by Janice Lynn
‘It’s good to be back,’ he said, and continued walking towards the rink as though he was returning to an idyllic childhood home and not the scene of his past misdemeanours.
For a moment Charlotte contemplated walking back in the other direction and locking herself in a nice quiet room somewhere until he’d gone away. He’d appeared from the shadows as if he were a bad dream. Or a good one, depending on which Charlotte was having the fantasy—the young infatuated girl or the cynical woman who knew bad boys weren’t exciting or glamorous, they just screwed people over.
She didn’t. Instead, she followed him towards the ice. Hunter wasn’t to know she’d been enamoured with him to the point of obsession the last time he’d been on Northern Irish soil but he had cost her beloved Demons the championship with his antics. Even if she hadn’t been embarrassed by her teen fantasies she still wasn’t convinced he was up to the job and simply didn’t trust him to do it effectively.
‘Why are you here?’ Her forthright attitude obviously wasn’t something he was used to, or expecting. She could see him tensing next to her and she didn’t like it. To her, the guarded reaction meant he had something to hide. The very nature of his defensive body language said he was fighting to keep his secrets contained but she wouldn’t be fobbed off easily when it came to work matters.
‘No offence but you’re an ex-player for a reason. The drinking, the fighting, the generally bad attitude...they’re not qualities I look for in a co-worker either.’ His last appearance here had been a coup for the Demons to have him on board when no other team would have him. A big name for a budget price. Unfortunately, even this easy-going community hadn’t been enough to tame his wild ways. He’d become a liability in the end, his playing time down to single figures for his last matches, as opposed to the many minutes he’d spent in the penalty box. Eventually people had given up on him. Charlotte too, once she’d realised he wasn’t the man she’d thought he was when he’d snatched success away from the team. There’d been a collective sigh of relief when he’d flown back to Canada and she couldn’t say she was happy to work alongside someone prone to such unpredictability now either.
‘Ah, so you witnessed that particular phase of my life? In which case I can’t expect you to be performing cartwheels on my return but I can assure you I’m here to work, not to raise hell.’ Something dark flitted across his features that said he was deadly serious about being here, and sent chilly fingers reaching out to grab Charlotte by the back of the neck. She wanted desperately to believe that having him here would benefit the team, not hinder it, but she needed more proof than his word.
‘I don’t understand. Why would you want to come back to a team that holds memories of what I imagine was a very dark time for you? Especially to work off the ice rather than on it?’ She made no apology for her blunt line of questioning. It didn’t make sense to her and she’d made it a rule a long time ago to question anything she deemed suspect. She’d learned to follow her gut feeling rather than blindly take people at face value. It prevented a lot of pain and time-wasting further down the road.
‘Despite...everything, I like the place. I want to make this my home again. There’s also the matter of laying a few personal demons to rest and proving to you, and everyone else, I’m not that same hothead I was nine years ago.’ It had taken Hunter some time to answer her but when he did he held eye contact so she was inclined to believe what he was saying, even though she doubted it was the whole truth.
‘I trust you have all the relevant qualifications and experience?’ Although she expected his appointment was more to do with his connections here and last-minute availability than actually being the best man for the job, she couldn’t stop herself from asking. She needed someone who knew what he was doing on the medical staff with her.
‘All my papers are in order if you’d like to see them.’ He was teasing her now, the slight curve of his mouth telling her he wasn’t intimidated by her interrogation technique.
‘That won’t be necessary,’ she said, folding her arms across her chest as a defence against the dimples. This so wasn’t fair.
‘Look, I’m the first one to admit I was a screw-up. Not everyone will be happy to see me back but I’m sure we’re all different people now compared to who we were back then.’ He leaned back against the barrier, his coat falling open for a full-length view of the apparently new and improved Hunter.
That giddy, infatuated fan who shared Charlotte’s DNA insisted on taking a good, long look. Who was to say that Mr Sophistication here wouldn’t someday regress back to his rebellious alter ego too?
She’d never been a fan of that particular side of him. The young girl she’d been then had enjoyed the macho displays of the defenceman body-checking his opponents into the hoardings or dropping his gloves in a challenge fight. There was something primitive in watching that, even now, and there’d been times she’d wanted someone to defend her the way he had his teammates. He’d definitely been a crowd-and a Charlotte-pleaser for a time. But those later months when he’d fought with his own coach and smashed equipment in bad temper had made for uncomfortable viewing. It had felt like watching someone unravel in public and had come as no surprise to anyone when the Demons, or any team, had refused to renew his contract. He’d slunk back to Canada in disgrace, never to be heard of again. Until today.
‘Clearly Gray thinks you’ve changed since this was his doing and he’s the man in charge, not me. Well, I mean, if I was in charge I’d be a woman, not a man...’
‘Obviously.’ Hunter dropped his gaze to her feet and she followed it all the way back up to her eyes. He may as well have had X-ray vision the way he’d studied her form so carefully, smiling whilst she burned everywhere his eyes had lit upon her.
No, no, no, no, no! This wouldn’t do at all. Behind the scenes of an ice-hockey team was not an appropriate place to suddenly become self-aware and he certainly wasn’t an appropriate male to be the cause of it. These men were out of bounds. All of them.
Hunter mightn’t be a player, or one of her patients, but he was a colleague. Given their past history, albeit a one-sided affair, his presence here complicated matters even more for her. With the team languishing in the bottom half of the league her position was already a tad precarious, without him in the picture too. Especially when he kept looking at her as though he was trying to pick her up in a seedy bar.
‘Well, I’m sure you’ll want to meet the team...’ She backed away, reminding herself this wasn’t about her, Hunter or any ridiculous crush. They were both here to do a job and a team of sweaty, macho hockey players should be a good distraction from any residual teenage nonsense.
‘Maybe later. I wouldn’t want to disrupt training. We should probably use the time to get to know each other better so I can convince you I’m not here as some sort of punishment.’
‘That’s really not necessary.’ Charlotte gave a shudder. She knew all she needed to know about Hunter Torrance. Probably more than most due to her teenage obsession and enough for her to want to keep a little distance between them.
‘Hey, we’re both on the same team, right?’
‘Not by choice,’ she muttered under her breath.
It was no wonder the powers that be had kept this snippet of information from her until it was too late to do anything about it. She’d been surprised they’d found a replacement physiotherapist willing to see out the last few games of the season and hadn’t asked any questions, simply glad to have help getting the team back to fighting strength for the play-off qualifiers. Now she knew the good news had come with a catch.
‘Well, I’ll do my best not to get in your way. Actually, I wasn’t even expecting you to be here today. I thought team doctors practically only made appearances on match days with the slew of outside commitments and specialist clinics you all usually have to boost your salaries. I know this is a different league from the NHL in t
erms of rules, technical terms, profile and especially finances. Or are you the official welcome committee?’
She knew he was deliberately being facetious as he took a little payback for the hard time she’d given him so far. His sneer earned him her narrow-eyed stare, which usually had the power to wither a man at fifty paces, but the bad boy of the tabloids took it all in his stride. What was a dirty look in the grand scheme of things when she supposed his whole past would probably be raked over again in the national press when they got wind of his return?
‘Clearly, I didn’t get the memo we’d have a VIP joining us otherwise I would have dusted off my pom-poms.’
Hunter opened his mouth to say something then seemed to think better of it and simply shook his head. It was probably a good idea. She wasn’t in the mood for innuendo-based banter in the workplace, even if she had left the door wide open for it.
‘In answer to your question, I’m here for the play-off matches. I schedule my sports and musculoskeletal clinics around my time here so I don’t miss anything.’ It wasn’t easy but she used her personal leave to make sure she was here for the most important dates on the hockey calendar.
‘I’m sure there aren’t many who have such commitment.’ He seemed impressed that she took her role here seriously but that only made her blood boil a fraction more. If he’d ever been as dedicated as she was to the game he would understand the sacrifices she made. Experience had taught her Hunter wasn’t the team player the Demons needed.
‘This is my team. I want to see them win and I’ll do what I can to help realise that dream, but we do have our work cut out for us at the minute. Carter has a meniscus tear, Jensen has bursitis, Dempsey a groin strain, and Anderson, our star player, needs a serious attitude adjustment.’ She listed those battling injury who were already causing concern for the upcoming matches. He needed to understand the workload was substantial and this job wasn’t simply a position with a title.
‘I’m sure we can manage between us. After all, that’s what I’m here for. Not to make your life more difficult or to cause trouble. Those days are long gone. What do you say we start over with a clean slate and work together to get this team back on its feet?’ He held out his hand in truce, asking that she forgive whatever sins he might’ve committed in her eyes.
Perhaps she was overstepping the mark here when she wasn’t in any position of authority but she’d thought someone should have the Demons’ best interests at heart when Gray’s judgement seemed clouded by sentiment, or sympathy, or something that had no business in his team decisions. Still, the deed was done now and as a professional she knew better than to let her personal feelings get in the way of doing her job.
‘Fine.’ She hesitantly reached out towards him and shook on the new partnership. Her hand tingled where Hunter’s gripped it so confidently and it wasn’t simply because of the sheer size and power of him, making her fingers seem doll-like compared to his. There was also the moment of fantasy and reality colliding in that touch. Hunter Torrance was actually in her life now.
She inhaled the fresh, citrus scent of his aftershave so deeply she made herself dizzy. An entirely primal reaction that probably would’ve happened whether she’d known who he was or not.
For most single women he’d be the perfect package. If tall, dark, handsome and Canadian did it for you. Which it did. Why else would she be sniffing him as if he were made of chocolate and she wanted a taste? He was wrong for her on so many levels so she’d simply have to resist licking his face.
She’d done her best to fit in here as one of the crew, and making doe eyes at the new recruit wasn’t very professional, it was asking for trouble. And it had definitely found her in the shape of a six-foot-four, two-hundred-pound ex-hockey-player.
Okay, so she still had stats memorised, it didn’t mean anything other than she’d once been a girl with way too much time on her hands. An unhappy girl from a suddenly broken home who’d sat in her room like some fairy-tale princess in a tower, waiting for her knight in shining armour to come and rescue her. Except her hockey-playing knight had turned out to be an immature mess who had stolen the chance of that championship title from her beloved Demons and fuelled the theory all men had the ability to inflict mortal wounds to the heart. Not so much galloping off into the sunset as a life sentence distrusting anyone who dared come too close.
She knew her hostility towards him would seem uncalled for, petty even. That didn’t stop her from hoping his past might catch up with him and send him back to the land of snow and ice. He’d shown he wasn’t a man to be relied on when his team needed him. Surely she wouldn’t be the only one to hold a grudge?
In his short time here he’d insulted and fought with many, had damaged the reputation of the club and generally been a pain in the backside to all those around him. Not everyone would be glad to see him return and she was kind of hoping those with a legitimate reason to give him a hard time would, to save her blushes and her position on staff.
Gray, the coward, had apparently left it to her to break the news to the others. It had taken all of her inner strength not to protest, You were on that team he decimated, you should know better than anyone why I think he’s a liability.
She hadn’t because she did her best to keep her passion for the game and her job separate. There was no fair reason he shouldn’t be here if he had all the relevant experience needed for this job.
‘Guys? Can we have a quick word?’
The team trooped off the ice and lined up, waiting for the news. Charlotte swallowed hard. There was definitely no going back now.
‘We just wanted to tell you there’s a new addition to the medical staff. Hunter Torrance will be your new physiotherapist for the rest of the season.’ She didn’t sugar-coat it. They could come to their own conclusions about what this meant. Her only job had been to relay the message and she’d done that as quickly and as bluntly as she could so this was over soon and she could go home to lick her wounds.
‘What?’
‘The Hunter Torrance?’
‘You’re kidding!’
There was a stand-off moment as they stood looking blankly at each other, no one knowing what to do with that information, including Hunter. He was frozen beside her, probably trying to decide on the fight-or-flight method of defence. She knew which one she’d prefer and would happily book him a one-way ticket back to Canada.
The first stick hit the ground with a heavy thud, then another, and another, until he’d received a round of applause hockey-style.
Floret, the captain, stepped forward and shook Hunter’s hand first. ‘Good to have you on board.’
Charlotte figured the move was because he was a fellow countryman but he was soon followed by the rest of the multinational squad.
‘You’re a legend, man.’
‘Dude, I’m sure you have stories to tell.’
Charlotte rolled her eyes as they surrounded their new physio as if he was some sort of rock star. The last thing she needed was the players taking their cue from him that bad behaviour would ultimately be rewarded.
At least Hunter had the good grace to look slightly embarrassed by the positive attention. In her opinion he didn’t deserve it and by the way his cheeks had reddened and he was trying to back away from the crowd she guessed he didn’t think so either. Too bad. They were both stuck in this hell now.
‘They’re all yours,’ she muttered as she walked away unnoticed and left him at the mercy of his adoring fan club. After all, he’d insisted he could handle them and she was done for the afternoon. With the play-off matches looming, which could see them knocked out of the Final Four Weekend in Nottingham, they’d soon find out if the ex-rebel had turned over that new leaf and could justify his new place with the team.
The fan in her wanted him to work some magic and help get them match fit to fight their rivals for that place in th
e finals but she was a cynic at heart. She’d rather not take the chance of getting her hopes up, only to be disappointed at the last moment.
* * *
Hunter hadn’t come to ruffle any more feathers. He had enough old enemies without making new ones and he certainly hadn’t intended on upsetting the resident doctor. Gray had called in too many favours for him, none of which he deserved, to screw this up now. His old teammate was the one person who knew what he’d been through and had been willing to give him a chance. One he was grabbing with both hands.
Those selfish, heady days were far behind him now. There was only one reason he was back in this County Antrim town and that was for his son.
Hunter Torrance, the responsible father. It was the punchline to a very sick joke. A disgraced hockey player who’d barely been able to take care of himself now found he was the sole parent to an eight-year-old boy who’d just lost his mother in a car crash. He’d only had a few months to get used to the idea of being a father and to grieve for the relationship he could have had with Sara, the ex-girlfriend who’d hid the huge secret from him. Perhaps if he’d been in the right head space back then, able to love her, they could’ve been the family he’d always dreamed of having. Instead, he’d walked away from her, consumed by his own self-pity, and returned to Edmonton.
For as unreliable as the old Hunter had been, the new one was as determined for his son to have the stable upbringing he’d never had. So he’d given up everything he’d worked hard to rebuild back home to do it. Now all he had to do was convince Sara’s parents, Alfie’s grandparents, and everyone else here he was up to the job.