Dahlia

That Wednesday morning was the first truly chilly morning we had all season. With November just around the corner, I was really starting to enjoy the cold wind and the crunch of frost-covered grass. It was nothing like the Iowa cold. I was pretty sure they had already had their first snow, but this climate was starting to grow on me. I paced back and forth on the field. Now that I had started to get the hang of the game, I was cutting my practice time to just a couple of mornings a week, and really only when I had enough time.

I stood with my arms crossed as Russ called another meeting. The players all circled around him in the middle of the practice field. I wondered what he was talking about… I let my mind wander to Chet. Over the last couple of weeks, we had gotten even closer and closer. It was at the point where I was really starting to see him as a permanent fixture in my life. We hadn’t really thrown around the boyfriend-girlfriend word yet, but I could see it coming. I smiled as I thought about the possibilities. I was really starting to feel truly settled in this place. Who would have thought that in all of my life I would have laid my first real roots in Dallas Texas?

The sound of the players yelling chants at each other took me out of my thoughts. I watched as they resumed their practice. Then just after the quarterback had yelled his calls, the sound of a player yelling out in pain caught my attention. I jogged out onto the field at the same time as Russ.

It was Collin, the team’s star running back. I sucked in a sharp breath. This was gonna suck. I could already see the fight coming with Russ because there he stood with his hands on his hips, his jaw set and the most sinister look in his eye.

I knelt down next to Collin. He was wincing in pain. “All right Collin. Where is it?”

“My knee...ugh.”

“Do you think you can stand?”

He ducked his head in exasperation. “No, the fuck I can’t!”

I grimaced, taking another deep breath. “Okay, well I’m gonna touch it now. Is that okay?”

At that, I grasped his leg and tried to move it, but he cried out in pain.

“Did you hear a sound? Like a pop.”

He nodded, his eyes wide in pain and… fear. I glanced over my shoulder at Russ, who was gazing down at the both of us, a look of complete disapproval on his face. I stood up. “Look, I need to get him on a gurney and in my office stat.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Look fine, but he needs to be on this field working, tomorrow.”

I shook my head and waited silently for the gurney. When it came, I followed them all the way to my office. This was actually getting to be ridiculous. I hadn't been in sports medicine very long, but I knew that it was unusual to have this many instances back to back.

After determining that it was a torn ligament with a quick x-ray and wrapping his knee, I sent him off with crutches. When I followed him out of my door, I saw Russ standing on the other side of it. This wasn’t gonna be good. I used to get really nervous, dreading our interactions. Now I was just starting to get wary of our tom and jerry relationship.

“How is it looking?” He demanded.

I crossed my arms, leaning on the doorframe. It wasn’t even lunch time and I was already over this day. “He’s not practicing tomorrow.”

“Well, I assumed on account of the crutches.”

I nodded. “It’s a torn ligament, but lucky the bones in his knee are still aligned properly, so it should heal without surgery.”

“So what’s the downtime on that. A couple days? If it’s a week, it’s gonna be a little inconvenient, but I’ll allow it.”

I shot him a look. “You’ll allow it? I’m sorry to break it to you coach, but you don’t control nature.”

“And neither do you.”

“Look, my job is to protect the players.”

“Yeah, how noble. You’re auxiliary. But you’re not my concern. What’s the verdict on Collin?”

I sighed, crossing my arms. This was not gonna be popular. “I’m benching him for the rest of the season.”

He guffawed. “You gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“That’s my ruling.”

“No.”

Oh, Jesus. He was such a child. “What do you mean no, Russ. He’s exhausted. His body is rebelling against him. He’s already given himself lifelong damage. If you keep pushing him like this, he won’t be able to walk in his sixties.”

His eyes widened, this scary lunatic look in them. “What he does in his sixties is not my concern.”

“Well, it’s mine.”

“You don’t seem to understand your place. Your job is to patch him up and send him on his way. You’re supposed to make sure the players can keep playing.”

“Well,” I was getting tired of this interaction. There was nothing more that could be said. “I’m a doctor, just in case you didn’t realize. I took an oath. And you’re not my boss.” I shut the door in his face, feeling like I had accomplished something. I huffed out a breath, my heart still thudding from the interaction.

***

Unsurprisingly, Russ wasn’t one to take no for an answer, especially not from me. By the time I was getting ready to close up shop for the day, I had been “summoned” to Chet’s office for a “meeting”. I knew that this was going to be about Collin, so I came prepared. And besides, having Chet in the room assured me that there would be someone there with whom I saw eye-to-eye. I knew he would see things my way if I had a chance to explain it properly.

“Chet. This is a perfect example of what I was telling you about her earlier this week.”

I blinked, taken aback at this. Had Chet been talking about me with Russ behind my back? Why hadn’t he told me about this? All the sudden, I didn’t feel so confident anymore. “What is he talking about?” I demanded.

Chet stood up, bracing himself by putting his hands on his desk. His eyes were wide, his jaw set. It was like he wasn’t even in there. I knew at that moment that this was not going to go well. All at once, I felt like a fish out of water all over again. “W-well…”

“Oh don’t be a sissy.”

I cocked my head at this. Why was Chet letting Russ talk to me like that?

“Dahlia…”

“Dr. Waters,” I mumbled.

“Don’t mumble, honey.” Russ sneered.

“Chet, what is this about?”

“The board feels like the management of the team is to be blamed for this season. That includes health management. That includes you.”

Russ threw his hands up. “Exactly! She’s tryna bench Collin for the entire season!”

I glanced from Russ to Chet, who now looked at me with a confused gaze. “But he’s the star running back.”

“Isn’t that what I said?” Russ asked me.

“He has a torn ligament, Chet.”

“Do we usually bench players for an entire season for that?”

Russ shook his head. “No. And the playoffs are right around the corner.”

“He can’t play.” I pressed. “It’s not healthy. It’s not a good idea and it’s just setting the stage for a worse injury.”

“We’ve done it this way for years girlie. You’re not gonna come in and change everything around.”

“Well, what you’ve been doing hasn’t worked!”

“We were performing just fine before you came along and fucked up the whole season!” He roared.

I gasped, my eyes wide, frozen at what had just happened. I couldn’t believe that I was being reprimanded like a little girl in front of my almost boyfriend by my work colleague. I couldn’t believe that he was letting it happen.

“You can’t possibly blame me for whatever has been going on that field.”

But Russ just looked directly at Chet. “I will do whatever is in my power to get Colin back on that field.”

I ducked my head in disbelief at this, glaring at Chet. “Chet! This is wrong!”

But Chet just stood there with his hands pressed down on his desk like that, his gaze shifting from me back to Russ, nothing behind those eyes. “I’m sorry Dahlia.”

My heart sank. I had never felt more alone in this job than I did standing in Chet’s office then. “Are you kidding me?”

“We have to keep our best thinkers in play.”

I bit my lip, my eyes tearing up. My vision grew blurry; everything red hot with my anger. There was no point in trying to change anything. No one believed in my cause.

No one.