Chapter 12
Cory
“There you go.” The physiotherapist straightens my leg out for the final time. “How does it feel now?”
“Not bad.” I turn and twist my leg around. Slowly at first, then I extend my range of movement. “Pretty good, actually. You’re the best, John.”
He winks at me. “You know it. Hey, you want to go get a beer tonight?”
“I can’t, man. Maybe another time. Thanks for the session. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
John and I hug when I get up, and then I head out.
It’s not normal to hug the team’s physiotherapist. I know that. But we were behind closed doors. And John and I had a thing a few months ago. Purely sexual. Neither one of us wanted anyone to find out about it. He’s not about to come out as being gay given that his job is with a hockey team. That wouldn’t do him any good at all.
I’ve got no problem keeping a secret like that for him. I don’t exactly advertise my sex life to my teammates either. The fact that I’m bi is my business and nobody else’s.
Doesn’t matter anyway. Not now. I’m into Sarah. Really into her. I mean, way more than I expected to be. Not that I didn’t think she was cool, of course. I asked her out after all. But everything from our first date onwards has gone really, really well. I thought we might go out for awhile and have some fun. But I don’t want it to end with her. I could see this thing going on for quite a while.
At least from my side. Not a lot of women are okay with getting involved with a pro hockey player. It’s a different lifestyle, that’s for sure. Lots of travelling during the season, and the season goes on for a good part of the year. If we make the playoffs, which I know we will, that’s even more time on the road.
Everyone thinks they can handle it, but I’ve seen way too many couples implode from all the time spent apart. Even when girlfriends come along, it’s not the greatest situation. It can be a real party lifestyle and it’s not really the greatest environment for keeping a committed relationship going.
I never thought I’d feel this way, but now I’m not sure that I’d want to be away from Sarah for that much time myself. I can’t believe that. I’ve heard guys say that before. I always laughed at them.
Never thought I’d turn into one of them. It’s really soon to be thinking this way, I know. But damn. Maybe this is how it goes. When you know, you just know. I think Sarah could absolutely be that woman for me. The One.
And no one is more surprised about that than I am.
I’m stopping at the gym before I leave. I’m not going to focus on working my legs too hard yet, but my arms can do with a workout.
The gym’s pretty busy when I get there. I’m not going to stay long. I could, since I have the rest of the day free. But my mind isn’t on working out. Not right now.
I sit down at my favorite machine, the chest press, and try to get into the mindlessness of the repetition.
I usually like working out. It’s relaxing for me in its own way. There’s nothing to think about. You just do it.
But today my thoughts are all over the place. And they keep going back to Sarah. I want to see her. She’s working at the clinic today, on the afternoon shift. She won’t get off until evening and she said she has to spend tonight studying. We’re supposed to get together on the weekend. But that’s two days away, and now I don’t want to wait that long.
I finish up my reps. All the other machines are occupied. I go for the free weights and lift until I’ve had enough.
By the time I’m done, I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to drop in and visit Sarah. If she’s free, we can at least grab some lunch together. If not, at least I’ll get to see her for a few minutes. That’ll have to be enough. At least it’ll get me through to the weekend.
After heading back to my place for a quick shower and change of clothing, I’m on my way to the clinic. When I’m close, I pull off and into a restaurant I like that does takeout orders. I order lunch for both of us. I know the clinic’s likely to be busy at this time of day and it’s optimistic to think she’ll be able to take a break, but what the hell. If she can’t stop to eat with me, at least I can give her something for when she has the time to eat.
I’m walking back to my car when I pass a flower cart. On impulse, I stop and pick up a big bouquet of pretty irises for her. They’re tall and thin and elegant. I know she’ll like them.
When I arrive, the waiting room is nearly filled with people. That’s not a good sign for Sarah being able to get away with me. Oh well. I’ll take what I can get.
“Can I help you?” The front desk receptionist asks me.
“Yes, I’d like to see Sarah.”
“Okay, I can let her know. But I don’t know how long she’ll be. What’s your name?”
“Cory. I’ll wait until whenever she has a spare moment. No problem.”
I’m about to take a seat as far away as I can from the guy hacking his lungs out when I hear my name. I turn around to see Ash.
“Hey, man. What are you doing here? Is your leg acting up?”
“Yeah, it’s healing up nicely. I’m doing physio and it’s all going great. I dropped by to catch up with a friend.”
Ash takes in the flowers and lunch in my hands. Right away he knows what I’m up to.
“A friend, huh?” He smirks at me and raises his eyebrows. “Don’t you go stealing any of my nurses away from me.”
“Like I’d ever do that.”
“Like you wouldn’t.”
“This is good timing, actually. I have the pages ready, of those exercises I was telling you about. Hang on, I’ll be back in a minute.”
A moment after Ash disappears, Sarah comes out from the back. “Cory. What brings you by here? How’s your leg doing?”
“It’s just fine. I came by to see you. I know you’re busy, but I just couldn’t wait until the weekend. These are for you.” I hand her the flowers. “And I brought lunch. If you can take a break, we can eat it together. If not, you can have it for later. Can you get away now?”
Sarah takes the flowers for me. But she doesn’t break out into her beautiful smile. Actually, she’s not even looking happy to see me. Not at all. In fact, she’s looking tense. Maybe this wasn’t a great idea.
“If you don’t have any time, I get it.” I’m disappointed. For sure. And I can’t keep it out of my voice.
“No, it’s not that. I can take a few minutes’ break after I get a couple things done first. Why don’t you wait for me at that park that’s just a couple blocks down the street? It’ll be nice to get outside for a bit.”
She’s actually encouraging me towards the front door. Almost like she wants to get rid of me. She seems distracted.
“Sure, I can meet you there. But I’m going to wait and talk to my friend first. Oh, there he is.”
Sarah turns her head to see who I’m talking about. And her face falls when she spots Ash.
“So what’s going on here, Ash?” I joke when he comes up to us. “Are you cracking the whip too hard on your nurses today? Surely Sarah here can have a quick break to eat lunch with me.”
Ash’s gaze shifts between me and Sarah and the flowers I gave her. She looks mortified. Why?
“So, Sarah’s who you came to see.” His face is impassive, revealing nothing. But something’s not right here. Before I can ask what’s up, Ash thrusts the collection of papers he’s holding into my hand.
“Here you go. These will help you out a lot. Like I mentioned, they’re meant for hockey training after injuries. I’ll see you later.”
He turns and strides away. Sarah’s face is full-on red. “I’ll meet you at the park in about ten minutes.” She takes off before I can ask her what’s up. I don’t know what’s going on here. But something’s off.
After close to twenty minutes of waiting on the wooden bench, I stand up and stretch out. I’m starting to wonder if Sarah’s going to show up at all. This must be where she comes for her breaks. I’ve never noticed this park before, but it’s a pretty nice place. Just a small part of a normal city block and it’s surrounded by tall buildings. But it’s nice enough for an urban park. Some greenery and color in the middle of the city.
I’m about to give up and send her a text telling her not to bother when I glance up to find her hurrying towards me.
“I’m sorry.” She’s a little out of breath. “I had to take care of something urgent before I could get away.”
“No problem. I’m the one who dropped in on you. I don’t mind the wait. Here.” I rummage in the bag and take out some of the food. It’s actually still warm.
“I can’t stay away for too long. It’s pretty busy today.” She takes a bite of the wrap I hand her. “This is really good. Thank you so much, Cory. I usually bring lunch but I didn’t today. So this is really nice. Thank you. So. You and Dr. Ash know each other?”
“Ash? Oh yeah. We go way back. I’ve known him since before he became a doctor. We met back in college, and we’ve been friends ever since. Best friends.”
“That’s great.” Sarah’s voice is flat. I’m starting to wonder again if it was a bad idea for me to stop in on her unannounced like this. I thought she might like the surprise. It doesn’t seem to be going my way though. She still doesn’t seem happy at all. Maybe she’s just busy with work. But it feels like there’s something else going on.”
“How was your physio appointment? That was today, right?”
“Yeah, it was great. Everything’s coming together. I went to the gym too and started to workout again. I’m back for physio again tomorrow and also I’m going to start these exercises that Ash pulled together for me.”
And there it is again. Sarah’s tensing up. I can’t read her expression. “Sounds like you’re right on track. Cory, it was so nice of you to stop by. And to bring me lunch and those lovely flowers. I really, really appreciate it. Such a nice gesture. And I hate to do this, but I really have to get back to work. It’s just crazy there today. I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. Here.” I hand her the bag. “Take the rest of it with you.” She’s about to object but I stop her. “No. You’re going to need it to keep your energy up. Just have it around so you can snack whatever you want to. Whenever you can. There’s a lot there, I know. You can keep it for when you’re studying too if you don’t get through it all during your shift. You need to eat. Stay healthy.”
“Thank you.”
I stand up to walk her back. She tenses up under my touch. “Sarah, is something wrong? Did I do something wrong? I’m sorry if it’s messed up your day by me stopping by. I should have texted you first. But I wanted to surprise you. Guess I made the wrong call.”
“No, Cory. You didn’t do anything wrong, not at all. It’s just me. I just have to get back there. I mean, I really need to rush off right now. You don’t need to walk me back. You’ve been way too nice already. I’ll see you on the weekend okay?”
Sarah stretches up to give me a kiss. But it’s quick and distracted. After I hug her she takes off, walking so fast she’s practically running.