Page 98 of Blitzing Emily

“Oh, God, Amy, he’s not getting up. What happened?”

The crowd was silent.

“He’s fine,” Amy soothed. “Maybe he just got the wind knocked out of him.”

The trainer, the team doctor, and the defensive coaches ran out to Brandon. Emily couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She jumped up out of her seat. She had to get to him.

Amy grabbed her arm. “Stay here.”

“He needs me.”

“No. Em, he’ll be fine. He’s just—let’s see what happened.” Brandon was still rolling around on the turf. Someone had picked up his helmet, and it looked like he was clutching his thigh. Amy consulted her TV receiver. “They turned down the sideline microphone. They’re bleeping every other word. It’s picking up Brandon. I think he’s in pain.” Amy smiled wryly. “He likes the ‘F’ word, that’s for sure.”

Finally, the three men clustered around Brandon helped him up. He leaned on them as they made their way back to the sidelines. There was a short discussion with the team’s doctor. Moments later, the same men walked Brandon to the tunnel that led into the locker room. People clapped. Emily watched with one hand over her mouth.

“Where are they going?” Emily said.

“He’ll have an exam and a couple of X-rays,” Amy said. “He’ll probably be back in a few minutes.”

She’d evidently attracted the attention of the people sitting around them as well. Even in a noisy stadium, she could hear people murmuring, “McKenna’s fiancée,” and “Why isshesitting in the stands?” Emily wasn’t sure where they all thought she should be sitting, but they seemed angry somehow. She pasted on a smile she didn’t feel, and Emily and Amy alternated between watching the tiny television screen and waiting for Brandon to re-emerge from the tunnel.

Amy wrapped her arm around Emily’s shoulders. “Listen. The sports guys are all saying that the preliminary injury report looks compatible with a thigh bruise. It’s not his knee, it’s not a broken bone, it’s just painful as hell and he won’t be playing for a couple of weeks. But he’ll be okay.”

“How do you know?”

“Now, buck up, little camper. If the camera guys figure out where we’re sitting and he sees you crying on the video screen, Brandon’s going to be upset. He said to the reporter that he’s hurting, but he’s going to be fine.”

“You’resure.”

Amy nodded. “In the meantime, we’re going to beat the Mustangs. Their quarterback got sacked and their running back got dropped for a significant loss in the first series of the game. They’re toast.”

A few minutes later, Brandon walked back onto the sidelines to applause from the crowd. He’d changed into Sharks logo warm-ups, and leaned on crutches. Someone had wrapped his leg in ice packs. His teammates were either heckling Brandon or cheering on Jon, the second-team guy behind Brandon, who was putting on quite a show for the Denver offense. Amy was still listening to her television receiver, and Emily was staring off into space.

Amy reached out for her sister’s chin, scanned Emily’s face, and said, “Okay. You look fine. They’re talking about you, so you’re probably going to be on TV fairly soon. Smile and wave,” Amy prompted. They both did. The people around them patted Emily on the back and waved at the cameras. “They’re talking about the fact that Brandon must have asked the coach to put him in for a series, and now he’s going to regret it.”

“So, this is my fault.”

“Of course not. He knew you were excited about being here, and he wanted you to see him play. They can get injured at any time. It’s not like this is something new.”

“Goddamn it,” the guy behind Emily complained. “McKenna’s going to be out for at least four weeks. The preliminary report is a deep thigh bruise.”

“Shit. What the hell was he thinking? He should have been riding the bench with the rest of the starters,” someone else chimed in.

Amy turned in her seat. “He’s not injury prone, and he’s motivated to play this year. He’ll work with the trainer till he’s one hundred percent again. It’ll be fine.”

“Didshetell him to play today?” an angry-looking woman demanded, pointing at Emily.

“No, she didn’t.” Amy’s voice was authoritative.

“Can’t she speak for herself?”

Emily was now irritated along with being afraid for Brandon, but she forced herself to take a deep breath. Getting into a screaming match with a complete stranger wasn’t going to help matters. Maybe the best thing to do was to ignore her. Amy stuck one of the ear pods into Emily’s ear so she could hear Brandon’s interview with the network’s sidelines reporter.

“Brandon, what happened?” the woman asked.

“I tackled Mr. Davis in the open field, and his cleats got tangled up with my thigh. The team doctor and trainer think I have a thigh bruise. One thing’s for sure, it hurts.”

“You weren’t expected to play today. Why did you change your mind?”

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