you scheduled for some scans, just to be safe. But you’re lucky it’s just a couple weeks. I’ll write up a rehab program for you.”
“No, no, no,” Rhett began pleading. “I can’t miss a single game, let alone weeks. There’s got to be something else you can do.”
I grimaced. “Sorry, but it’s not up to me. Your shoulder’s injured. You probably shouldn’t have gotten into that fight.”
Even though it felt good to say I told you so, I immediately regretted the barb. Rhett looked like he was about to cry.
“I’ll get the scans scheduled,” I said more gently, touching his shoulder.
He jumped off the examination table and left without another word.
I watched as he went into the next room, violently kicked a locker, then sat on one of the benches and held his head in his hands.
One of the other players walking by glanced at the locker, then made a face to another teammate who had witnessed the entire thing.
Coach Jay came into my office and let out a long sigh. “Give me the bad news.”
For the first time since I started here, I disliked my job.