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He laughs as he says, “Clearly, and seriously, Nick, please call me Gerry.”
“Okay, Gerry,” I reply, still feeling weird about that. The guy is doing all this work for me for free, Jeff insisting I didn’t need to worry about anything, even though I know this must be costing a fortune. “How’s things?”
“Well, I think I might have some good news,” he starts and I immediately sit up, my heart racing.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t get too excited just yet,” he says, as though he knows I’m already packing my bags. “But there is a clause in your contract with the Holdens that we may be able to exploit here.”
My brow narrows because I honestly have no idea what he’s talking about. I signed that contract so long ago and to be honest, I didn’t really pay much attention to it because I never thought I had to. I’ve known the Holdens my entire life and I trust them with it too.
“It relates to endangering your future and their brand by association,” he continues, as though sensing my confusion. “And I think if you’re being forced to jump too early and they are risking further harm to you, then that can be damaging to the Holden brand. I need to explore it a little more, but I wanted to give you a head’s up on it.”
I swallow, my mind churning with this news and how it might relate to the events of the weekend, the conversations Lis and I had, and everything I was trying to piece together just before he rang. Nothing is clear, with most of my thoughts just speculation at this point, so I have no idea if it’s something Gerry would be interested in hearing. There is one thing that may help though.
“So, I thought I might go and see my original surgeon, see if I can get a second opinion on my knee,” I start, unsure if this will help, but knowing it might if what Gerry has just told me is true. If my knee is still damaged, then surely that would help with this clause in my contract.
“Oh?” he says, the sound of shuffling coming through the phone as though he’s moving around.
“Yeah,” I confirm, shifting the ice pack so it’s under my knee.
I spend the next twenty or so minutes filling Gerry in on how the team doctor and coach are pressuring me to have the cortisone injection, despite my concerns about how it might just be masking a bigger problem. How they had me get another MRI after I insisted something was still wrong, but then told me it was clear just a few hours later, which didn’t seem right.
“When are you seeing your surgeon?” he asks when I finally finish.
“Not till next week,” I reply. “I have the MRI tomorrow though.”
Gerry lets out a low hum as though he’s thinking through everything I’ve told him. “Okay, well, ideally I’d really like you to avoid skiing or jumping until you see your surgeon, Nick, but I know that won’t be easy for you. But this, getting a second opinion on your knee, could definitely help your case if they find something on the MRI. Keep me posted with everything and in the meantime, let me look into this clause with the Holdens a bit more and I’ll come back to you as soon as I can, alright?”
“Yeah,” I say with a nod, knowing that not jumping is going to be next to impossible. “And I’ll let you know when I hear anything about my knee.”
After we hang up,my phone rings almost immediately and this time when I look at the screen it is Lis’ name lighting it up. “Hey, babe,” I say.
“Hey, so I have some news,” she says straight away.
“Okay, but everything’s okay, isn’t it? With you and the baby?”
Lis lets out a soft laugh. “Yeah, we’re good, sorry I didn’t mean to worry you.” I let out a sigh of relief as Lis continues, as though she can’t wait to tell me whatever this is. “So, I was talking to Zoey earlier and two things. First, she thinks you need to file a complaint with HR or whoever looks after you guys on the team. She says?—”
“You know that’s gonna create a total shit fight if I do that, don’t you,” I say, interrupting her.
“I know, that’s what I said. But Zoey says, nothing ever happens if you stand still.”
Chuckling, I shake my head, totally able to picture Zoey Holden saying something like that. She’s always been a take no shit and give no shits kind of girl, same as her brother. “Yeah, she’s got a point I guess, but it’s still going to make things really uncomfortable with the coach.”
“I know,” Lis admits, letting out a breath. “And I get you might not want to do it, so I’m cool if this isn’t a path you want to go down. But the other thing…” She trails off now, as though she’s suddenly unsure if she should tell me.
“Spit it out, babe,” I say with a laugh.
“Well, I might have contacted a reporter.”
“What?” I ask, shocked because this is not at all what I expected her to say.
“Yeah, this woman did a story on Badger Creek a while back, during the renovations. She interviewed Zoey and me, and?—”
“I know, I saw the post you put on Instagram,” I tell her. “It was a great interview.”
“You did?” she asks, her words quiet.
