The Goalie Bet novel · Chapter 20 of 32

Chapter 20: One More Rep

Sunday morning, 9:00, and the rink was dark behind the wall.

I turned the lights on and laid the log on the desk.

Logan came in at 9:02 with the whistle still around his neck.

He'd worn it all weekend. I could tell from the lanyard, which had a crease in it.

"Thirty reps," I said. "Right side. Single-leg press."

"That's the whole session?"

"That's the whole session."

He lay down on the table without being asked.

I stood at the foot with the pen and counted out loud.

Ten. Fifteen. Twenty.

At twenty-four his jaw went tight and he started breathing through his teeth.

At twenty-six the knee drifted in toward the other one.

At twenty-eight he put his foot down on the plate and stopped.

"No," he said.

"Two left."

"It's not there."

"Two left."

He took his hands off the bar and pressed them over his eyes.

"Twenty-eight reps," he said. "On a leg that's been quitting since November."

"You have."

"Then call it off."

"No."

He sat up.

"Dana."

"No."

He got off the table and stood in front of me.

He asked again. He asked four times, in four different ways, with his voice going up each time.

I let him get to the end of it.

Then I pointed at the plate.

He got back on the table and did the two.

Slow. Ugly. His whole leg shaking on each one.

I wrote the time down and shut the log.

He stayed flat on the vinyl with his forearm over his face and his chest heaving.

"That was the plan," I said.

"That was the plan."

"Four weeks, thirty reps, three sets, every day."

"Every day."

"And the week was up last Monday."

He moved his arm.

"It was."

"Then say it."

"I lost the bet," he said. "And I'm doing whatever you tell me."

I set the pen in the tray.

"Stand up."

He stood up.

"Everything off."

He got out of his clothes and put them on the stool.

Then he stood in the middle of the room with his hands at his sides.

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