games operations | jamie drysdale

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Hey, how are you feeling?" I asked Jamie as he entered my office at the rink. He just had his third PT session after surgery.

"I'm good, it's okay. Are you busy? Can I hang out in here for a while?" He asked, sitting down in one of the chairs across from me.

"Yeah, you can stay. I'm just doing some paper work and getting the scripts ready for tonight." I said, it was the first game of a four game home stretch, so I had a lot of work to do right now. As distracting as Jamie usually is to me, I just wanted to be with him, especially since I knew he just wanted to be with me.

"Thanks, I won't bother you while you're working, I just want to be here." He said, and pulled out his phone to start scrolling through.

"You never bother me, plus I like talking to you while I'm working." I replied.

"Good, well then I'm here for your entertainment." He said.

"How does your arm feel after today?" I asked.

"Honestly I think I'm just sick of the sling already. It hasn't even been a month but I am so over wearing it all the time. I just want to be able to move my arm." He said as he leaned back in the chair and tilted his head as far back as it fell. He took his snapback hat off of his head and set it on his lap, running a hand through his hair before setting the hat back on.

"I'm so sorry, baby." I said, my voice was soft and I could barely make the words out.

"It's okay, it's hockey shit happens." He replied, barely even looking at me. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" I asked, my eyes snapping off of my computer screen and over to him.

"For not being able to play for probably the rest of the season, I feel like I'm failing everything now." He said.

"Jamie, you're not failing anyone. Just like you said, it's hockey, shit happens. No one thinks any different of you because of that injury. It happens to players all the time." I said. I pushing myself back from the desk and stood up, making my way over to where he was sitting and kneeling in front of him. "Nothing you do or say will ever change the way I feel about you. If we met at a different time and in a different way, I would still fall in love with you for who you are, not what you do as a career." I said. Jamie smiled softly as he put his hand on my cheek. I tilted my head into his hand, the doors are glass and there's so many people around, I couldn't really show too much affection towards him, even though this is when he needs it the most.

"I love you, I don't know what I'd do without you." He said as his fingers began to lace through my hair.

"I don't know what I'd do without you either. You're everything, Jamie, and I hope you know that every day."

"You're the most important thing to me." He whispered. "Are you almost done your work?" He asked after a moment of silence, just the two of us staring into each others eyes. I do that a lot, it's so easy to get lost in his deep blue eyes. They're like a drug to me.

"Almost, I just have two more things to do, why what's up?" I asked.

"I have to run home and I think Trevor already left. I have to get changed for the game."

"You didn't drive yourself?" I asked.

"No, I'm supposed to keep driving to a minimum, anything that uses both arms." He said.

"Right, right, I'm sorry." I said, standing up and moving back over to my chair. "Just let me finish this up and then we can run home." I said. Jamie nodded as I sat back down and started typing away.

"Drysdale? What are you doing in here? I thought you were going home?" Bob asked as he stuck his head into the office.

"Oh, yeah I am, Zegras left without me so I'm just waiting for Skyler to finish up some work and she's going to take me home." Jamie replied to him.