Hard & Deep: A Football Romance

“You know what? I'll just do my best when I get there,” Elsie said, giving up. “We'll just add an extra appointment in or something.”

Nikki eyed her critically for a moment before frowning.

“Elsie, I realize that as a medical professional, you're already very aware of the importance of patient confidentiality. But in this case, it's even more important that the patient's identity, whereabouts, and physical condition are all kept quiet,” Nikki told her for what felt like the millionth time. “Top secret. You don't tell anybody, not even your closest friends or your mother.”

“Of course.” Elsie nodded. “I keep every single one of my patient's information under lock and key, and this one will be no exception. I follow the law strictly on this.”

“I understand, but in this case, it's more than just the law.” Nikki frowned despite the botox around her eyes. “We're paying you a very large sum of money to make sure that nobody even knows that my client is even in this town.”

“I won't breathe a single bit of information.” Elsie leaned forward, bringing her hands to rest on the top of the desk. “You have my word.”

“Good,” the woman replied. “You can expect a courier with the full contract in a day or two. Given that your background check clears, of course.”

Elsie did her best to smile. This entire interview had been more about how well she could keep a secret than her medical abilities. Though, Nikki had definitely made sure that Elsie's extensive training in sports medicine was still current. The last time Elsie had this level of questioning had been to pass her boards for her degree.

Needless to say, it had been a long interview.

Nikki tossed her hair and turned to walk out the exit. “It was a pleasure doing business with you, Elsie.”

“Likewise,” Elsie replied, lying through her teeth. The interview had been anything but pleasurable. Unless, of course, one considers things like getting their teeth drilled at the dentist to be a pleasure.

As the suited woman walked briskly out of the door, Elsie plopped back down in the chair and took a breath. It felt like the first time she had been able to breathe in over an hour. She was nervous and excited about this new patient, and her mind churned with all of the possibilities as to who he was. She considered the possibility that he was a president from another country or maybe some kind of James Bond. He could be anybody, really. The suspense was k

illing her.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings, she thought. I have a feeling this is going to be very interesting.

Chapter 3

Elsie

Elsie double-checked the address, making sure that she was on the correct County Road. As far as she knew, there wasn't anything out this far besides huge amounts of acreage covered in corn fields. It was all coated in white with late winter snow, looking desolate and lonely.

She drove along for another five minutes until a small wooden farm house with a red thatched roof came into view at the top of the hill.

“I guess this is it,” she whispered to herself, pulling her car down the snow-packed dirt road that clearly hadn't been maintained in over a decade.

In fact, the whole farm around the small house looked about as neglected as the road did. Mountains of untouched snow surrounded it and a rundown old tractor was parked out front. It was obviously not a working farm any more, just a house in the middle of nowhere. Still, though, she thought it looked charming and cozy in its own way.

The tires of her car skid to a halt in the driveway. She put the car in park and then adjusted the rear view mirror so that she could get a good look at herself. Her shoulder-length light brown hair was down, looking frazzled because of the dry winter air. She quickly pulled it back into a tight ponytail.

Her heart was pounding in the back of her throat as she turned the car off and grabbed the handle of the door. She was nervous.

Calm down, Elsie, she told herself. You've done home visits plenty of times. There's nothing different about this one. It's just another patient who needs your help.

But it wasn't the unknown patient that made her nervous. It was the weird circumstances that surrounded all of it. Between the odd interview and the lack of information she had obtained before coming here, she hadn't a single clue as to what to expect. Even the contract had been incredibly vague.

All she'd been able to glean was that her client had recently undergone ACL repair surgery. She was to get him back up to full use of his knee as quickly and quietly as possible.

Wearing her favorite lime-green scrubs, Elsie tromped through the snow and up to the front door. She shivered off the cold as she knocked and then rang the doorbell immediately afterward. A moment later, the woman from the interview opened the door and crossed her arms.

“You're late,” she said.

Elsie's eyes widened, shocked to be greeted in such a way after driving over twenty minutes through the snow. She glanced down at her watch to see that the woman was right, but only by three whole minutes.

“I'm sorry, there was a plow on the way here,” Elsie explained. “They aren't exactly easy to drive around and my car doesn't do so hot in the snow.”

The woman didn't say anything, but rolled her eyes as she held the door open. Elsie stepped inside, making the decision to ignore the woman's bitchy attitude and just pretend that she wasn't actually as hostile as she appeared.