Page 85 of Body Check

thirty

. . .

Amelia

The lounge is devoid of players as my friends and I gather for lunch. We ordered in for a change, and as Joaquin, Patrice, Robby, Vanessa, and I catch up on our respective days, a sense of contentment washes over me.

Jason and I had our first big fight the other day. He apologized, but I can’t get it out of my mind. What if this is too much for him? What if I can’t navigate being his girlfriend instead of his physical therapist? I don’t want him to be my patient, but I can’t turn off that side of my brain.

“What’s wrong, babe?” Robby asks as he scoops some lo mein onto my plate.

“Nothing’s wrong.” I serve him some of the broccoli beef in front of me.

“You heaved the biggest sigh in the history of the world,” he says.

“I’m fine,” I mutter.

“You don’t seem fine,” Joaquin says.

Glaring at him isn’t as satisfying as I thought.

He innocently lifts his hands. “I’m just saying. You seem a little down.”

“For the last few days,” Patrice adds.

Swallowing my courage, I admit, “Had a fight with someone.”

“Ah, man troubles,” Robby says sagely. “Been there, done that.”

“Yeah, I don’t need to hear about your exploits with my brother.”

He laughs. “For once, I was talking about someone else. Come on, tell us all about him.”

I toy with the food on my plate. “It was only a fight.”

“Yeah, but you’ve been seeing him for months,” Patrice says. “Surely, you’ve fought before.”

Blinking at her, my face heats. “How did you know?”

“Because you walk around this place with your heart in your eyes,” Vanessa points out. “You’re always smiling at your phone. Whoever you’re seeing is good for you.”

“So,” Joaquin presses. “Who is he?”

I shove a giant bite of broccoli into my mouth, making an exaggerated show of chewing.

“Do we know him?” Robby tacks on.

I shake my head.

“How’d you meet? You’re always working,” Vanessa points out. “You take the most road trips of all three PTs.”

“I like to travel,” I mumble.

“Bullshit,” Patrice says. “Nobody likes this schedule.”

She, Joaquin, and Robby travel for every single road trip, whereas Vanessa and I both have a team who rotates on-call schedules.

Although, now that she’s eight months pregnant, she isn’t traveling anymore. Scott and Jacky have taken over the rotation.