Hat Trick 3: Penalty Shot (20 page)

“Well, I have a lot of questions,” Martha said, “primarily how did this happen and why didn’t anyone find it earlier?”

“Mom, I don’t want to dwell on that. How it happened doesn’t matter.” His mom looked crushed. I wasn’t sure what was going on. He didn’t usually cut her off. Was there a discussion between them I didn’t know about? “Dr. Bentley, if I know all there is for now, is it possible I could have some time with Simon, alone, and then get released? Maybe any questions my parents have, or that Simon’s mom has, can be answered elsewhere, or saved for later?”

“Certainly,” Dr. Bentley said. “We can go to my office.”

“You may want to hear our questions, Alex,” his mom said.

“Maybe. But right now I need to have time with Simon.” The authority he was putting forth was unlike anything I’d heard him use with his parents. “Please.”

“Alex, your mom is only trying to help,” John said.

“I’m sorry,” he said, backing off. “I just really need some time.”

Dr. Donaldson spoke up as people started to exit. “I’ll leave instructions for your appointment tomorrow with the nurse. She’ll bring them with your discharge papers.”

Alex stood up and offered a hand to both doctors. “Thank you, both, for everything.”

Within a few seconds everyone was gone and it was just us. I got up, stood behind Alex and wrapped my arms around him. He brought his hands up to cover mine and held them, this time without squishing them.

“I’m scared,” he said, breaking our silence.

I put my head on his shoulder and leaned my ear against his. “I know. Me, too.”

He turned to face me and I put my arms around his waist. He did the same to me.

“My mom thinks you’re going to leave me. She probably thinks that even more having heard all that.”

“She told you that?” I shook my head. I’d severely underestimated what she’d do. “I’m surprised since she apologized for laying into me about that shortly after she got here.” I guessed the apology was just for show. Didn’t she know Alex would tell me? I looked deep into his grey eyes, where I saw a mix of emotions. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll tell you that as often as you need to hear it. This thing scares me, but I love you and that keeps me right here.”

We kept our eyes locked on each other. Turmoil was written all over his face. I hoped he didn’t doubt that I was in this for the long haul.

“What else are you thinking?” I asked.

“There’s so much. What this means for us, the team, school, work, everything. Hopefully we start to get answers tomorrow. I really don’t want to fuck up graduation, or the job. Even more I don’t want to fuck us up.”

“Okay, first, you don’t have to worry about us. I’m here. So please cross that off your list of things to worry about. We’re a team and we’ll do what we need to do. As for the rest of it, the doctors sound confident. Let’s believe in that. I’m going to come along with you as much as I can, plus I’ll get involved wherever they recommend. School I’m sure will be accommodating. And, EdgeTech is usually flexible. I suspect they’ll roll with this.”

He nodded. “I hope Mom doesn’t try to make me go back to Dawson. I can’t imagine that would be a fun conversation. Dad seems to understand, so I’m hoping he’ll get her to stop.”

He shuddered and pulled me into a tighter hug and cried freely. I wasn’t used to his emotions shifting around so quickly. I held him tight, not speaking, so he could get this out of his system. After a few minutes, he wiped his eyes on the shoulder of my shirt and we relaxed our hold.

“I almost wish I wasn’t getting out today. One more night holed up to think about this sounds good right now. I don’t know how to face the team yet. Mom’ll probably shadow us, too.”

“I think I know how to solve that. Why don’t you go get your paperwork done. I’ll make some calls and then we can get out of here.”

“I’ll leave it to you, Other Captain,” he said, and gave me a smile. “I love you, Simon.”

“I love you, too. Go get things in motion and I’ll make the calls.”

Alex left the room and closed the door so I’d have privacy. I called Coach first and got a meeting set up before tomorrow morning’s practice. I also called Danny, who was more than happy to let us crash there tonight so we wouldn’t have to face the entire team at the dorm. As I finished, my mom knocked and poked her head inside the room.

“Hi,” I said, giving her a slight smile.

“How’re you doing?”

“It’s all so crazy,” I said. “Not just what the docs said, but Alex’s mom, too.”

“I know.” She stood in front of me and rubbed my arms. It was a very soothing motion. “I can’t imagine what she’s thinking.”

“I keep telling myself that.”

“What’re you guys doing tonight?”

“We’re going to Danny’s to just be with some close friends. We’ll see Coach in the morning.”

“That’s good. I’d hoped you guys weren’t going to try and hang with the parents. You need time to process all this.”

“I’m glad you’re not mad that we’re not doing something with you.”

She shook her head. “I’m here if you guys need me. I plan to work at the hotel another couple days. If you need anything, and I do mean anything, I’m here. If you need me to stay longer I can do that, too.”

“Thank you. You’re awesome.”

“I’ll see if Martha and John want to have dinner tonight. Maybe I can help calm her down a little bit.”

“That’d be great. I mean don’t put yourself out, but it’d be awesome if you could.”

There was yelling from down the hallway. It was Alex and his mom. We traded a
what now
look before I went for the door. They weren’t in the hallway, so I followed the shouts to his room. The door was closed, but I didn’t knock. The yelling had to stop.

“What’s going on?” I said, in a voice I usually reserve for unruly teenagers.

“She’s intent on me going with them. They’ve got a second room at the hotel for me to rest until my appointment tomorrow. I’ve made it clear that you and I are leaving here together, right now actually. I’ve signed all the papers and have the details for tomorrow. Simon, I’ve got to be wheeled out to the car, can you please get someone to do that?”

“Got it.” I headed to the nurse’s station and was pleased to find Ms. Pascal there.

She looked up from her computer screen and smiled. “I’m so glad you’re on your way today. Is he ready?”

“More than ready,” I said.

“Everything okay with the yelling? I didn’t check on it since I saw you headed there.”

“Bit of a family squabble. His mom is being overly motherly these past few days.”

She nodded. I was sure she’d seen it before.

“I’ll get the wheelchair right away. As soon as it comes in, you can bring the car around to the entrance so we can load him up.”

“Perfect. I’ll try to keep everyone behaving until we can get out of here. Thanks, again.”

She smiled and went back to her computer. As I rounded the corner back to the room, Alex’s dad was coming towards me.

“Simon, I’m so sorry,” he said, halting my efforts to get to the room. “She’s being unreasonable. I keep telling her that these decisions are Alex’s and yours. She’s convinced he’s going to end up alone. I can’t seem to reassure her.”

“My actions will just have to speak for me. It hurts me she feels that way and I can’t believe she’s adding to the stress Alex already has. I appreciate you’ve at least got faith in me.”

“I do. Your mom and I got her calmed down. We’re going to dinner tonight and hopefully we’ll get this behind us. We’d like you guys to join us for dinner tomorrow to talk about what you’ve heard from the appointments. I’ve convinced her to not turn up for those. Are you going to be there?”

“Yes. I’m going to skip classes tomorrow. I want to hear everything.”

“Good. You’re a good man, Simon.” He hugged me. “Martha will see that again soon enough.”

“Thank you.”

We went back to the room where there was a tense cease-fire in effect, with my mom shouldering the bulk of the conversation. Luckily the wheelchair came within minutes and we were all on our way.

Staying with Danny and Sara was exactly the right plan. After days being surrounded by family and doctors, it was good to be with our friends. Sara wouldn’t arrive until later, and Mimi was stuck in rehearsal, but Danny, Trent, Julie and Hillary joined us. We had some good Mexican food delivered and talked for a couple hours. We talked about Alex’s diagnosis for a while, but I could tell he was relieved when the topics shifted to Rainbow High, the Wolverines, and anything that wasn’t related to his medical news.

We crashed early and neither of us stirred until the alarm went off at five. I jerked awake as usual, and Alex stirred gently beside me.

“You sleep okay?” I asked.

“Perfect. Best sleep I’ve had in days. I wish we could stay here a few more hours. How’d you sleep?”

“Good,” I said. “So much better with you next to me.”

I lied. Hopefully he’d buy it. I’d barely slept. My brain wouldn’t stop thinking about what might happen next. Alex was so tired, he hardly moved during the night. It was common for us to sleep intertwined. We’d turn over and reset a couple times, but always end up back together. Last night he didn’t move once and I made sure I didn’t either. I wanted him to have a good night’s sleep and I enjoyed having him up against me, breathing softly. I may not have slept much, but somehow I felt rested anyway.

“I feel like we’re about to come out all over again.” Alex talked as he got dressed. “I’m super nervous about this, even more than seeing the doctors later. What if I’m done?”

“Don’t even think that,” I said, as I got dressed, too. “You heard about that NHL guy. You could be back on the ice in a few weeks.”

He sat on the bed, only in his jeans, and gave me a sad look. “But everybody’s going to be watching, wondering if I’m really okay. And what if I start second-guessing myself? It’s not going to be the same.”

I was dressed opposite to him with just a shirt. I stood in front of him and hugged his head into my stomach. “Try not to worry about the unknown. I know it’s hard. I’m doing the same thing, thinking about scenarios that may never come to pass. We need to try to take everything as it comes or we’re going to go crazy.”

“We’ve got enough going on, we don’t need to go crazy, too.” He was muffled, talking into my shirt.

“Exactly.” I leaned down and kissed him. “We gotta get moving or we’re going to be late.”

We finished quickly, which we were good at in the morning. Seeing the team this morning, we’d be able to stay in our room tonight and not be besieged like we would’ve been last night.

We met Danny in the hall as we came out of the room.

“Morning, guys,” he said quietly since Sara was still asleep.

“Thanks again for the place,” I said.

“It was perfect for last night,” Alex said, completing my thought.

“Excellent,” Danny said. “Glad we could help. You’re welcome here anytime.”

We nodded and all fist bumped as we headed out. The drive to the rink was quiet. Alex checked his work email and fired off replies, which was a normal morning activity since there were always some that came in overnight. Practice mornings he would respond to email on the way to the rink, and if we were walking it was my responsibility to make sure he didn’t run into anything.

“You’re going to see Coach with me, right?” he asked as we got out of the truck.

“Of course, unless you or Coach kick me out.”

“Good.”

“You able to come to the docs today?”

“I emailed my two morning profs and told them I needed to be at your consultations this morning.” He nodded and I squeezed his hand. “Let’s go.”

We headed into the rink with Danny, who’d waited for us by his car.

“You hitting the ice this morning, Simon?” Danny asked.

“Yeah. I might be a little late, but I’ll be there.”

As we entered, the other guys who were typically early fist bumped with us. No one asked questions, it was all about welcome back. Coach’s door was open and I knocked on the doorframe as we entered.

“Morning, guys. Alex, it’s great to see you up and around.” Coach came around the desk and gave him a half hug.

“Thanks, Coach.”

I closed the door behind us as Coach and Alex took their seats. Like when I called Coach yesterday, I realized how lucky we were to have coaches who really cared about their players. I hoped we were living up to that standard with the Rainbow High team.

“So, how are you? You’re here, that’s good. Talking to Simon yesterday it sounded like there’s more to the story. All I know is that you haven’t been cleared to play yet.”

“No, sir. I haven’t.” Alex calmly laid out everything the docs said yesterday. Coach listened intently and didn’t speak until Alex finished. “That’s all I know right now. I’ll start figuring out the rest this morning.”

“We’ll play it by ear then. Obviously I want you back on the ice, but not until you’re clear and feeling confident about it. We’ll take what your doctor says and what you’re comfortable with to get you back up to speed. How do you want to handle this with your teammates? We can leave you as just being on IR or we can lay everything out.”

“I thought about it last night. I’m not good with hiding stuff. And if I ever have to step out of a game or practice, the team should know why. Plus, I’d still like to be involved while I can’t play, show up at practices, give encouragement. I don’t want to shirk my captain responsibilities, even though I know Simon would take care of everything.” He jerked his thumb in my direction.

Coach gave a broad smile. “I like that plan. Your energy would be missed, even though Simon could manage. It’ll be great to have you both, even if you’re not active on the ice. Do you want to tell them now?”

“Yeah, if that’s okay with you. Some people saw us come in, so it makes sense to do it.”

“Alright. Let’s go. Simon, I imagine you’re going to be late hitting the ice. No suicides for you today.” He smiled at me.

We made the short walk from Coach’s office to the locker room. I grabbed Alex’s hand just before we went in and gave it a squeeze, mouthing “I love you” as I did.