“Hold my hand.” I took his hand, damp palm and all, in mine, and lined up, prepared to answer all the questions.
Predictably, mine were all about my head and how I felt about not being on the ice when we won.
I gave out variations on my standard response. “I’m fine. Just a light ding, no harm done.” Finished off with a little grin. All mostly true, other than the slight headache, which wasn’t really a surprise.
“I’m sure it was an accident. Jason must feel awful about it.” Undoubtably a big fat lie, but who cared how he felt? I didn’t.
“I’m super proud of Robbie. He just proved exactly what he said in the pre-game interview. He has our backs. Never doubted him for one millisecond.” Absolutely true.
“I’m thrilled for him to have his own moment. He’s worked just as hard as the rest of us and deserves every second of the praise he’s getting. He really came through for us, and for me, especially.”
“You didn’t have to say that,” Robbie said to me as we were lining up to receive our Trial gold medals and new Team Canada fleeces.
“Say what?”
“All that about me having my moment and?—”
“Dude.” I grabbed him into a hug. “You fucking rocked that shit.”
“Just doing my job.”
I stepped back to glare at him. “You arguably have the shittiest job of all of us. You train just as hard, practice just as long, and there’s never any guarantee you even get to step footon the ice. And then, if you do, everyone is second guessing if you’re good enough. That’s fucking brutal and you fucking rocked it. Take the gold medal and the fleece that you earned, and shut up about it.”
He laughed. “Okay, okay. Thank you.”
One would think there would have been copious amounts of celebratory sex going on in our house that night when we got home. Instead, Jacob, Emileigh and the kids, Shaw, Darby and their young team, Michael’s parents, and Renee, a woman Carol sat next to but scrupulously never touched, crowded into our home to eat takeout Chinese food and hash over every play, every nuance, and especially, my oh-so-graceful dump onto the ice.
“As fun as this is,” I said quietly to Mikko, who happened to be closest, “I’m over this. My head’s killing me.”
Instantly, he stood up and clapped his hands. “Okay.”
Heads turned to look up at him. “Kaikki ulos.”
“What does that mean?” Ava, the younger of my nieces, whispered to her dad.
“It means everybody out,” Robbie said, getting up to stand next to Mikko. “Not you guys,” he added to Jacob more quietly. “But maybe?—”
“Jeez, both of you…” I also stood up with a wince I clearly didn’t hide well enough because Perry frowned at me. “Nobody has to leave. Though—” I smiled at Mikko. “—I appreciate you. I just have a headache. I mean, it wasn’t hard, but I did hit my head on the ice. It hurts a bit. I’m going to turn in. You all stay as long as you want. It’s a celebration, and it should be. This is a big deal.”
Perry and Alan both got up as I wound my way through the people towards our room.
“No, you two have to stay and celebrate. Please. I’m going to lie down.”
“I’ll go with him,” Darby said, appearing at my side.
“There, see?” I said. “He’s a doctor. I’m in good hands.”
Reluctantly, they both went back to the main room while Darby followed me into our bedroom. The door had barely closed behind me when he started peppering me with questions.
“How bad does it hurt? Are you dizzy? Do you feel like you have to vomit?”
“No. God, relax. It’s nothing like that. I’ve been concussed before and this is not that, I promise. But I did hit my head and I’m feeling it. I want to lie down and watch something on TV I don’t need my brain for. Stay and talk, or feel free to poke me every once in a while.” I dropped my new fleece onto a chair and myself onto the bed. “Whatever you want.” I huffed, punched a pillow, then grinned at him. “Also, it’s good to see you.”
“We’ve missed you all but…” He shrugged then returned my grin. “Olympics. That’s a big deal.”
“Weird, right?”
“Deserved.”
