“You just spent three days in the hospital on your ass,” Peggy said. “You slept the whole time.”
“You’re not helping, darlin’,” I replied, wearily.
“I’m not here to help you slack off. I’m here to kick your ass into gear.”
“Are you always such a hardass?” I asked.
“Nope. Only to cocky sonsofbitches like you,” she winked, handing me a clip board with discharge papers attached. “Sign these and you’re out of here.”
I shook my head, scribbled my name and handed the clipboard back to her.
“Sure you don’t want to give me your number before I leave?” I asked.
“I’m sure, Colorado,” she replied. “You take care of that cute tush, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” I replied, looking warily over at Will. “Alright, well I guess you’re the boss.”
“I like it when you call me that,” he said, standing up and handing me my crutches.
“Shouldn’t I be in a wheelchair?”
“And let your other leg get weak, too? No way. You’re going to work your ass off until you’re back to a hundred percent. No short-cuts.”
“Goddammit, I’m surrounded by a bunch of tyrants!” I exclaimed.
“Yeah, well, you gotta earn those millions, buddy,” he said, helping me to my feet and helping me place the crutches under my arms. Grady stood at my side, ready to catch me if I fell. “Unless you want to hand over all this fame and glory to the next guy in line?”
“Over my dead fucking body.”
MAISEY
In my quiet nights alone during the last ten years, I’d imagined this moment happening a million times. I’d wished for it to happen and prayed for it not to, all at the same time. I’d thought about what I might say. The things I wouldn’t say. Questions I would ask. Answers I might receive.
And yet nothing had truly prepared me for the way I was feeling right now. I reminded myself that I was a professional. I reminded myself that I had no choice but to open the door in front of me, and that no amount of unexplained begging to Larry was going to get me out of it. I’d tried. Twice.
I had no choice but to face the demons of my past. Today. Right now. In patient room number three, the most luxurious physical therapy suite of the Steadman Hawkins clinic, my worst nightmare was waiting for me like a monster in a closet.
I’d taken this job a year ago, knowing in the back of my mind that if fate intervened, I might find myself in this predicament. And yet, I wanted the job so badly, that by the time of my second interview, I’d somehow disillusioned myself into thinking that the odds were in my favor.
Denver’s a big city, I’d told myself. Hell, the United States is a big country.
If Jesse Colorado needed sports rehabilitation, he would have his pick of the best facilities in the entire world, right? The chances of him walking into the Steadman Hawkins clinic were slim
I’d been so wrong. So naive, so stupid, so disillusioned.
And now I was stuck.
Once again, I reminded myself I was a professional. I could do this. The past didn’t matter, that was all over. I wasn’t the timid little girl in a small town anymore.
I was a grown-ass woman, with talent, skills and a rigid backbone that had never let me down.
Jesse Colorado was just a dumb jock.
That’s all. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Nothing I couldn’t handle.
That’s what I kept repeating to myself, over and over, as I finally turned that door knob.
Dumb jock, dumb jock, dumb jock…
JESSE
I didn’t recognize her at first. She walked in full of confidence and throwing clipped clinical terms at me while refusing to look me in the eye. I knew right away something about her was familiar, though…
The hair.
Those unruly black curls that stuck out every which way from her head, despite her best efforts to pull it back into a tight bun.
Maybe it was the stubborn set of her jaw.
Or her profile - the same profile I’d sat staring at for months while she’d tutored me so many years ago.
These things were all nagging at me far in the back of my mind as I tried to figure out where I knew her from. I tried to listen to whatever she was saying about my knee, something about a long treatment plan, but I was distracted right away.
When she finally met my gaze, it all clicked.
Those eyes! I’d never forget eyes like that, because nobody in the entire world had eyes like hers.
Grass green with golden, sparkling flecks.
“Dr. Green is the best in the city. He and I have created an extensive treatment plan for you, and if we follow it very strictly, you should be back on your feet in no time,” she nodded firmly as she finished her sentence, and that’s when she first looked at me.
I turned away and turned to Grady, who’d accompanied me to the clinic. Coach Fox had left him with strict instructions not to leave my side.
“Grady, can you excuse us, please?” He’d been standing stoically silent in the corner the entire time.
“Sure, boss. I’ll be right outside the door.” He walked out, closing the door softly behind me.
I turned back to the woman in front of me and smiled.
“Damn, it is you,” I said, shaking my head.
“Excuse me?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Maisey, don’t be coy. We went to Highland High together.”
“Oh, we did, didn’t we? That was a long time ago,” she said curtly, tearing her eyes away and looking back at my chart. “I see here that you were hit on your left side —.”
“Oh, come on!” I said, laughing.
“What?” she asked, still refusing to look at me, her eyes glued to the clipboard in her hand.
“Maisey,” I whispered. “Don’t act like you don’t know me.”
Slowly, she raised her eyes and I was blessed with those golden flecks again.
“Sorry,” she said, her voice even shorter than earlier. “Hello, Jesse. Yes, we went to school together. I just didn’t think you’d remember me,” she shrug
ged. “We hardly knew each other.”
“What!” I scoffed. “That’s not true!”
“Well, that’s how I remember it. Didn’t I do some tutoring for you or something briefly?” she dragged her eyes away again, turning her back to me completely this time as she sat my file on a cabinet in the corner and studied it.
“Well, yes,” I replied, smiling at her back as I remembered those times so very long ago. “I think we did a little more than tutoring, though.”
“Did we?” she murmured dismissively, her voice cool and calm. “I don’t recall.”
Wow. Well, that hurts, I thought. How could she not remember? I remembered every last second… I took a second to look away from her, my mind drifting back.
“Jesse, you really need to pull these grades up if you want that scholarship.”
The recruiter from Colorado State had taken me and my parents out to dinner and while he was being honest, I hated what he was saying. If I could spend the rest of my life playing on the field, then I’d be happy. Instead, I had to learn about shit that didn’t interest me to do what I loved.
But then Maisey had shown up to my house, hand picked by my biology teacher to tutor me. She’d been so quiet, so studious, so shy - and for some reason that made me like her more. I wanted to draw her out, see what she was all about.
Her hair stuck out from her head, forming a lush halo around her head. Her green eyes flashed with excitement when she spoke, even if her words were quiet and measured. I hated biology, and somehow she’d made it interesting. She’d use football analogies and funny little anecdotes to help me remember things. After a few sessions with her, I was excited to spend time with her.
We spent more time laughing together than we did working, but with her help, I’d managed to bring my grades up and pass all my finals - which eventually meant I got that scholarship. I couldn't have done any of it without her.