The Goalie Bet novel · Chapter 27 of 32

Chapter 27: The Protocol

I didn't let him stand up.

I put a hand flat on his shoulder and held him on one knee on the concrete.

"Stay," I said.

"I can walk."

"Stay."

I pulled my phone out and called the doctor.

He was in the locker room doorway. He came down the tunnel at a jog.

"Grade two," he said, looking at him.

"Maybe. He can't weight-bear."

"Can he get to the bus."

"No."

"Then we call for the cart."

"That's what I said."

The doctor went to find one.

Logan stayed on one knee with his hand braced on the wall.

"I'm not getting on a cart," he said.

"You are."

"In front of everybody."

"There's nobody in this tunnel but me."

"There will be. The team bus is at the end of it."

"Then they'll see you on a cart."

He put his head against the concrete.

"I won a championship twenty minutes ago," he said.

"I know."

"And now I'm going to be the guy on the cart."

"You're going to be the guy on the cart for one night."

The cart came. It was a flat gray thing with a vinyl seat and a bad wheel.

Two arena staff lifted him onto it and he held his own leg with both hands.

I walked next to it the whole way.

The tunnel opened into the loading area and the team bus was there with the door open and the lights on.

The team was there too.

They'd come out for the bus and they were standing in a loose crowd by the luggage bay.

Every one of them turned around.

Somebody had the conference trophy in his arms.

Nobody said anything while the cart rolled up.

Then somebody near the front said, "What happened."

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