Just Rules (25 page)

That was all it took.

A simple question involving Mac’s name was all it took for Susana to start crying. When she got calmer she explained to Pam that she had fallen in love with the most wonderful man in the world and that she had pushed him away.

Pam hugged Susana and congratulated her for finally knowing what true love was, and she helped her to get inside the field as if they were on a James Bond mission.

And that’s where Susana was at the moment, with her hands against the glass watching each and every one of Mac’s moves.

The Patriots chose to be the offense. Mac got behind the center to receive the ball and to be able to make the pass. The first play began, which wasn’t as violent as someone would think, judging by Susan’s reactions.

She clenched her fists and closed her eyes when she saw several players from the Cowboys jump on Mac.

End of play.

Mac stood up and Tim ran up to him shouting something. They both took off their helmets, and Tim was the first to walk away after pointing at Mac.

The captain was distracted, but he shook his head and put his helmet back on. The players huddled together to talk about the next play. They agreed on the play and after a chant they got back into position.

The Cowboys did the same, and they were ready for them.

Mac grabbed the ball and passed it to one of the running backs. They started running the field, one yard, then two.

Mac came back to receive the ball and put his right elbow back to throw it with all of his might.

Two of the players from Cowboys hit him from both sides.

Nobody heard Susana scream.

Hurricane Mac’s helmet fell to the floor next to his unconscious body.

Nineteenth rule of American football:

The end of a play is based on many circumstances, one of the most common being when a player who is carrying the ball is tackled by a defensive player.

The doctor who was always on the bench jumped up and ran to the field where the captain of the Patriots lay without moving. His teammates surrounded him, except Tim who was kneeling by his side. The players of the Cowboys were concerned, and the two that had hit Mac couldn’t take their eyes off the helmet that lay in the middle of the field.

“Let me in, guys” said the doctor firmly.

The Patriots moved back, but not too much. None of them wanted to be far from Mac.

The entire stadium was silent, the audience was watching each move of the man with the white hair who checked Hurricane Mac’s vital signs. The way he handled the situation gave off a certain sense of calmness, until he took out his phone. In a matter of minutes there was a stretcher on the field. A few minutes later, one of the access doors to the field was opened so that an ambulance could get through.

Two well-built men lifted Mac into the vehicle after stabilizing his neck, and the doctor took out his phone again to give instructions to the hospital where they were going to take him.

Over the megaphone, they announced a thirty minutes break and in the bleachers everyone’s heart sank.

Tim stood up and ran toward where the T.V. cameras were.

“Pam! Pam!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, pushing through the crowd.

The young woman came out from behind a camera and looked at him in shock.

“Where is Susan?”

It took Pam half a second to understand what her best friend’s ex-fiance was asking, and when it clicked, her face lit up.

“In one of the towers.”

“Come help me find her,” Tim ordered, pulling on her.

They ran through one of the halls of the stadium and when they rounded the last corner that led to the towers Tim bumped into Susan.

Just like the day he met her he had to hold her up by the waist so that she didn’t fall to the ground.

But this time she immediately wriggled out of his grip and looked at him furiously.

“You left Kev alone!” She had tears in her eyes and her jaw was shaking from how hard she was trying to contain herself.

Tim looked at her and wondered how it was possible that he hadn’t realized from the beginning that that woman had Mac’s name written all over her face.

“They wouldn’t let me go in the ambulance.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her away without any other explanation except: “I have to take you to the hospital.”

They ran through a different hall until they arrived at the box seats reserved for family of the players, which was in front of the door where Amanda was waiting for them with the keys to the car.

Tim quickly grabbed the keys from her.

“See you there,” said Amanda loudly. “Margaret is going to take us. Don’t worry.”

“Thank you, honey. I love you,” shouted Tim without stopping.

“You’re so in love,” Susana pointed out, more to herself, but Tim heard her anyway.

“Very much so —he affirmed, smiling at her— probably as much as you are with Mac.

He winked at her, and Susana knew that her destiny had always been to be very good friends with that man.

But nothing more.

“No —she teased, despite the horrible fear she felt in her heart for Mac— I’m more in love.

“We’ll have to see about that.”

Tim unlocked the car and practically shoved her into the passenger seat.

“Buckle up.”

Tim drove like a mad man, but whenever he could he grabbed Susana’s hand and told her that Mac was going to be alright. She tried to believe him, despite the fact that it was obvious that Tim was also very worried and that he was trying to hide it.

They got to the emergency room and to their dismay there were already a few journalists waiting for them. Obviously the flashes started to go off but neither Tim nor Susan stopped to answer any of their stupid questions.

As soon as the elevator left them on the floor where a nurse had told them they could find Mac, they saw the doctor of the Patriots sitting in a white chair with his head in his hands.

“Doctor Corbin,” Tim called him out.

The man lifted his head and stood up.

“He’s still unconscious. They’ve taken him in for x-rays and I’m afraid he broke his collar bone,” he somberly explained to them.

Tim gave him a pat on the shoulder with one hand. With his other hand he held Susana’s hands that didn’t stop trembling.

“When will they tell us more?” Tim asked.

“They will let us know as soon as possible, but for now the only thing we can do is wait.”

Doctor Corbin sat down again and Tim, who was still wearing his football uniform, did the same, grabbing Susana so she could sit down next to him.

They sat there in silence as if doing so they were helping the doctors who were taking care of Mac be more careful. The improvised waiting room kept filling up with people. The firsts to arrive were Mike, the coach, and a few players. In the end, the game had been suspended. A little after that Margaret, Amanda, and Jeremy got there too. . And later on arrived Pam. Obviously, the press was not authorized to be there, but all the media knew perfectly well what had happened on the field and were waiting outside the hospital.

A door opened that gave way to the operating and x-ray rooms, and a doctor wearing pale green came out.

“I’m Dr. Denton —he walked up to Dr. Corbin, extending a hand to introduce himself—you did a great job out there.”

“Thanks,” said Corbin, nodding.

“To whom may I speak with about the state of Mr. MacMurray?”

Dr. Corbin looked at Tim but before either of them could say anything, Susana stood up determined.

“With me.”

“And you are?” asked Denton.

“Susana Lobato. Kev and I together.”

The doctor, unaware of everything that Susana had gone through before being able of saying out loud that she and Kev were a couple, moved closer to her, extended his hand, and told her how Mac was doing:

“Mr. MacMurray is still unconscious. He’s suffered a severe blow to the head that has produced internal bruising. Fortunately, Dr. Corbin gave him an anticoagulant on time, therefore avoiding any permanent blood clotting. It’s likely that when Mr. MacMurray wakes up he’ll suffer from severe pain in his head for a while. He might not even remember the game or having been tackled, but he’ll recover.”

“When will he wake up?”

“We don’t know. We’re still running some tests. As far as everything else, he dislocated the right side of his collarbone. We were able to put it back into place but I suggest he take things slowly from now on, OK?”

“Sure, OK,” Susana swallowed. “Thank you, doctor.”

The man nodded and at that very moment a nurse walked up to them to tell them that Mac was already in a room.

“Mr. MacMurray needs to rest, but he can have one visitor.”

Nobody doubted that that person was going to be Susana.

“I’ll go.”

“Of course,” accepted the doctor. “The nurse will accompany you and I’ll come by later.”

Dr. Corbin, who was much more relieved than when he had arrived, went to talk to Mike and his wife. The players of the Patriots hugged each other because of how happy they were that Mac was going to recover. And Tim walked up to Susana.

“I’ll come by in the morning,” he said.

“Thanks, Tim.”

They looked at each other, and with his hands in his pockets, (he had changed into the clothes that Amanda had brought him) he smiled at her.

“You’re welcome.”

“Hey, Tinman —Pam stopped him— what you did on the field was pretty awesome. Let me say goodbye to Sue, and I’ll walk out with you to give you a bag so that you can bring her some clothes tomorrow. I’m afraid now that she’s in love she doesn’t plan on leaving Mac’s side, even for a second.”

“Not even for a second,” she affirmed.

Although Kev might try to kick me out when he wakes up.

There were hugs and encouraging words, and what surprised Susana the most was that nobody found it strange that she and Mac were together.

She had been so stupid.

When she was alone, the nurse took her to the room where Mac was resting in the middle of a white bed. On top of a chair was his folded uniform, stained with grass and a little blood.

Susana heard the nurse close the door and she moved closer to the bed, anxious to touch him and to assure herself that he was fine and that everything was in fact going to be OK. She caressed his cheekbone where a bruise was starting to appear, and she slowly let out the air she was holding in her lungs. Mac also had a cut on his lip, which was probably what stained his uniform, and she couldn’t help but touch it. She slid the palm of her hand over his chest and stopped it just above his heart.

It was beating strongly.

A tear fell down her cheek and she kept moving her hand over him. She would never be able to live without Kev.

Susana reached for his hand, which was resting on his stomach and hold it. She caressed it for a few seconds and then lifted it to her lips and slowly kissed his knuckles.

“Now I understand what you meant when you say that you’re only capable of feeling when I touch you. The same thing happens to me, Kev. I’m only capable of feeling if you touch me. Other people touch me and I only feel pressure, but you, you can rub up against one of my fingers while passing me a mug and my entire body knows it’s you. When you kiss me —she continued— I feel as though every part of you is inside me, and it’s an amazing and beautiful feeling. But it’s scary. I’m scared that I won’t get to feel it again, Kev. Don’t make me go through that, please —she kissed him on the knuckles again— don’t make me live without you.

Twentieth rule of American football:

Touchdown:
is the basic way to score in American football and happens when the player carrying the ball crosses the end zone.

Mac opened his eyes very slowly and noticed two things: the first was that he had a horrible headache, and the second was that Susana was curled up next to him asleep.

He blinked twice, tried to move, and a horrible pain shot from the back of his head down to his left arm, which he was unable to move.

He tried to control his body’s reaction, but he wasn’t able to, and Susana woke up and moved away from him as if he was on fire.

Mac half closed his eyes and clenched his teeth to see if the pain would lessen, and when he opened them again he saw that Susana was sitting in a chair next to the bed completely blushing.

“Where am I?” he muttered.

“In the hospital,” she answered, looking at him worriedly and biting her bottom lip like she always did when she was nervous. “Do you want me to call the doctor?”

“No, not right now,” he said, resting his head on the pillow and closing his eyes again.

Mac took a breath and felt her stroking his hair. It was so affectionate that he needed to look at her, and the emotion he saw on Susana’s face made him choke up. She saw his distress and offered him some water.

“Yes, thank you,” accepted Mac, instantly regretting it because Susana left his side to go get the glass.

Luckily, when she returned she helped him sit up and starting touching him again.

Mac breathed.

He was only capable of feeling when she touched him.

“Now I understand,” said Susana, guessing what Mac’s breath meant. “You are also the only one who can make me feel —a tear fell down her cheek and she wiped it away— even before…I was with Tim and any time you touched me became etched in my memory, on my skin. You brushed my hand when you passed by me at Quin’s wedding. You touched my back to get by me in one of the halls at the stadium during the fifth game last season. Your left leg was next to my right thigh when Tim received the best player of the league award a few months ago.

Mac cleared his throat. The pain in his head had gone away making room for the memories that had happened the last time he and Susan saw each other. She was there now, and it was more than obvious that she was worried about him, but Mac didn’t think he was capable of hearing her say once again that he would end up leaving her.

“How did the game end?”

“They canceled it. Two days ago.”

“Two days?”

Susana sat on the bed and grabbed his hand. She held it with care and moved her fingers over his. It seemed to fascinate her seeing their hands locked together. Her gaze was fixed on their fingers, on how they fit together, his strong and bruised, and hers small and delicate.