Page 3 of Scoring the Mountain Man

He nods his head, then asks, “Will you be doing your recovery here?”

“No,” I whisper, before finding my voice and saying louder, “I plan to go home to Ashwood and stay in my grandparents cabin that they left me.”

“Okay. I’ll call up there and schedule a physical therapist to see you in four weeks,” he says as he makes his way to the door. Before he walks out, he turns and looks at me. “If you do what you're supposed to for your recovery, you could have a small chance of getting back on the ice.”

“A small chance is better than no chance at all, Doc,” I tell him and he nods, then walks out the door.

Before I can contemplate what the doctor told me, my door opens again and this time Wes and the rest of my teammates walk in with Coach.

“Jax, man, how you feeling?” Wes asks.

“I’m still groggy from the surgery and the meds they gave me, but I seem to be doing okay,” I respond.

“You’ll get through this kid, I know you will,” Coach Peters says and I nod.

“Yeah, it sucks we won’t have you on the ice for the rest of the season, Captain.” Jameson Peters, our goalie superstar, tells me.

Jameson is the Coache’s son, and has more pressure on him to prove he belongs, more so than the rest of the team, but the man is an amazing goalie. He has more shutouts than anyone in the league and he’s also one of my best friends.

I look at Wes who has been my best friend since elementary school. Wesley Phillips and I grew up together. We met when we were three at the park and our mothers became really good friends. We started playing hockey at the same time, and were both ecstatic when we got selected for the Montana Mavericks together.

There isn’t anything we wouldn’t do for each other. Looking at him right now, I can see the sadness in his eyes, but hisface has the biggest smile. Aside from his sister, he is the most optimistic person I have ever met.

Even when he and his sister lost both of their parents to a car accident a couple of years ago, neither one would allow the sadness to consume them. Wes just said, “At least they stayed together,” and Aubrey nodded in agreement.

“When are they releasing you?” Jameson asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

“In a couple of days, I think,” I tell him.

“You still want to go home to the cabin?” Wes asks.

I nod. “I think that’s the best place for me to do my recovery,” I respond.

“Just do what the doctor’s tell you, son, and you’ll be back on the ice in time for next season,” Coach Peters says.

“Will do, Coach.”

I don’t need to tell them anything about what the doctor’s said, because no matter what, I will be back on the ice in six months.

One month later

“Man, you look rough,” Wes tells me when he walks through the door of my cabin and sees me sitting on my couch.

“What do you mean?” I ask surly.

“You are looking like one of the mountain men that hide away up here. The ones that we always talked about when we were younger and see them in town once a year. When was the last time you shaved?” he asks.

I shrug my shoulders, because truth be told, I haven’t since the day of the last game I played in before everything happened.

“I think you’ve spent too much time up here by yourself. You're becoming really surly and a recluse. Don't you start physical therapy tomorrow?” Wes asks.

“I guess so. How do you know that?” I look at him curiously.

He shrugs his shoulders before saying, “I may have been keeping up with the time you've been out.”

“Hopefully I’ll be able to do something more than just lie around here doing nothing,” I say broodingly.

“I get it man. Hell, we need you to get better and get back on the team. We are definitely missing you.”

---