Chapter Five - Elsie

Elsie

“Let me take a look at your knee,” she said, standing up and approaching Ollie.

“Sure thing, Doc,” he said, with a smirk.

“I'm not that kind of doctor, Ollie.”

His smile faded. “Are you going to be able to fix me?” he asked, as Elsie removed the brace around his knee.

“Like I said, I'm going to do everything I can,” she replied, setting the brace behind him on the examining table. “I'm confident, though. ACL repairs are not the end of the world and many athletes go back to returning to their normal level of activity.”

As Elsie examined Ollie's knee, she could feel his eyes on her. It was like he was absorbing every one of her movements. It made her feel on-the-spot and admittedly a little self-conscious, but she did her best to ignore it and continued investigating his injury.

After unwrapping the bandages, she checked the incisions first. They seemed to be healing very well, considering the short amount of time since the surgery. He'd definitely had a good surgeon, which was going to make her life easier.

“I'm going to move your leg around a bit,” she said, placing her hand on the underside of his ankle. “Let me know what hurts and what doesn't.”

She lifted up his leg and watched his face, stopping her movement as soon as he winced in pain. His range of motion was about seventy-five degrees, which she was expecting after an injury like his.

“Your surgeon seemed to have done an excellent job,” Elsie said, slowly bringing Ollie's leg back down to a resting position. “It looks like you're healing up nicely.”

“I was told he was the best.” Ollie looked relieved, now that Elsie wasn't pushing on his leg any more.

“It certainly looks that way,” she said, wrapping some gauze loosely over his incisions. “I'm going to massage your knee a little bit. It's just to keep the blood flowing so that you heal better. Let me know if it hurts and I'll stop.”

“Massage away, Doc,” Ollie said.

Elsie gave him the side eye for the “Doc” comment, which Ollie responded to with a grin. Without saying anything, she began working on his knee. With her hands busy, she let her brain start coming up with a plan. She'd worked with another pro-football player with a similar injury before taking up her uncle's clinic, so she had a good idea of where to go next.

“So here's the game plan,” Elsie said, watching Ollie's face to gauge his enthusiasm. “This week and next week will be pretty simple. We're going to work on getting your full range of motion back and begin the process of getting strength back in your leg. Once I feel like you're steady enough for it, we can get you out of the brace. You're probably still going to want your pain meds, but if you're able to, it would be a good time to begin weaning yourself off of them.”

“I'm ready to take this thing head on,” he said, with beaming confidence. “Whatever it takes to get back in the game.”

He's not as ready as he thinks he is. Nobody is, she thought. She smiled at him. But at least he's got the right attitude.

She heard a rumbling coming from Oliver's belly and she looked up at him.

“You hungry?” Elsie asked, nodding toward the noise.

“A little, yes,” he said, patting his stomach and looking a little bashful.

“How are you getting your meals out here?” Elsie continued to massage his knee as she spoke. “Nobody that I know delivers this far out.”

“What, are you worried about me, Doc?” he asked, grinning wide.

She chuckled and shook her head. He wasn't giving up with the “Doc” reference. Oddly enough, she was beginning to find it to be kind of endearing, but she didn't want to fuel the fire, so she just ignored it this time.

“It's my job to worry about you, Mr. Lance,” she replied, gently patting his knee.

“Ollie,” he said with a soft smile. “Please, call me Ollie. And you don't need to worry too much about me. Nikki dropped off a bunch of pre-made meals that are easy to heat up.”

“Nikki?” she asked. “The same one that interviewed me yesterday?”

“Yep, that's her,” he said, sitting forward on the edge of the table. “She's my manager, so she wants me back on the field as much as I do.”

“Are you eating the meals that she's prepared for you?” Elsie asked, pausing in her work to look up at him. “Sometimes it can be easy to forget to eat when you're on pain meds.”

Ollie reached into the front pocket of his shorts and pulled out his cell phone, holding it up in front of her. “I have a timer that reminds me when to eat. And I promise that I'm sticking to it. I kind of have to anyway, because the pain meds make me nauseous if I take them on an empty stomach.”

“These meals are healthy, right?” she asked. “Nutrition is an important part of the healing process, so I want you eating correctly.”

Ollie leaned his head back and let out a laugh. “Yes, Mom. They're healthy. And I'm eating all of my fruits and vegetables too. Would you like to make sure that I'm washing my hands?”

“Yes, and in addition to that, I'm going to need to make sure that you're doing all your homework and making your bed.” She winked as she grinned up at him.

“So, what you're saying is that you want to see my bed?” Ollie asked, with a chuckle. He grinned naughtily at her.

She had walked right into that one. Elsie felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment by his comment, which only made Ollie laugh harder.

“Hey, you said it, not me.” Ollie put his hands in the air with his palms out, an expression of innocence.

She just shook her head and did her best not to make it worse. She needed to stay professional here. Even though it was innocent enough right now, she needed to maintain her position as medical provider. So she focused on the massage and tried to ignore the heat in her cheeks.

“I know that I'm not supposed to ask a ton of questions, per the contract I signed yesterday,” she said, clearing her throat. “But these sessions are going to be very long and tedious if we don't have something to talk about. If I ask something and you don't feel like answering, just tell me to stop and I will.”

“Sure,” he said with a small shrug. “Ask me anything.”

“Favorite food?” she asked, pausing for a moment to look up at him.

“That's an easy one,” he replied. “Pizza. I know it's not the fanciest thing to ever grace the planet, but it's my favorite because I hardly ever get to have it. It's my kryptonite.”

“If you like pizza, there's a place in town called Fo's Pizza,” she said, happy to be making small talk with him. “They have a Thai chili pizza that just might be the best thing in the entire world.”

“A Thai chili pizza?” Ollie asked, stating each word slowly, as though she had just suggested something so amazing he had to savor the words.

“Yes, and it's incredible.” Elsie practically began to drool at just the thought of it. “Fo's does deliver, though I'm not sure if they'll come out this far. I can always bring it to you sometime if you're concerned about privacy stuff.”

“I'd love to try it out, but it's really not on my diet,” he said, with a sigh. “Sounds great, though.”

“Can be you move your knee for me this way?” she said, re-positioning Ollie's leg. “Thanks.”

She continued to massage the other side of his knee. She was pushing hard on the tissue and Ollie didn't even flinch.

“Do you have any family nearby?” she asked, lifting her gaze momentarily to look at him. “Anyone that's going to come visit you?”

Oliver cocked his head for a moment, as if her question was something that he wasn't used to being asked.

“I have a younger brother,” he said slowly. “He's in college right now, though. He's studying a lot and planning on going to medical school. He's the closest, but also the busiest. So I guess the answer to your question is 'no'. No visitors planned.”

“What about Nikki?” Elsie asked, deliberately keeping her tone neutral.

“She's heading back to San Francisco,” Ollie replied. “Which is good. I don't think she'd last long here.”

Elsie raised her eyebrows and looked up at him. “She's not a country girl?”

Ollie barked a laugh. “Not even close. I think this trip might be the first time she's seen a cow in real life. If there isn't a fancy shoe store within three miles, she starts to develop hives.”

Elsie chuckled. She was secretly glad she wasn't going to have to deal with that awful woman on a regular basis.

There was a quiet pause between them for a moment. It was the kind of fleeting pause that made her heart skip a beat. An exciting and tension filled second, which she brushed off and tried to ignore.

“Your brother's in medicine, huh?” Elsie asked, trying to keep him talking. He had a very pleasant voice. “He must be smart.”

“Crazy smart,” Ollie said, pride filling his voice as he smiled.

“Does he play sports like you?”

“No,” he replied, shaking his head. “Sports aren't really his thing.”

“So he got the brains?” she asked.

Ollie grinned. “You saying I didn't?”

“I, uh... I mean, uh...” Elsie felt the blush coming back to her cheeks.

“I'm just teasing you. But, yes, he got all the brains,” Ollie said with a laugh. He groaned as Elsie pushed deep into the tissue of his knee. “What about you? Any family?”

“I have two sisters,” she said, easing up the pressure of the massage a little. “They both married farmers, which is kind of the thing to do around here. Farmers are what Iowa is known for.”

“And being the political starting point for elections,” Ollie added.

“Who's the smart one now?” she said, with a wink.

The two of them laughed. It felt good and natural. Ollie was easy to talk to. Any nervousness that Elsie had felt about the situation walking in, was now completely gone. She was actually looking forward to the weeks ahead.

“Okay, that's the end of our session today,” she said, as she re-wrapped his knee in the cloth bandage and began to put his brace back on.

“That's it?” he asked, surprised.

“Yep.” She grinned at him.

“I was expecting a lot more sweat and tears, to be honest,” he said, slowly stepping off of the examination table. “That wasn't bad at all.”

“That's because this was your first one,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “I'm always gentle at first.”

“Me too, Doc,” Ollie said, with an over-exaggerated wink.

Elsie rolled her eyes but chuckled. “I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, I want you to take it easy. You just had a major surgery and your body needs time to heal. I promise you, though, when your body is ready, we'll push it to the limit.”

“Is that so?” he asked, winking again and making her words sound dirty.

This time, his comment made her blush.

This guy is trouble, she thought. He is a total flirt.

“You're going to start feeling like you can do more over the next couple of weeks,” she said, picking up her clipboard and scribbling down a few notes and ignoring his comment. “But your symptoms do not necessarily reflect your ability to perform activities.”

“Please, Doc, tell me what kind of activities I can do,” he said, with a suggestive smile. How was he able to twist everything she was saying into some sort of innuendo?

Elsie shook her head and tried not to encourage him. “You may sit and watch TV. How about that? Watch recordings of football games. Sports people do that sort of thing, right?”

Ollie chuckled, obviously enjoying the game.

“You're alright, Doc,” he said, as he grabbed his crutches and used them to hold himself steady. “I think my knee feels a little better already.”

“Take it easy and I'll see you Wednesday,” Elsie said, standing up herself.

With her clipboard in hand, she turned and left the farm house, grabbing her purse on the way out. A smile was on her face as she drove home. She felt like she already had an easy friendship with Oliver, which was always a good sign. She was surprised by how much she enjoyed his company, and got the sense that he was going to be both a compliant, and a fun, patient.

I think this is going to work out just fine, she thought. I’m already looking forward do the next session.