Page 59 of Buried Treasure
Chapter 20
Andy had been doing his best to keep busy and not think about Sydney Barton — and definitely not think about her standing in Ryan's apartment. The rookie had already come over several times to apologize and explain that it wasn't what he thought it looked like. Maybe that was the truth. OK, more than likely it was the truth. But no matter what the truth was, things didn't look good for Andy. He either tried to trust a woman who jumped in bed with a hockey player he took care of — and that wouldn't be the first time — or he had made a complete ass out of himself by assuming that's what happened when it really hadn't been the case.
Yep, he had screwed up, and he had himself to blame. There could only be one outcome after all of this, and it didn't include Sydney Barton.
Instead of dwelling on what he had lost, Andy decided to occupy himself with work. He spent an entire day looking up experimental food plans for athletes and new exercise techniques to reduce injuries during the season. He reorganized the cupboards in the trainers room, which is something he kept saying he would do but had put off. He stayed late one night when the arena was practically deserted to do inventory of the store room and figure out what needed to be ordered before the playoffs started. His work life was more than productive to make up for his lack of a personal life.
Friday's practice was thankfully uneventful — only a few bruises and scrapes needed to be tended to after the players got off the ice. Then there was Ryan. Andy had thought about handing his case off to one of his assistants so he didn't have to face the rookie but decided against it. He had followed Ryan's case this long, had stood with him from the moment he collapsed in the locker room.
Sure enough, Ryan came walking into the trainer's room with a towel wrapped around his waist after getting out of the team's shower.
"Hey," he said apprehensively.
"Hey." Andy tried to respond as cheerfully as he could, determined to put this Sydney thing past him, and what better way to do that than to pretend that nothing happened. "So how was practice today?"
"Um, good," Ryan said apprehensively. "Mark said you wanted to check my incision."
"Yep! Hop up on the table."
Ryan did as he was told while staring at Andy like he expected him to just say something or do something. But Andy had nothing to say about any of it and decided he would rather just go down the checklist.
"Can you let me see the incision real quick?" Ryan loosened his towel a bit, and Andy gave it a quick check. "Looks good. How does it feel?"
"Fine," the rookie replied.
Andy pulled the towel back up and walked over to his iPad on the counter with his checklist.
"Does it hurt when you move?" he asked.
"Not anymore."
"What about when you played this week?"
"A little, depending on how I move."
"And how about when you got boarded the other day? Is there still any pain lingering from that?"
He heard Ryan sigh behind him and turned to see the rookie still sitting on the table with his head ducked down.
"Ryan, it's OK if there's still a little pain when you get hit," Andy said. "I'm not going to suggest you stop playing for something minor like that."
"That's not what this is about," he replied. "Are you just going to ignore what happened the other day at my apartment?"
He shrugged in reply. "I would prefer that."
Ryan jumped down from the table and walked over, his hands on his towel-clad hips. "I don't blame you for not trusting players around your women, especially after what happened. I mean, Dylan is a great backup goalie but a dick for stealing your woman."
"So now you feel sorry for me?"
"No," Ryan said defiantly. "But you need to at least give Sydney a chance."
A chance? Even if this was all just Andy overreacting for no reason — and he knew that may the case — even if that was all it was, this was a bigger problem than just Sydney. But he wasn't going to get into all of that with Ryan.
"We'll see," he said calmly.
Ryan shook his head in disbelief. "I'm just trying to help, Andy."
"I don't need your help," Andy said.
