“But, will I get to see you next Friday?”
“Only if you’re coming back to the hospital. I work all weekend.”
“All weekend?”
“Sorry. Nursing schedules are nuts. Think about how many of the days you’ve been here that you’ve seen me. I usually pick up extra shifts and work five twelve-hour days.”
He sat in the wheelchair. She handed him a clipboard. “These are your discharge papers.”
He glanced at them and signed on the line before handing the clipboard back to her. “Why do you work so much?”
“I like what I do.” She pushed the wheelchair forward and picked up his bag of things from the bed to place it on his lap. “Sorry about this. I know you don’t need it, but they make us put everyone in a wheelchair.”
“Is this just your new way of saying no to me? Every time I ask, you’re going to be busy at work?”
“I’m not saying no to you. I’m saying I work this weekend. That’s all. Can we go out on Tuesday? I have off Tuesday.”
Wasn’t like he had anything else planned anytime soon. “That should work. I’ll have to check my busy schedule.”
“Well, check it and get back to me then.”
He turned in the seat to see her. “Kidding.”
“Tuesday then.”
“Tuesday. What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Isn’t the guy supposed to plan all that?”
“You’re giving me full reign to plan it?”
“I am.”
“Okay then.”
So now the pressure was really on. He had to make this good. Had to find a way to win her heart once for all. To keep her coming back and wanting more. To keep her forever. His dream of being a pro ball player had come and after a brief time, gone. Now he had to make sure his other dream stayed. Otherwise, he’d have nothing to hold onto.
Coach Tucker showed up to drive him home. Nice gesture, Kenny thought. All the guys on the team came shortly after to welcome him home, except Gabe. Of course.
“Where’s Gabe?” he’d asked Justin, one of his former teammates.
“Oh, he wanted to come, but his kid is sick.”
Right. The kid. Sick. Poor little thing. Kenny wanted to care. Wanted not to hate him for it, but the anger rose again. That should be him taking care of a sick kid right now, not Gabe. It should have been his baby, and Carolyn should have been his wife. And now he couldn’t even tear himself away from his poor, sick little kid for a few minutes to visit a fallen teammate? After all he’d stolen from him? Selfish jerk.
He’d show Gabe. Kenny would make sure Audrey always looked better than Carolyn, and their kids stayed perfect and healthy forever. He’d have to find a way to make him jealous. But it would be hard to do that now. Gabe already pitied him. He had always seen it in his eyes. Now that he couldn’t play, Gabe would really pity him. His teammates did, too. Former teammates. He had to keep reminding himself that he was no longer a Grizzly.
And every time one of his teammates came to talk to him as he sat on the sofa, it became clear that they already counted him as an ex teammate. He thought they were being careful not to bring up football.
He was having a conversation with Justin and asked, “So what have you been up to?”
“Nothing interesting. Working out, working on the house and stuff. Getting ready for the spring.” This was when training camp started. He meant getting ready for training. But after he said it, he caught himself and made something up. “We want to, uhh, do some house stuff when it gets nicer, so I’m getting ready for all that in the spring.”
Right. Like Kenny didn’t know what he was trying to do. So, he’d pressed it a few times. “What are you planning for the new season?” he’d asked Coach Tucker.
“Oh, you know,” Coach said. “Same old thing. Better plays, new strategies. How’s your leg feeling?”
Right. Change the subject. That’s what they all did when he asked about the team or playing.
Justin had said, “Don’t worry about that right now. Just focusing on getting better,” when he’d asked who would be taking his place as starting tight end.
Did any of them expect him to come back? Did any of them want him to? Maybe if he healed enough to play again, he’d have to go back to the semi-pros. That would be awful, too. Almost as awful as not being able to play at all. He’d come so far. He couldn’t move backwards now. The media would have a field day with that. Who knows what horrible things they’d say about him. They’d call him a has-been or a loser; they’d say he had lost his talent. And he would lose the respect he worked so hard to earn.
When they were all leaving, Kenny stopped Coach. “Thanks for driving me home and having the team come to visit me. Means a lot to me to know I’m still part of things.”
He’d watched Coach’s reaction carefully when he said it, and he had made the tiniest reaction. Just a small crinkling of his eyes, but it was enough. He’d probably talked to the doctor himself and assumed Kenny would never be back.
“Well, when you’re ready to come back, just give me a call,” Coach said.
“I’d like to come for spring training.”
Coach looked shocked and opened his mouth to speak.
Kenny quickly added, “I just thought I should watch everything and be in the loop, so that way, when I’m ready, I can jump right in.”
Coach’s face relaxed. “Oh sure. Of course you can come watch. I’ll have your name on the list just in case they want to give you a hassle.”
Now his name had to be on the list. Like the people there at the gates wouldn’t even know who he was? Wouldn’t let him in otherwise? What did they all say about him when he wasn’t around? Was he the tragic screw up who had blown it all? Were they sorry for his bad luck, or did they blame him for making bad choices? Did they think it was Eva’s fault for not being upfront and telling him she was married, or did they say he got what was coming to him?
He sat in his empty house, staring at the blank wall for a long while, thinking. Audrey. She would be his focus now. She would be what he would put everything into. Making her love him and getting better to play ball.
He hobbled over to the back of the house and pushed open the sliding glass door. He stepped onto his lawn, feeling the grass crunch under his feet in the frost covering it. His breath was white in the winter air. It was cold today, but the weather said it would warm up this week. Just in time for their date.
Kenny looked at the space in his backyard between two trees. He used to run shuttle sprints back and forth between them. He took out his phone and set it to the stopwatch app. He stood by one tree, hit start, and took off at a run. He turned, felt the pain shoot up his leg, and sprinted back. His time was awful. Three times longer than what it used to be.
He retrieved a ball from the basement and threw it at the target he had always set up in the backyard. At least his arm was still good. He’d keep that up. Now, it was about moving past the pain and building up the muscle again, keeping it warm and used, but watching that fine line. Jeff had told him a million times that he had to work it, but not over work it. Working it meant progress, overworking it meant more damage. And that would be a setback.
He made a few more throws, ran a few more sprints, then stripped down. Once he was naked, he fell onto all fours, shifting as he hit the ground. Then, he took off into the woods at a run. He couldn’t run nearly as far as he used to or as fast. But at least he was running. Jeff had said being a shifter would help. His muscles were designed to grow and change, and that would help the healing process. He’d heal faster than a human would. Guess that was one thing working for him. Maybe the only thing.
By the time he got back home, he was tired and his leg was throbbing. He dressed and went inside. Just like Jeff instructed, he iced his muscle and put the leg up as he flipped on the TV. He turned to the sports channel. He needed every way he had to stay in the loop and know what was going on in that world. He’d missed too much alr
eady. It had been too hard to watch the draft and see teams forming without him, see players being traded and let go. But now he knew he couldn’t just ignore it all if he ever wanted to go back. He had two more years on his contract. If he healed enough and they determined he was still the same quality player, he’d keep it and maybe even have it renewed when the time came.
If not, then he would be dropped. And then… He had no idea what he would do then, but hopefully Audrey would be at his side to help him through it.
Chapter 10
Tuesday finally arrived. After much careful planning, Kenny was confident in his plan. He’d spent hours searching online to find the perfect date. Something that would give them time to talk. That’s what all the sites said was important. Something like a movie wasn’t good because you couldn’t talk and you weren’t really spending time together. He also wanted to show her that he wasn’t some invalid who’d limp around his whole life. He couldn’t look weak in front of her. Ever.
So he’d planned something he’d found on a list of top most romantic first dates. They were going to have a picnic in the park and go hiking. This would give them time to talk, they’d already eaten in front of each other, so he didn’t have to worry if he was looking messy, and the hike would allow him to show her that he was still a man, and he would be able to take care of her and protect her. She’d never said anything to hint at it, but she had to look down on him for being injured like he was and not being able to continue his career. Everyone else in the world did. Why would she be any different?
He drove to her place to pick her up. On the way, he stopped to get flowers, like the web site suggested. Though, he probably could have come up with that on his own. Maybe. Earlier in the day, he’d gone shopping. This was no ordinary picnic. No peanut butter and jelly sandwiches here. No potato salad or chips and pretzels. He’d gotten the best. Fresh sushi, red wine, cheesecake. He had plates and napkins and all that, too. He’d almost forgotten them, and that would have been a disaster, but as he was walking out, he saw a display of disposables, and it sparked the thought in his mind that he needed all of that.
Now he was set. He’d even taken her idea and bought a basket to put everything in. Kind of like he was returning the favor and making their pseudo date into the real thing. When he pulled up to her house, he took the flowers with him and went to her door. He knocked and took several breaths to steady himself as he waited.
She opened the door looking amazing. He was used to seeing her in scrubs, with her hair pulled back in a ponytail and little makeup on. But today, her hair hung to her shoulders in long brown waves. Her makeup made her skin look flawless and glowing. He almost kissed her right then, but caught himself. Take it slow. He probably shouldn’t even kiss her on this date at all if he was going to prove to her that he could handle going slow. If he was going to win her over and not scare her off.
“Wow,” he said.
He whistled and a small smile crept over her mouth.
“Thanks,” she said and looked down.
“These are for you.”
He held out the flowers and when she took them, her face flushed pink.
She stumbled over her words, saying, “Oh, I’ll just put these in water real quick.”
He stood there, peaking into what he could see of her place from the front step. Looked nice. Simple, clean. She would like his place. He paid well to keep it clean and didn’t have a bunch of junk to clutter it up.
He could hear her in the kitchen. Glasses banged, water ran, once he heard her say, “Ouch.” Then she came back, looking slightly frazzled.
“You okay?” he asked.
She paused, put a big smile on her face, forced out a breath, and said, “Yes. Okay and ready.”
“Let’s go then.”
He walked to the car and got in before he remembered that he should have opened her door for her. Crap. Bad move. Well, he would get the door later. Why was he so nervous? He’d spent plenty of time with her over the last weeks. There was no reason for this. But then, she seemed really nervous, too. And that was making him even more unnerved. This shouldn’t be so difficult.
“Want some music?” he asked after a few minutes of silence.
“Okay.”
He went to his favorite playlist on his phone and connected it wirelessly to his car’s stereo. He turned it up and bobbed his head to the beat. This music always got him pumped up and the adrenaline flowing. He was singing along, and looked over at her. He stopped. He’d been singing a little too loudly. More loudly than he meant to.
Audrey stared straight ahead, her face looking almost ashen. She didn’t look happy or like she was enjoying herself.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, and stopped singing.
“Can we just…” she reached out and turned down the volume.
He could barely hear it. But maybe that was okay. Maybe she wanted to talk. What was there to talk about? He tried to come up with something or wait for her to say something. Why had she turned it down if she was’t going to talk?
He pressed on the gas. The quicker they got there, the better it would be. He saw the park come into sight and made a few turns until they got to the pavilion.
“Where are we?” she asked as she climbed out of the car.
“This is my favorite state park. I like to come here to run and hike. I thought this pavilion would be nice for our picnic.”
She looked back and forth, taking in the area. “You rented the whole pavilion?”
“Umm, no.” There was an indoor part, but it was still early in the year for parties and things. He’d chosen this one because it had a nice outdoor area, and he assumed it wouldn’t be rented out on a Tuesday. He hadn’t thought about the inside part at all. Why would they need all that for just the two of them?
She walked over to the door and tried it. Locked. He took the basket from the car and set it on one of the tables.
“Guess we’ll just sit outside then,” she said, taking a seat across from him at the table.
“Is that okay?”
“Sure.” She zipped up her jacket and pulled her collar up.
Crap. She was cold. This was too cold to be outside like this. He’d goofed again. This was not going as he imagined so far. He was always hot, so he never thought about whether she’d be too cold or not. Once they started hiking, she might be okay. She’d get warm moving around. If he was being really romantic, he’d have brought stuff to have a fire in the outdoor fireplace. That would have been perfect. But when he looked over, the fireplace held nothing but ash.
“This might warm you up a bit.” He took out the bottle of wine and two glasses. He poured and handed one to her. She drank it right down. He chuckled, gulped his, then poured them both more.
“Wine always makes things better,” she said.
He toasted his glass against hers and topped them off again. Then, he pulled out the food and spread it out on the table.
“So, what is this, exactly?” she asked.
“The best sushi around.”
“What’s in it?”
“Umm, this one is salmon and cream cheese, this one has shrimp and seaweed, this one is—”
“Shrimp?”
“Yeah.” He stopped pointing to look at her. He couldn’t tell what her expression was, but it didn’t look good. “You don’t like shrimp?”
“I’m allergic to it.”
“Oh. Well, only the ones with the green wrap have shrimp.”
Kenny (Shifter Football League Book 2) Page 10