Worth the Fall by Mara Jacobs Read Free Book Online Page A

right?”
    “ Dad….”
    “ I don’t think so, no,” Doctor Wright said.
    “ But he’s had knee surgery before. Sure, the first one he had the entire off-season to rehab, but the second one, he was back on the ice in two months.”
    “ Dad, will ya—” Petey halted as his father raised his hand in a “stop” motion. Ignoring Petey, he continued to stare down the doctor who had just ensured that his son would walk normally for the rest of his life.
    But that wasn ’t quite as important to Dan Ryan as his son ending his NHL career in a blaze of glory—not finishing it in a heap at the bottom of the front steps.
    “ It’s because of those earlier surgeries and all the damage done to his knee that he won’t be playing hockey again,” the doctor said to Petey’s dad. He then moved to the head of the bed and addressed Petey. “I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Mr. Ryan, but your professional hockey days are over.”
    “ That’s okay, Doc,” he said with way more nonchalance than he felt. “I was going to hang ‘em up at the end of this season, anyway.”
    “ What?” Lizzie said. That’s right. He hadn’t made it to her house last night to let her in on the news.
    “ I told them this week. I’m done at the end of the season.” The room, which had already been quiet, fell absolutely silent. “Well. Yeah. I guess I’m done now .” He tried to conjure up a grin, but it wouldn’t come.
    Lizzie reached out and took his hand, stroking it. His mother smoothed back his hair. The doctors nodded and conferred with each other.
    His father looked like his head would explode.
    “ That wasn’t a final decision. We hadn’t finished discussing it. When you came back from Lizzie’s, we were going to talk about it some more.”
    “ No, we weren’t.”
    “ Yes, son, we most certainly were.”
    For the early part of his hockey life, Petey would have capitulated at this point. He might not have eventually gone along with his father, but he would have placated him for a while. Then there were the rebel years, his early and mid-twenties, when he would have just told his father to fuck off. But they ’d turned a corner somewhere in there, and even though his father was still an emotional guy where his son’s hockey career was concerned, Petey was better able to understand and deal with him.
    “ Dad,” he said softly, but firmly, and waited until his father was really looking at him. Really listening. “It was going to happen. But it doesn’t really matter now, anyway.” He waited, but his father just stared at him. Petey felt his father fighting it—hell, he had too when he realized he’d had enough of the bruising punishment. “Dad. I’m done.”
    His father looked at him for another few seconds and then nodded his head, but it was like he didn ’t really see Petey. Nobody else said anything. Petey was about to try to break the mood when his father turned back to him, laid a hand softly on Petey’s foot, and said in a small voice, “How are you feeling, son? Are you in much pain?”
    That. Right there. That ’s why even through their stage-father history, their screaming matches about Petey’s play in a particular game and their months of pouting after a fight like little kids… that was why Petey loved his father.
    Because his father loved him .
    “ It’s not bad,” he lied to his father. His body felt like a log, except for his knee, which burned like a mother.
    Dr. Wright, who hadn ’t been there when Petey’d briefed Dr. Thompson, said, “You’re bound to be in pain for quite some time. We’ll make sure you have—”
    “ No,” Petey and Lizzie said at the same time. They didn’t yell it or anything, but there was firmness in both their voices, which caused his parents to look at them and then at each other. “The pain is manageable,” he added. He looked at his parents. “Seriously. It’s no big deal.”
    They looked from him to Lizzie, wanting confirmation that all was