Chapter 7

Jessica wasn’t there when he entered the PT room. Gavin put his bag down, his heart still pounding as he glanced numbly around the room. Everything here was the same: the exercise equipment, the weights lining the wall, the cots all in a row. While with him everything was utterly different.

“She had to run a few errands,” Phil said, looking up from folding some linens. “But she told me you’d be by to swim a couple of laps. Bath towels are right there, and there’s a changing room behind you. There is also some plastic on the side table for your knee. Let me know if you need anything.”

Gavin nodded, and took his gym bag into the changing room. His trunks felt a little tight at the waist, and he saw that in addition to everything else, he’d put on weight. He’d have to modify his diet until he could be more active.

He dove into the pool, barely noticing the shock of the cold water. Growing up in California meant swimming almost before he could walk. Yet he didn’t like it much as a sport; it was too solitary for him, doing laps all alone in the chlorinated water.

Now, though, he hoped the exercise would be a distraction. There was an aching pit in his stomach when he thought of Kristin. Reaching the far side, he plunged under again and kicked off the wall. Normally solitude would cause his mind to go blank, almost like a meditation. But this time all he could think of was his ex with another man…

Fuck! he scolded himself. Get the woman out of your head! He tried to focus on the exercise, but his thoughts kept going back to their breakup. The notion increased his agitation and he picked up the pace¸ changing to a butterfly stroke as he plowed through the water.

This time he kicked off the wall even harder, hoping to tire himself from exertion. His knee began to sting, the tendon protesting this level of exercise. He knew he should get out of the pool, but instead he forced his body to continue. He was used to that, used to practicing well past fatigue, pushing himself to get to the next level. But that was before he got hurt…

It was getting worse now, the pain, and he had to stop. Breaking water, he climbed to the side of the pool and saw that Phil had already left the desk and was standing beside him.

“What the hell are you doing? It’s hurting, isn’t it?”

“Not too bad,” he lied.

“Dry off, get changed, and come back to the table. I want to take a look.”

He stripped off his wet trunks in the changing room and thrust his legs angrily into his sweats. His frustration climbed as he realized his body had failed him, and the sickening sense of helplessness disgusted him.

Worse, it suddenly occurred to him that maybe Jess was tired of playing his nursemaid. Perhaps that was why she suddenly had errands to run…

“Take a seat.” Phil came to examine his knee. Gavin rolled up the sweats, and they both saw that the kneecap was red and inflamed.

“Thought so.” The therapist had an ice pack ready and wrapped it gently around the swollen joint. “You did too much. Jessica warned me that might happen. I know you’re new to all this, but next time quit before it starts to hurt.”

Gavin’s eyes blazed, but he said nothing. He was tempted to lash out, take out his anger and disappointment on the man before him, but that was not only unfair, but unkind. The guy was only trying to help him.

He couldn’t explain the rage that filled him as he was forced to lie back on the cot, his wound throbbing. No way in hell did he want to tell anyone that on top of everything else, his girlfriend had cheated on him and dumped him. He felt like enough of a loser as it was.

“Feeling better?” Phil came back a few minutes later, lifting the ice pack and examining the wound.

“Yeah. Between the pills and the ice, I’m a new man.” He couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

The therapist smiled, his eyes kind. “I wouldn’t go that far. But stay off it for a while, hang out here. You hurt that leg again and there is going to be hell to pay.” He glanced at Jessica’s office.

“I know exactly what you mean.”

—

Jessica returned after everyone had gone. She’d picked up a few things for the office, including a fresh bag of coffee and a ream of paper for the printer. After putting the items away, she straightened up the room, placing pillows on the cots lined up against the wall and clean towels at the foot of each one.

When she finished, she surveyed the place in quiet satisfaction. It gleamed. The cleaning crew had polished the floor just that morning, and with everything stored away, it looked orderly and neat. Taking a seat beside her desk, she put on her running shoes, and then headed for the door.

It was early evening, her favorite time of day. The game was over; everyone had gone except the grounds crew. The air was undeniably brisk, and she huddled inside her hoodie as she stretched her hamstrings, and then her calf muscles.

After warming up with a walk, she picked up the pace to a jog. The first stars emerged as night fell, but lights blazed around the field, illuminating her path.

She’d been running since she could remember. When she was little, like most children, she did it for fun, for the sheer exhilaration of the exercise. But now it was much more. As the cold air filled her lungs, she took a deep breath and enjoyed the utter stillness.

It was her way of calming her mind and de-stressing. As she broke into a jog, she realized she needed that now more than ever, for her thoughts tumbled into each other like the towels she’d just taken out of the dryer.

Gavin. As she ran on the warming track, she thought of the courage it took to start over, to rebuild after an injury, to hope against hope to be once again back where he’d been, pounding on the plate with a bat and sending the ball soaring while the fans got to their feet and cheered.

It had to be heady, that feeling. Yet she got the sense that he wasn’t in it for accolades; it was more about personal achievement. Exceeding yesterday’s goal, and setting an even higher one for tomorrow. Reaching a batting average that the year before he would have thought impossible, and then doing it again.

She understood, and also could empathize with the fear and anger he must be experiencing when he considered losing all that. She would keep him focused on getting better, give him enough to do every day so that he slept at night, tired but good tired. There were times in life that distraction was the best way to get through a difficult period, and this was one of them.

Yet she didn’t know how to stop that little flutter in her heart when Gavin looked at her, or the racing of her pulse when he gave her that sexy grin…

Picking up the pace, she rounded second, breathless from the exertion, and felt the vibration of her cell. Plugging in her earbud, she grinned as she glanced at the iPhone. It was her brother Rory. She wasn’t surprised; he usually called around this time, keeping her company during her run.

“Yo, what’s up?”

“What’s up with you?” she asked, slowing to a walk.

“Another day in paradise.” She could picture his shudder. Her brother was playing for Boston, and he wasn’t in love with New England weather. “So I hear you guys got Gavin King in a trade?”

“Yep. He’s on the DL for a knee injury. I pulled the short straw and got to work with him.”

“He could be a real asset once he gets healthy,” Rory commented. “He’s still young, and with the way he can hit? He could be a star.”

“That’s the plan. The management team is gambling that he will come back and take Ryan Wakeman’s place. We have good pitching, but we do need a hitter.”