“Okay.”
“In the meantime, get to work.You’re in too big demand for me to pull you now, and I see it’s almost time for your next session.”
Despite his medical discharge, Barry still projected an air of authority that made Spencer want to salute him and answer with, “Sir, yes, sir.”Instead, he nodded and left the office feeling lighter than he had this time yesterday for having gotten that off his chest.He took the new guy through the usual questionnaire, then led him to the training floor to get an idea of how to proceed.
By the end of the evaluation, Spencer’s client was dripping with sweat and completely red in the face.“I haven’t done anything like this in ages.”
It showed in the results, but Spencer knew better than to say that.Instead, he handed him a towel and a water bottle.“I hate to tell you that’ll make it hard starting out.It’s gonna hurt tomorrow, and you can deal with that by taking a hot shower or bath tonight.Try some arnica or CBD gel on your limbs after you get out.But the more you do it, the stronger you’ll get and the easier it’ll be.”
As Spencer spoke, it occurred to him that not talking about this stuff much before had probably made his current therapy more difficult.There were more parallels between this and his job than he’d ever imagined, and that somehow made it easier to take.
But no matter how hard it got, he’d put in the same work on his mental health that he’d expect from his clients on their physical workouts.The same work Misty had put into going from a less than serious athlete to a World Winter Games contender.The thought of her reminded him of last night’s call, boosted his mood, and motivated him to be a better man.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Attention, everyone!”In the morning ritual, Ms.Coolidge addressed the combine over the breakfast buffet.“It’s been three and a half challenging weeks, but everyone here has risen to meet them admirably.That’s made it harder to decide who will be on the World Winter Games team, but we truly can’t put it off any longer.We’ll be announcing the lineup later this afternoon.”
The group had been listening quietly, but the announcement sucked all the air out of the room.Every day that passed had brought them a little closer to this moment, and now it was within reach.
“In the meantime, there are no official training sessions on the docket today.However, if enough people, especially enough pilots are interested, I’ll take anyone who wants to go sledding to the track at 11:00.”
Frantic buzzing filled the room in the wake of the announcements.“I can’t sit here waiting around,” Tish said.“Who wants to join me in a run around the lake?”
“Good idea, but this might not be the best weather for it.”Marla nodded toward a window getting lashed with snowflakes.
“We could do a group yoga session,” Tallulah suggested.“Take some mats into a conference room, I could get my trainer on Zoom, and it’ll clear our minds.”
“That doesn’t work on me.I might see if anyone else is going to the track.”Either way, Misty would win.She’d get a little more practice in if she made the team, and one more chance to go sledding if she didn’t.
She piled into the van with eight or nine of the others.Eva Gardner rode next to her.They hadn’t talked much since the first days, and Misty felt ready to change that.“You like sledding?”
Eva shrugged.“It’s been good.”
“Just good?Whatever happens today, I couldn’t pass up the chance to do it again.I don’t know about you, but my gym back home doesn’t offer bobsledding.”It offered just about everything else, though.
“It doesn’t.”
