Elsie
Elsie had been waiting impatiently all morning. She was excited to see Oliver later that afternoon, once he was through with his meeting with the sponsors. In an effort to kill some time, she'd taken a walk around town, casually seeing the sights. She'd enjoyed a coffee and some breakfast at a little diner near the hotel, then strolled through the neighborhoods, soaking up the warm morning sunshine.
When she got back to her room at around eleven, she decided to get ready for her lunch date. Since it was just lunch and not a fancy dinner, she dressed in dark jeans and a light blue blouse. It wasn't too dressy, but also not too casual. Plus, she thought the blouse looked super sexy on her an
ElsieTwo days later...It was early in the morning. Elsie had hardly left her hotel room since the run in with Oliver in the hallway. She practically locked herself in there and only opened the door to allow room service in. It wasn't because she was suddenly afraid of the outside world, it was just that she didn't want to deal with it right then. She didn't want to have to fake a smile when ordering at a cafe, or really even talk to anyone.Most of her time had been spent in bed, eating junk food and crying. She had tried watching an old movi
ElsieAs Elsie made her way toward the box seats, she expected a number of things. She expected to watch a football game, to see Oliver playing, to get mad about what Oliver had done to her and maybe have a few drinks because of it. She was also pretty certain that she’d leave immediately after the game was over and get on that plane and head back home, where she belonged.But when she stepped into the club seating, everything that she had been expecting flew straight out of the window as fast as Oliver could throw a football. Elsie stopped in the doorway of the room that overlooked the field and felt her knees turn to jello.
ElsieAlthough Elsie had made the decision to cheer for the other team, she couldn't stick to it for very long. Her family had instantly become Bandit's biggest fans and the entire room became a riot of celebration with every completed pass that Oliver threw. By the time the second half had started, Elsie was cheering right along with them, rooting for Ollie and his team.He was playing well, besides the fact that he did seem kind of nervous. Even the commentators had taken notice of it. They'd said several times that he appeared to be distracted and they'd caught him looking up toward the box seats on more than one occasion.
Four months later...The Bandits were behind by three points. With only thirty seconds left in the fourth quarter, it was starting to look like the championship trophy might end up being handed over to The Rockets instead. But after the hard fought season, Oliver wasn't about to throw in the towel. He couldn't. Not with his girl standing on the sidelines watching.Come on, Ollie,Elsie thought, bundled inside of her Bandits trainer down coat.The wind howled, adding to the noise of the crowd. It was bitter cold. The kind of January day that should have been spent indoors. If it wasn't for a game like this, that's where El
OllieMy life could never get better than this.Oliver Lance thought quietly to himself as he glanced around the VIP section of the club. He had a voluptuous blonde girl under one arm and a petite brunette under the other. He didn't really know either of them, since he had met them just five minutes before at the bar. But that really didn't bother him. Because in addition to the two beauties, he was surrounded by friends and fans, drinking expensive champagne and smoking expensive cigars. He felt like a god; powerful and loved by all.“This is what it's all about,” he said out loud, though wasn't speaking d
Elsie“It's a unique opportunity, and given your history with sports medicine, one I think you'd be perfect for,” the woman in a power suit told Elsie. “So, are you interested?”Nikki Roberts asked the question with the same seriousness in her tone that she'd been using for the entire interview. When Elsie had scheduled this interview for a potential new patient, she hadn't quite been counting on this. This lady meant business.Elsie paused for a moment. What she knew so far about this “opportunity” baffled her. An unnamed patient was coming to her tiny town in Iowa for ACL reconstruction phy
ElsieElsie double-checked the address, making sure that she was on the correct County Road. As far as she knew, there wasn't anything out this far besides huge amounts of acreage covered in corn fields. It was all coated in white with late winter snow, looking desolate and lonely.She drove along for another five minutes until a small wooden farm house with a red thatched roof came into view at the top of the hill.“I guess this is it,” she whispered to herself, pulling her car down the snow-packed dirt road that clearly hadn't been maintained in over a decade.
Elsie“So tell me, Ollie, how did this injury on your right leg happen?” Elsie asked, holding the clipboard in one hand and her pen in the other. “And also, what other injuries do you have, if any, that I'm not seeing here?”“I was in a car accident a couple of weeks ago,” he said, pushing his blonde hair off of his forehead.“I'm sorry to hear that,” she said. “Car wrecks can be traumatizing in more ways than just physically.”Ollie shrugged. “I'm just glad it wasn't worse. I walked away with just a black eye, a cracked rib, a torn ACL and fourteen stitches. But I'm just happy to have walked away at all, honestly.”