“If I can do anything, you know I’m here,” Cooper said.
“That goes both ways.”
“Management says they’re waiting for reports on your recovery before they make decisions for next year.”
“I’ll be out of the cast by the draft and free agency.”The cast would be coming off just before the end of June when those things would happen.I tilted it, already looking dingy from the mass of ink covering the surface.The whole team had signed it.
“They’ll be planning before then.”He huffed a breath.“I have some pull, but my broken leg and your hand leaves a lot of ifs for them.Just, do whatever you can to make them happy.Our bones will heal.But right now your head is the biggest hurdle I’m facing in my arguments to keep the team together.”
“I promise.I’ll do whatever I can.”
“Thanks.I trust you.I want what’s best for you, you know?And if something is bothering you, get it out.Release the poison.Be healthy, mind and body.Despite how I sound, that’s more important at the end of the day.”
“But winning the Cup might be the best medicine.”
He grinned back at me.“I totally agree.”
“Thanks for doing this.”
“Not a problem,” Fitch said from the driver’s seat of the rental car he’d picked up at the Vancouver airport.“If I hadn’t, the team would have sent a babysitter with you, and that might have led to punching someone again.”
They’d wanted to send an aide to the condo to help me out or keep an eye on me after a minor accident with a bread knife.I checked the bandage on my left wrist.There was no bleeding, so the stitches were holding.It was a simple accident.Well, not so simple since it was difficult to figure out how I’d managed to slip the knife down to my wrist, but it was an accident, not a call for help.It certainly didn’t mean I needed round-the-clock babysitting.
I’d managed to avoid the aide in Toronto because I’d been about to fly out.But the team was hiring someone to come every day to Grandma’s house while I was there.If I hadn’t promised Cooper I’d do whatever the team asked to help his plan succeed, I’d have fought against it.
Still, Fitch was going above and beyond to get me to PoCo.He was spending most of his offseason in California.He’d promised to stay a couple of days till the team got their person arranged and then was heading south to see his family.Until we both had to return to Toronto for Cooper’s camp in July.
“I appreciate it.”Between baring my soul to the therapist and having eyes on me every day, I was going to be hitting my tolerance limits for sociability.
Fitch took the turn the GPS requested.“I’m not in a hurry to get to California.”
“Because of the playoffs?”
Fitch rolled his neck.“That doesn’t help.But since I’ve never won the Cup, I’m used to that.”
I nodded, not sure if he wanted to talk about his real reason.I didn’t like to talk about myself, so I assumed other people didn’t either.
“It’ll be nice to see my family, of course,” he said, making another turn.We were getting closer—I recognized this Tim Horton’s.
Fitch had been traded in from Edmonton last offseason.Next to Cooper, he was as close to me as any of my teammates.We were both from the West Coast, both divorced, no kids.I still didn’t know him that well.Except that his family was obviously different than mine.
“But my ex-wife wants to ‘talk.’”
“Ah.”Unlike me, his divorce hadn’t made the scandal sheets.“Do you want to get back together with her?”
“No.”His response was quick and forceful.“She left when we moved to Edmonton.Missed her life in California more than she wanted to be with me.If I wasn’t worth staying for then, I’m not going to say ‘sure’ if she decides Toronto is good enough to take me with it.”
Being married to a professional athlete could be tough, including the part where trades happened and players often didn’t get a say in where they lived.That hadn’t been the problem with me and Sharleen, but I’d seen it with others.Would it be a problem for Jess and Alek?Was I a bad person to kind of hope it was, and I’d have my twin back?
No.I wasn’t even going to let that thought into my head.We were moving forward.She needed to be happy, even if it was with him, and I needed to come to terms with it.Enough brooding about my own problems.“Is that what she wants?”
He shrugged.“Don’t know.I’m not going to worry about it.Last I heard, she was dating another player, but that’s nothing to do with me.”
“You’re seeing someone, right?”Since Fitch roomed with Alek, I’d heard about what was happening with him, via Jess.She and Alek often had the place to themselves while Fitch was out.
“Just something casual.Neither of us wants serious.”
“Ever?”