Page 96 of When Alec Met Evie
“Your family took her home,” I say. “Which means you’re my ride, so I hope you don’t have big plans.”
“Assuming I can even drive,” he says with a slight edge to his voice.
I squeeze his fingers. “What happened?”
He tilts his head to look at me, lifting one arm and tucking it behind his head. “I heard a pop,” he says. “The doctor’s checking the x-ray now, but I’ll need an MRI to really see what’s going on.”
There’s a distance to his voice that worries me—like he’s here, but he’s not reallyhere.Not that I would expect anything different when his entire career could be on the line.
There are so many things I want to know. How he’s feeling. How long his recovery might be. If he’ll need another surgery. If he’s scared, frustrated, angry. I want to know if something happened before the game. Why he didn’t start. Why he was skating like he was legitimately out for blood.
But I don’t ask him any of those questions.
I doubt he’s in the right headspace to answer me honestly, and we aren’t alone anyway. Right now, my job is to just be here. Be whatever support he needs.
“You played quite a game out there,” I say, and he huffs out a strangled laugh.
“A lot of good it did me.”
“But itdiddo good. The Appies won, you had two assists, you were a machine?—”
“Until I wasn’t,” he says sharply, cutting me off. “And now I’m out for how long? For surgery, recovery. And for what? To keep playing when every day, there are stronger, faster,youngerplayers who deserve my spot on the team more than I do.”
“Don’t talk like that,” I say gently. I lift my hand to the good side of his face. “You’re such an asset to this team.”
He closes his eyes, his jaw tensing. “But I’m not,” he says. “Tonight, I played like I should always play, and my body couldn’t handle it.Icouldn’t handle it.”
“But it’s not your fault. Your knee?—”
“Evie,” Alec says gently. He lifts his hand to mine, pressing a kiss to the center of my palm before tugging it away. He winces as he shifts and props himself up on his elbow. “Thank you for trying to make me feel better. But you have to leave this alone. Words can’t fix it. Nothing can.”
My heart squeezes, hating the pain etched along his brow, hating that I reallycan’ttake this away from him. “I know. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to fix anything. It’s just hard to see you hurting.”
Eric returns and adjusts the ice packs on Alec’s knee. When he pulls them away, the swelling and redness is visible even to my untrained eye.
“Listen,” Alec says, reaching for my hand. “I still need to shower and talk to Dr. Samuelson, so I’m going to be a while. If you find Nathan, he can get my keys for you. Just take my truck. I’ll have one of the guys drive me home.”
“I don’t want to leave you here,” I say, my words laced with a panic I wish I didn’t feel. Logically, I know it’s probably not helping him to have me hovering, worrying. But it doesn’t feel right to just walk away either.
He squeezes my fingers, pulling them up to his lips. “I just have to figure this out,” he says. “And you’ve got a lot to think about right now. With Thanksgiving and Megan visiting andDevon coming. I don’t want you to get wrapped up in worrying about me.”
I’m not sure what Alec is implying because none of those things he just mentioned are as important to me as he is. And one of them isn’t an issue at all.
“Devon isn’t coming,” I hear myself say.
It’s astupidthing to say. Totally irrelevant to the moment. But my brain must have its own agenda because those are the words that come out of my mouth.
“What?” Alec says.
For the first time tonight, his eyes are locked on mine and he’s fully present, concern etched in his expression.
“He’s not coming,” I repeat. “He’s going to California instead.”
Alec breathes out a sigh, then leans his head back, tilting his face away from me. “I’m really sorry, Evie,” he says. “Juno deserves better.” He winces and shifts one more time, letting out a low groan as he tries to readjust his knee. Just in the few minutes I’ve been standing here, it seems like his pain has gotten worse.
Before I can say anything else, the trainer, Eric, moves back into the room with an older man I assume is Dr. Samuelson. I take a few steps backward, making room for them, then move all the way to the door.
The doctor is talking to Alec now, but his back is to me, and he’s talking quietly enough that I can’t hear what he’s saying.
