After the Gold

Chapter 5-4

THAT AFTERNOON AT GROUP practice, Katie’s knee twinged. She tried to hide it, but Brendan saw her brief grimace of pain. Of course he did. At the break he grabbed her hand and, without a word, led her to the side of the rink where Dr. Meyer was sitting talking with Leo.

Dr. Meyer asked her some questions, prodded at her leg carefully, then looked at Katie over the top of her glasses.

“You know what I’m going to say, don’t you.” Dr. Meyer had been on the Team USA medical staff in addition to being the tour doctor for five years running. She’d had an eye on Katie’s knee for as long as Katie had known her and was one of the few people Katie trusted with her injury.

“Take it easy, don’t work too hard, and tell you if anything changes instead to trying to hide it?”

“Exactly. Just like I’ve been telling you for months.”

Katie nodded.

“Except you seem to keep doing exactly the opposite,” Dr. Meyer said, sternly unamused.

“It’s complicated,” Katie said, because it was. Taking it easy could radically limit her future choices as easily as pushing too hard. That it was all tangled up with Brendan and their impending official retirement only made it worse.

“Yes, and so is your f*******: status. But you don’t need me to tell you what happens if you let this get too bad.”

***