Page 27 of Unraveling Rain
“Hey, good morning,” I say as I get closer.
He’s wearing shorts and a sleeveless shirt.
“Heading to the gym?” he asks.
I nod.
“Cool, I could use a gym buddy. I’m Nathan, by the way.”
He offers his hand, and I shake it firmly.
“I’m Xander. Nice to meet you.”
We start walking toward the stairs.
“Are you an athlete?” Nathan asks.
I nod. “You?”
“Yeah. I play soccer in Charlotte,” he says as we step into the gym.
“Cool, I play hockey.”
The second the word leaves my mouth, a shot of electricity runs through my body. I’ve been playing since I was ten and fell madly in love with the game the moment my stick hit the puck into the net.
Yeah, I need to get back on the ice and fucking play like I never have before.
We both hop on bikes. A comfortable silence falls between us as we start pedaling.
After a few minutes, once I’ve warmed up, I try to stretch my arms above my head, but my right shoulder is still stiff.
“I see you two decided to start your day early,” a guy about my age says, walking into the gym.
Nathan nods in greeting.
“I’m Dylan,” the guy adds, stepping forward. “I’ll be your physical therapist.”
I smile and increase my speed. “Nice to meet you, man. I’m Xander—but I guess you already know that.”
He chuckles and hops on a treadmill.
“After cardio, we can do some stretching exercises,” he says to me, then turns to Nathan. “I thought Dr. Gutierrez gave you the all-clear.”
Nathan sighs. “Yeah, he did. But I wanted to get one more workout in before heading home. No one is waiting for me there, so I’m not really in any rush.”
Dylan nods and starts jogging.
“How long were you here?” I ask Nathan as he matches my pace.
“About a month? Yeah, something like it.” He stretches his arms. “When my team recommended this place, I thought they were crazy, you know? Me? In a facility for physical therapy? But now… I don’t want to leave. It’s been a great experience.”
I smile. Good to hear another athlete speak so highly of this place.
“You know you can come back anytime—but we’d prefer if you don’t,” Dylan says with a grin, and we all chuckle.
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but watching Dylan interact so freely with his patients makes me feel more comfortable here.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to come back injured,” Nathan says. “Maybe I need to look into buying a piece of land here and spend my off-season in the mountains.”
