Chapter 29 ALI - YOUNGER YOU
“Relation to the patient?” a guy in scrubs asked me.
My mouth dropped open, but no words came out.
I didn’t know what to call myself. If I said girlfriend, they’d probably send me away, but what else could I say?
I craned my neck to spot JP over this guy’s shoulder.
He was walking down the hospital hallway while on the phone with his team doctor, wholly unaware that I’d been stopped.
“Um… I’m…” My eyes darted around the hallway, searching for the correct words.
“You can head to the waiting area,” the guy said, pointing to the hall behind us.
Feeling my chest practically cave in, I started to turn, but JP caught my wrist and pulled me back to his side. “She stays.”
The guy did a quick double-take. “The only people allowed back here are—”
“She’s my wife,” JP said, giving him an intimidating glare.
The guy’s eyes dropped to our joined hands, probably noticing there were no rings present. The guy hesitated for a second before shaking his head and stalking off in front of us to lead the way.
My eyes snapped to JP, but he was speaking into his phone again, his gaze trained straight ahead, a slight grimace on his face.
Wife. He called me his wife. I thought that phrase would make me panic, but it did the opposite. JP using it did the opposite. A warmth spread through my body, making me want to melt into him.
Over the next hour, I texted Mer and Piper with updates, but there wasn’t much to say. JP was taken back for x-rays to check for fractures, but after that, it’d been a waiting game.
“I swear, if someone doesn’t come back here in the next five minutes, I’m leaving,” JP threatened.
“No, you’re not,” I said calmly. “You have to wait for them to fix it for you.”
His jaw tightened with impatience. “Colt can fix it in two minutes.”
I snorted. “Colt’s under strict instructions to never touch your arm ever again.”
His eyebrows slammed down. “Says who?”
“Says me and Mer.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “You never should’ve let him do that.”
He hung his head for a beat, then smirked at me. “Younger you would’ve done the same thing. I needed to keep playing.”
I let out a wry chuckle. “Yeah, well, if you don’t remember, younger me didn’t always make the best decisions.” I paused. “Shouldn’t you tell your dad?”
His throat bobbed with a thick swallow. He looked caught in indecision for a beat, but finally shook his head. “No, I don’t want to worry him. I’ll call him when we leave.”
I was about to argue that his dad would want to know, but a knock finally sounded on the other side of the door, interrupting us.
Dr. Benson, the middle-age orthopedic surgeon with salt-and-pepper hair who handled most cases for the Windy City Whalers, strolled into the room. “Ready to get that shoulder back in?”
“You have no idea,” JP muttered.
Dr. Benson stood behind JP and maneuvered his left arm into place. “All right, this is going to hurt pretty badly, but then you should feel some relief. You ready?”
“Wait, some?” JP blinked at me.
“Ready?” he asked again, ignoring JP’s question.
I couldn't watch. I’d never had anything popped back into place like this. I’d had bones re-set, but that was done in surgery while I was unconscious.
A minute later, there was a loud pop and JP yelled out in pain. My heart squeezed for him.
The surgeon said he’d be back in a little to go over some more information and quickly exited the room. JP’s eyes were closed and he was breathing heavily, but his right arm finally looked like it was back in a more normal position. His left hand gently touched his right shoulder.
“Does it feel better?” I asked hesitantly.
He gave a slight nod with his eyes still closed. His nose flared with a deep breath before he cracked one eye open. “Come sit by me?”
I gently maneuvered my way onto the table next to him. His left hand fell limp on my thigh. He opened his hand, wordlessly asking me to hold it, and I immediately intertwined my fingers with his.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
I gave his hand a squeeze. “For what?”
“For staying here with me.” He peeked one eye open at me again. He looked a little unsure of himself, a little vulnerable. If I wasn’t afraid of hurting him, I'd throw myself at him for a hug. Instead, I settled on hugging his left arm.
I’m not sure how long we sat there in peaceful silence together, but one thought kept circling my brain: What if I wasn’t here?
JP would be in here dealing with this injury all by himself.
Mer or Piper would’ve surely come to help him, but eventually, they'd go back to their own homes and JP would be alone again.
Just the thought of him sitting here alone made me tear up.
“Hey, you good?” he asked, craning his neck to try to see my face.
I sniffled up my tears. “Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry. You’re the one who’s hurt, not me.”
“Nah, I’m okay.”
“It doesn’t hurt anymore?” I asked in a hopeful voice.
His eyes dropped to the floor. “It’s not that bad,” he lied, making me more teary. When he looked at me, a little amusement danced in his eyes. “You going soft on me, Al?”
“I’m sorry,” I said shakily, wiping my face with my jacket sleeve. Now that he was more or less okay, the tidal wave of emotions I’d been holding back since he went down on the ice came crashing forward.
“No, don’t be sorry,” he said quickly, rubbing my hand with his thumb. “I like it. C’mere.” He pulled me back into him and kissed my head.
I relaxed against him, vowing to myself that neither of us would be alone ever again. I knew with a quiet confidence that we’d always be there for each other and for our babies, no matter what.
____________
“Most people can get away with having one dislocation, but when it goes a second or third time…” Dr. Benson weighed his head to the side.
“That usually means it's going to keep coming out. On top of that, you’ve unfortunately sustained a significant amount of tissue damage. So, we’ve got a couple different options here.
We could be proactive and go straight to surgery, or we could do rehab for eight to twelve weeks and see if things improve, but you might still need the surgery, so you’d be out even longer. ”
“How long will I be out if I do the surgery?” JP asked.
“Really depends on how your body takes it, but I'd ballpark three to six months.”
His jaw dropped. “Months?”
Dr. Benson pointed to the imaging and explained what was going on, but I focused on JP’s face. His mind was moving, calculating, piecing it all together.
“What does rehab look like after the surgery?” he asked abruptly.
“It’s a slow recovery. Can’t hold more than a pound for—”
“Schedule the surgery,” he said immediately. He ran his tongue over his teeth. “As soon as possible.”
“Are you sure?” I whispered. My cheeks heated up from all the eyes in the room suddenly on me.
“I’m not going to change my mind.” He flinched as he shifted his body. “Schedule it,” he said again.
The surgeon’s eyes bounced between us. “We’ll give you folks some time to talk it over,” he said before ushering the medical team out of the room.
As soon as the door swung shut, I turned to face him. “Are you sure? This is a big decision. Your season basically just started, you could—”
“I don’t care about the season,” he said, confusing me. He sucked in his top lip, thinking. “April 22nd.”
My mouth formed an oh. My due date seemed so far away that I hadn’t even factored it in.
“And twins almost always come early.” His eyes swam with remorse, and he swore under his breath. “I’m sorry, Ali.”
I shook my head. “You have nothing to be sorry about. I’m sorry you’re hurting. But you don’t need to decide right now. We could go home and—”
“If I wait eight to twelve weeks and still need surgery, and then it takes me all that time to rehab, there’s a chance I won't even be able to hold our babies when they come.” His face looked pained.
“I’m not taking that chance. No fucking way.
I’ll do the surgery now and make sure I'm back in three months.”
“But you might be able to skip surgery if you just focus on rehabbing and—”
“I did rehab exercises all summer,” he cut me off, making my heart sink for him.
“It’s been hurting for months,” he finally admitted.
“I’ll do the surgery and make sure I’m in good shape by April.
I’ll make it work, Ali. I promise. If I wait until the offseason, I’ll be getting surgery while the babies are little.
I know myself. I’m not gonna do it. I’ll keep pushing it off and making it worse. ”
I sucked in a wary breath. “Okay, so we’re doing this.”
He used his left hand to tuck a strand of my hair back and his lips twitched into a small smile.
“What?” I asked.
“We.” His eyes met mine and he gave a small, sheepish grin. “Kinda nice.”
I grabbed his hand, intertwining my fingers with his. “Yupp, we’re in this foxhole together,” I said with confidence.
His body fully relaxed for the first time since we were alone in the locker room together. “Thank you,” he breathed out before pressing a kiss to my temple.