“You haven’t told Kelty about your hamstring, have you?” Brett asked. At practice on Monday night, Sean had stopped mid-scrimmage and left the ice. Brett followed him to the locker room before the rest of the guys ended practice and found him icing the underside of his leg.
Sean grunted. “No need. It’ll heal up with a little rest.”
“Do you need to get it looked at?” They were four days post practice. Not that he’d expect a muscle strain to solve itself that fast, but they were in their mid-thirties now. It wasn’t like when they were college-aged and could sprain an ankle, tape it up, and skate the next day. “I bet Penny would give you her thoughts.”
“I don’t need anyone to weigh in. I pulled a muscle. It’ll be fine by Monday.”
Brett took the last load of bags to the bin. “Sorry you’re dealing with that, buddy.”
Sean unraveled the twine from around a bundle of firewood. “What about Penny?”
“What about her?”
Sean walked back to the van to get the hatchet Kelty had brought with her from the house. He didn’t comment further, just let both of their questions hang in the air like a ping-pong ball drifting toward a racquet.
“She’s a great physical therapist, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Sean snagged two pieces of firewood from the table and walked them over to a stump. He set the first piece upright and started stripping off kindling with the hatchet. “You know that wasn’t what I was asking.”
Brett started pulling out the paper products and arranging them on the table next to the large orange water cooler. “She’s a great housemate.”
“Also not—”
“What do you want me to say? Are you hoping to hear we’re sleeping together? Because we’re not.”Unfortunately.That pit in his stomach stretched wide as the image of Penny’s legs stretching in front of the window blinked into his mind’s eye.
Sean worked methodically with the hatchet, sending shavings and strips of wood onto the ground next to the stump. “It seems like you’re keen. And it’s been a while. That’s all I was getting at.”
“It’s been a while for a reason.” Brett moved on to setting up the camp chairs around the fire pit. Sean and most of the rest of the team had seen him at his worst before he started putting in the work to get sober. They experienced first-hand his erratic behavior and emotional instability. They had to deal with the aftermath of his toxic relationship with Amber, a waitress at One Place. He hadn’t been able to go to the pub with them after games for almost a year before she quit.
“How long are you going to punish yourself?”
Brett exhaled. “It’s not a punishment. I’m learning how to do it right.”
Sean continued whittling away at the quarter log. “Kelty used to buy bags of All Dressed chips when they were on sale because she knew they were my favourite. Every time I saw them in the pantry, I’d grab a bag and snack while watching the game or something.”
Brett slid another chair from the bag and pulled to open it up. He had no idea why Sean was telling him this.
“In the third period, I’d notice the bag was nearly empty. No matter how many times I tried not to eat most of the bag, I couldn’t get it handled. So I told Kelty not to buy them anymore.”
Brett slipped the strap of the carrying case over the back of the chair and moved on to the last two. “If this is leading to how you kicked a chip addiction—”
“Not an addiction. But I had no self-control. She stopped buying All Dressed, and problem solved.” Sean tossed the now much thinner piece of wood into the fire pit and started on the second block. “I went six months thinking I’d figured out how to stop eating junk. Until Suraj brought me a bag for the tourney.”
“I remember, you slammed that at One Place. Didn’t order an app.”
“Right. I realized that night I hadn’t learned anything. I’d just avoided having chips in front of my face.”
Brett set the last chair in the dirt and sat. “Spit it out, Cap.”
Sean set the hatchet on the stump and started collecting the splinters he’d created. “You won’t figure out portion control until you put a bag of chips back in the pantry.”
“So . . . you think I need to get back on the horse?”
Sean carried the kindling to the fire pit and set the pile next to the metal ring. “You did say you needed more physical activity.”
Brett picked up a pine cone and lobbed it at him.
It was three o’clock when Tyler and the girls got back from their hike. Brett and Sean had already set up their tents, and Brett had just started pumping up his air mattress when he saw Penny standing over her tent supplies with a frown.
