Sure enough, the track ended in a flat grassy circle about forty feet across. On the far side, a gap in the trees looked out toward Mt. Hood on the hazy horizon. A few taller buildings stood among houses and trees in the neighborhoods downslope. Rusty put the car in park. “Where are we?”
“Just a bit of property. First time I came here, my GPS was glitching. I’d only been in Oregon a few weeks, I was looking for a teammate’s house and when it said, ‘Take the next right’ I did, and wound up here.”
“Who owns it?”
“Oh, well, um, I do. Now. There was a For-Sale sign, and I was looking for an investment. You know what they say. Land is one thing they’re not making any more of.”
“Uh huh.” There was that money thing again, but Rusty wanted to stretch. He shut off the ignition, shed his jacket and tossed it onto the narrow back seat, swung open the door, and walked across the clearing. Behind him, he heard Cross get out too. Close to the edge of the embankment, he came across a hefty fallen log. Cross came up beside him and sat on the log, setting his cane aside and stretching his foot out ahead of him with a heavy sigh.
“Sore?” Rusty wasn’t surprised. “You’re supposed to be elevating sixty percent of the time. You’ve managed what this morning? Zero?” He glanced around but didn’t see any handy footrest so he sat on his heels, trying to keep his knees out of the pine needles and raised Cross’s foot with that annoying plastic boot into his lap.
“Hey, you don’t have to do that,” Cross protested. “You’ll wreck your suit.”
“I want to.” He ran his hand around Cross’s calf above the boot. Yeah, half as much muscle as the other one, and the left one wasn’t great. “You’ll have a ton of conditioning to do when this comes off.”
“Fuck. I know.”
“Vail was talking like you’re going to be back next season.” He watched Cross’s face.That’s one complicated series of expressions.
“I guess I’m not ready to take that off the table. I did tell the team it would be a long haul at best.”
What Rusty had heard between Cross and the surgeon madelong haulsound optimistic, but he wasn’t going to shit on anyone’s dreams, least of all Cross’s. “Any idea what you’ll do to keep busy while that’s happening?”
“Coaching, maybe? Some junior or local team that can use my help without a full year commitment.”
“Here in Portland?” He held his breath.
Cross smiled at him. “Let’s see where you end up first.”
“You think I have a chance at Tacoma?”
“I think if you show them what you can do at development camp, you’ve got a great shot at staying up there. Depends who we draft, of course. There’s some decent defense prospects in the mix.” But Cross gave him a firm nod. “Keep working, play your game, and I’d put you up against any of them. Well, maybe not Perkins, but he’ll go top three, so the Rafters won’t land him.”
“Thanks, I think.” Rusty kind of loved how even when Cross was encouraging him there was this total realism.Not better than Perkins, of course.Rusty knew that perfectly well, thank you, but he appreciated that Cross didn’t bullshit him.
“We’ll keep working. Now I can get down the stairs, we’ll get you back on the home ice. You’ll have skating drills coming out your ears.”
“Sounds good,” he said and meant it.
“By the time you know where you’ll start the season, I’ll know whether…” Cross’s voice trailed off.
“Right.” Rusty massaged Cross’s skinny leg.
“Maybe if you’re in Tacoma and I stay in Portland we can get a place in between.”
“You’d sell your house?”
“No, I meant another place.” Rusty figured his eyes bugged out because Cross said quickly, “A small one. Or even a rental. Something that’d be just an hour away for both of us. It’s a thought.”
“A millionaire’s thought.”
“Well, yeah. I am a millionaire.” Cross coughed. “By the way, congratulations for stopping my dad cold.”
“Huh?”
“When you suggested he should give away almost all of his money so I wouldn’t be a target. I haven’t seen him set back on his heels like that for a while.”
“I didn’t mean it. Not really. Although that much money feels weird.”
