Jessa Haywood and her best friend, Sheldon Hopson, have accepted jobs as junior athletic trainers for team USA's Olympic hockey team. When Jessa accepted, she didn't realize that four players would fall for her, and she didn't expect to fall for the...
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Jessa was in her office at the Bloomington Ice Arena in Minneapolis when there was a knock on the door. Jessa looked up from her paperwork on the players' physical exams and saw Mac standing in the doorway with blood dripping down his face. "Jesus Christ, Mac. What happened to you?" She asked, standing up as he walked into her office. Mac rolled his eyes. "O'Callahan is what happened." He responded as Jessa grabbed some tissues.
Mac sat down on one of the chairs in front of the desk. Jessa sat on her desk in front of him and started cleaning the blood off of Mac's face. "I told you to stay out of trouble." She said. "And what do you do? Get into a fight on the first day." She continued as she finished cleaning up the blood. She threw the tissues in the garbage and washed her hands as Mac spoke up. "He started it." He whined. Jessa turned back to him. "I don't care who started it. You should've stopped it." She said. Mac went to stand up. "No. Stay." She said.
She peeked her head through the door into Sheldon's office. "Hey, can you go get O'Callahan for me?" She asked. "Yeah, sure." Sheldon nodded and left. She walked back into her office and sat down in her desk chair. Mac sighed. "Jess, what are you doing?" He asked. "You'll see." She responded, not telling him anything else. O'Callahan soon entered her office. "Have a seat, Jack." Jessa said, coolly. He apprehensively sat down in the chair next to Mac. "What are you doing?" Jack asked Jessa, glaring at Mac.
Jessa folded her hands in front of her. "Whatever the hell is going on between you two, needs to stop. We're working through this right now." When the two boys went to protest, Jessa interrupted them. "I don't care if it takes all night." She said. "Yeah, not happening." Jack scoffed. "Still hung up over 76, O'Callahan?" Mac asked. Jack opened his mouth to speak. "Listen, I know what happened in 76, and you know what? I don't care, get over it." Jessa said. "You guys are on the same team now. You need to work together or you can kiss your Olympic dreams goodbye."
The boys stayed silent. "Herb's not gonna put up with this bullshit. So, you two better find a way to work together. At least try to be civil with each other. Can you do that?" They both nodded, embarrassed. Jessa sighed. "Alright, you're both free to go." She said. Mac immediately left. Jack was a bit slower than him. "You're a good player, OC. You have a bright future ahead of you. Don't throw it away over a stupid rivalry." Jessa told the blonde boy. He nodded and left. "You know, I'm starting to feel more like a therapist than a physician." She called out to Sheldon who started laughing in his office.
***
Jessa and Sheldon were about to leave when Herb called out to her. They both stopped. "I'll meet you in the car." She said. Sheldon nodded and left the building. "Yeah, Coach?" Jessa asked, turning with a smile on her face. "Can you stop by Jim's dorm on your way home? He didn't take this test. I wanna know why." Herb explained. "Sure." Jessa responded, taking the blank test out of Herb's outstretched hand. "Why me?" She asked. "You have a way of getting people to talk." Herb responded. "See? Therapist." Jessa said to herself. "What?" Herb questioned. "Nothing." Jessa responded with a smile.
***
Jessa knocked on Jim Craig's room door. The door swung open to reveal the goalie on the other side. "Hey, Jim." Jessa said. "Hey, Jessa." Jim said, confused. "Coach was wondering why you wouldn't take this test." She explained. "Yeah, well, um, it's nothing against him or anything. I just don't see what it has to do with stopping a puck." Jim said. Jessa smiled and nodded. "Well, that's alright. You just took it anyway." She said before leaving.
Jessa was halfway to where Sheldon was waiting for her in the car, when Jim came running after her. "Hey, Jessa?" He called out. Jessa stopped and waited for him to catch up with her before she continued walking to the car. "So if I took it..." Jim started. "You know, I meant to ask you, how's your family doing?" Jessa asked. "They're doing alright." The goalie responded. "And you?" Jessa asked. "I'm okay." "You know, Coach has twenty six guys trying to make this team, Jim. Only twenty are gonna go to Lake Placid. So we gotta know how committed you are to being here." Jessa explained.
"Cause if you're not, you're just wasting our time." The two were silent for a minute. "Look, Jessa, my dad's going through a rough time right now." Jessa turned to face him. "He's got nothing. He lost his job. And with Atlanta trying to sign me..." Jim trailed off. Jessa didn't say anything and just waited for him to continue. "Bottom line is, my mom wanted this. Me playing on this team. Hard to say no to someone who drove you to practice every day, right?"
"You didn't answer my question, Jim." Jessa said. "I'm here, aren't I?" Jim responded. Jessa smiled. "I'll see you in the morning." She said, going to walk off. "Don't forget to bring your game." She slowly turned back around to face the goalie. "Oh, and Jim?" He raised an eyebrow. "I'm here if you ever wanna talk." She said, giving him a small smile, which he returned. Jessa turned back around. She threw the blank test in the nearby garbage can as she walked back towards where Sheldon was waiting in the car. "What's got you smiling?" Sheldon asked as he pulled onto the road, heading home. Jessa shook her head with a giddy smile still on her face.
