Page 128 of Unbreakable
I did keep him from scoring right then. But what I also did was slam my left foot into the net, forcing me to fall flat with my foot caught behind me.
I’m a flexible guy, but no amount of flexibility can prevent a knee from going farther than it should.
The pop and the pain were instantaneous. I fell back, my body coming to a full stop against the wall as the goal ripped off its posts.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. This is it: the career-ending injury. I’ll never skate again.
I was panting from the exertion, and coughing from the pain because I didn’t know what else to do. My compression pants felt like they were going to split from the swelling, the pressure extending to my shin pads.
Whatever was happening, I was fucked.
Play stopped immediately, if for no other reason than the goal was off its posts.
Jack was the first by my side. “You good?”
“No. I think this is it, Jackie. My knee. It’s swelling fast.”
“Medical’s coming, brother. Just hang on.”
All I could think about was Jeanine. Greyson. Alice. Bella. All there, watching me, with Jeanine probably losing her mind. Hell, I was losing my mind.
Medical was able to get me up and help me skate off the ice without using my left knee. After they got me down the tunnel, I tried putting weight on that leg. It felt like the whole thing was going to give way.
“Don’t do that just yet,” the therapist said. “Let’s go check you out.”
They got me up on a table in the PT room, and that’s when I started to lose it. Taking off my skate and the rest of my gear was agony. I’m not too much of a crier, but the pain itself made my eyes water. “Can somebody get my phone? I need to talk to J.”
The PT intern rushed out of the room, but when she came back, she had Jeannie with her.
“J.”
One side of the table cleared out as Jeannie stepped in, wrapping me up in a hug.
“I think this is it, J.” My breath caught. “It’s over.”
“You don’t know that,” she hummed, rubbing her hand over my back. “Let’s find out what’s going on.”
She held both sides of my face and kissed me. I was sweaty, and snotty, and just generally hockey gross, but she wasn’t deterred. “Let’s find out what’s going on, and I’m right with you. Okay? Whatever you want to do, I’ll back you up. You and me.”
“I don’t want it to be over,” I said, hardly recognizing my choked voice.
She pursed her lips, eyes scanning over my face. “It might not be, baby. You want me to stay with you?”
I nodded, letting out the kind of whimper only she ever heard from me. “I love you, Jeannie.”
Jeannie held my hand and stepped close to my head on the table, glancing at our trainer and the PT to let them step back in. “I love you too. We’ve got this. You and me, okay?”
“You and me,” I said, coughing from the pain.
Jeannie kissed my temple, and my grip tightened on her fingers as my leg was gently lifted. She shifted so my arm was folded at my chest, her holding my hand at my opposite shoulder. Someone brought her a chair so she wasn’t hunched over me. I responded to the people working on me, letting themknow which ways hurt and where I could feel nothing. But my eyes stayed fixed on Jeanine. She was my peace and solace, her gentle hands smoothing my sweaty hair back. She whispered quiet things to me while the medical staff chatted. She told me she was there, that it would be okay, that she had me.
And for all those months when we struggled, that had been what I needed from her. I was hurting, maybe not like she was. I initially thought of it as if I was on land and she was underwater, but looking back, I can see that we were both floundering in dark water. I might have been closer to the surface than she was, but we were both submerged all the same.
“We’re going to have to send you home to get the swelling down and do some imaging in the morning. Any test is going to be too unclear right now.”
I glanced up at Jeanine. “The kids?”
“They’re with our friends.”
