Page 94 of Force Play

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I give him a soft smile. “Don’t be so unsure of yourself, Greg. You’ve done well down here with us. I know you’re new, and you still have new-guy nerves, but give yourself some grace. Rivas’ ankle should do better with how you taped it up. Now, if he actually just takes it easy, we can keep him off the IL.”

“He’s going to listen to that, right?”

I place my hand firmly on my shoulder. “First thing to learn about professional athletes: most of them respect us and our opinions, but still do what they want. Arturo is stubborn as hell. We’ll be taping him up again tomorrow and probably the day after that as well.”

Greg lets out a breath. “So much for helping them prevent injury.”

“We do what we can,” I laugh. “We’ll never prevent all injuries; that’s just impossible. But wecanhelp the team keep injuries to a minimum. You should be good to get out of here now, though,” I state. “You can take Nathan back with you. I just need to check in with Dr. Coltrain, so you don’t need to be here for that.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then, Lucia,” he waves as he heads out the door, leaving me alone to talk to our physician.

At least, I thought I was alone.

“There’s no hope for anyone that needsthatmuch help,” Logan scoffs from behind me.

I roll my eyes before plastering on a fake ass smile and turning to face him. “I was here when you joined the training staff, Logan. It took you a little bit to get comfortable, too.”

“You basically had to hold his hand the entire time.”

“No, I didn’t,” I state. “I watched him, but he did the work himself.”

“It’s probably a shit tape job,” he huffs.

I cross my arms and narrow my eyes. “He did it the exact way I would have done it.”

“My point exactly.”

I sigh. “I’m not interested in your commentary right now, Logan. Let me be on my way so I can talk to Dr. Coltrain before I head back to the hotel.”

He sneers when he doesn’t get the reaction from me that he wants, and then he stalks out of the training room.

I turn on my heel and head to the back of the room to Dr. Coltrain’s office door. I knock once before he bellows from the other side. “Come on in.”

I step inside and find Dave already sitting across from him in one of the chairs. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize you were here, Dave. I can come back in a little bit.”

He chuckles. “You’re fine. I was actually just in here talking to Dr. Coltrain about you.”

“About me?” I ask, taking the remaining open seat. “Have I done something?”

It’s Dr. Coltrain’s turn to laugh now. “No need to worry, Lucia,” he reassures me, and I sigh in relief. “Dave and I were talking about how impressed we are with you already taking on the mentor role for Nathan and Greg.”

“They’re honestly really ambitious and excited about working with us. I’m more than happy to help them out and give them direction when they need it.”

Dr. Coltrain smiles. “Believe me, that doesn’t go unnoticed.”

“Thank you, Dr. Coltrain. I appreciate that.” I tamp down my grin and focus instead on why I’m here. “I wanted to fill you in on what happened today. Rivas ended up rolling his ankle during batting practice. Greg taped him up, and it looked good, so I’m hoping that gives him some good stability. I know he had that Achilles sprain, so we’re trying to make sure he can keep off the IL.”

“Do you think he’ll keep off the IL?” Dr. Coltrain raises his eyebrow in curiosity.

I let out a breath. “I don’t. Arturo doesn’t like to take it easy when we tell him to. I already prepped Greg on us likely needing to tape him up again tomorrow.”

He sighs and pinches his brow. “He’s going to end up on the IL again.”

“I’m still going to try to avoid that.”

“I know you are. You’re great at what you do, Lucia. In fact, why don’t you come up with an injury prevention plan for Rivas? I’d love to see what ideas you have to help keep him healthy.”

I can’t fight my smile. I’ve been asked for input on plans before, but I’ve never been given the opportunity to create my own. This is something that would really help showcase how well I’d fit in the Head Trainer position next season. “Of course, Dr. Coltrain. I’ll work on that tonight. I can have a plan for you in the morning.”