Rae's medical clearance came through on the first Monday of December, exactly on the timeline Dr. Reyes had projected, and the specific joy of stepping back onto the ice for full-contact practice after two weeks of careful, limited rehab work felt, to Rae, like something close to rebirth.
"How does it feel?" Whitfield asked, watching her run through a series of transition drills with careful, professional attention.
"Better than it's felt in two years," Rae admitted, and meant it — the rehab protocol, combined with actually addressing the underlying tear instead of skating through it, had left her knee stronger and more stable than it had been since before the accident. "I think hiding it this long actually made things worse. I wish I'd trusted someone with it sooner."
"For what it's wo
