Hard & Deep: A Football Romance

Elsie paused for a moment. What she knew so far about this “opportunity” baffled her. An unnamed patient was coming to her tiny town in Iowa for ACL reconstruction physical therapy that was to be top of the line. They wanted her, with her in-depth but underutilized sports medicine background in physical therapy. No one around here cared that she interned with the top sports physical therapists, but apparently that's why this client was coming here. The strangest part of the whole situation was that it was supposed to remain a secret. They hadn't even told her what the patient's gender was yet.

“Yes.” The word spilled past Elsie's lips before she could change her mind. “I'm definitely interested.”

I don't have much of a choice if I want to keep my uncle's clinic up and running, she thought. I could use the money right now and this one client will equal about twenty of my usual patients. Not to mention the huge signing bonus.

“Excellent.” Nikki beamed, exposing the first genuine smile that Elsie had seen from her all day. “Sign this.”

A contract slid across Elsie's desk in a smooth motion. Elsie read it over quickly, shaking her head as she did so. It was the strongest non-disclosure agreement she'd ever seen. There were clauses for everything regarding the client's security. Elsie knew she would never divulge patient information, but the penalty for doing so, at least according to the contract, would be a financial number high enough to cause her to lose the clinic and everything she owned.

“This is just the non-disclosure agreement,” Nikki explained. “I'll give you the full contract to bring to your first appointment. If there's something you disagree with, you can have your lawyers contact me tonight.”

As if I could afford a lawyer, she thought, as she scribbled her name on the bottom of the contract. Who could this patient possibly be to require this kind of legal work?

The amount they were offering her to take on this patient was enough for her to look past the odd level of secrecy. In fact, it was enough for Elsie to be able to pay off her school loans and keep the physical therapy clinic up and running with all of the newest gadgets. Both were goals that she had been trying to obtain for years. Because of this unique job offer, they were going to become a reality.

Elsie pushed the contract back across the desk. Nikki gave it a glance and nodded as she slipped the paper into her briefcase. Elsie turned and pulled up her schedule on the ancient laptop she'd used to get through grad school.

“For an ACL reconstruction, I have openings here at my clinic on Monday mornings, Wednesday afternoons or any time on Fridays,” she continued. “Of course, since his identity is clearly a secret, I assume that he'll want the place to himself. I can always schedule him over a lunch break, that way I'll be the only one here.”

“He won't be coming to the clinic,” the other woman replied, matter-of-factually.

“What do you mean?” Elsie asked, cocking her head to the side. “All of my equipment is here. I can't do my job effectively without my equipment.”

“His home location will be properly equipped with everything you need,” Nikki replied with a wave of her hand. “I can assure you it will be suitable.”

“His home is equipped with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of physical therapy equipment?” Elsie crossed her arms as she posed the question.

“Yes, of course.” The woman answered as though that were an obvious fact and that it was normal for a person to have that kind of expensive equipment at home.

There is no way that this lady knows what she's talking about, Elsie thought.

“So you have a massage table, weights, a TRX, a sled...”

“Yes, yes, yes and yes,” Nikki replied, clearly annoyed that Elsie might think otherwise. “We also purchased an ice wrap machine and bath under the surgeon's recommendation.”

Whoa. Those machines are expensive, Elsie thought. What does this patient do for a living?

“Okay, then. We'll meet at his place.” Elsie opened up a new scheduling window on her computer. “When will the patient be arriving?”

“Monday,” Nikki stated. She peered down at one of her perfectly manicured fingernails. “That's three days.”

“You want me to clear my schedule and drop everything for a new patient in three days?” Elsie managed to keep her voice level and keep most of the shock out of her tone.

“Yes, that's what needs to happen,” Nikki replied with a shrug. “You currently only have three patients, and one of them is on their last week of shoulder therapy so it shouldn't be a problem. My client has full priority.”

How did she know my patient schedule? Elsie's eyes widened. I live in a small town, so I suppose it's not rocket science to figure something like that out. But still. A little disturbing.

“Don't look so surprised,” the woman said, frowning at one of her nails. “It wasn't that tough to figure out. A little amateur investigating is all it took. Your patients were more than happy to give me that information and more when I was checking your references.”

“Oh.” Elsie wasn't sure quite what to say to that. She had to wonder just what else her clients had mentioned.

“You can see why no one can know my client is here.” Nikki looked up from her offending nail. “If your clients found out who you were working with, it would be all over social media in five seconds. I'm afraid they aren't very trustworthy.”

“Apparently,” Elsie replied. “But what am I supposed to tell them? I can't just cancel on them out of the blue.”

“Yes, you can. And you will. I don't care what you tell them,” Nikki said with a shrug. “Maybe say that you're trying a new hobby or someth

ing. I don't know. It's up to you. I'm sure you'll think of something.”