“Here you go. Bacon sandwich with lots of bacon and lots of brown sauce. Just how you like it. I even picked up the bread fresh today from that new artisan bakery place at the end of the road.” I said handing the plate to her.
She took the plate, sat herself up on the bed and took a huge bite out of it.
“You’ll be fine for the match tomorrow and you know I’ll be there cheering you on.” I tried to reassure her.
“Thanks, Jerry.” She said looking at me, trying not to spit out half a mouthful of crumbs at my face. She smiled and giggled at the bacon sandwich spray.
“And thank you for that…” I said, wiping the bits from my face in an over exaggerated way. “Where does it hurt?”
“My groin. The top of my left leg on the inside, right at the top of the muscle. Kind of important for the whole running thing that I would need to do.”
“How bad is it?”
“It’s not too bad. I can walk on it just about alright. But it feels really tight. I’d be scared of making it worse.”
“At least it sounds like it’s not torn. It’s probably just a mild strain. It sounds like you’ve pulled it a little bit. Here…” I handed her the two pills I fetched for her “…let me get you a glass of water.”
I went into her ensuite shower room (the room used to be mine before I went to university, and now I’m left with her old room) and poured a glass of water for her.
“Wash the tablets down with this. They are pretty strong through. They’ll take away the pain, but might make you a little groggy.”
“That’s ok. I’m planning on having an early night tonight anyway. I’ve got to be at the ground for ten in the morning. A good night sleep is a good idea.”
Jen quickly finished the sandwich and swallowed the pills. “Any other advice for me? If I was one of your players at your new job, what would you recommend?”
“Probably a good massage to loosen the muscle up and get some blood into it to help heal it up. You’ll probably feel like the rest of your body is quite tense too?”
“Definitely. My entire body feels more tense than a conjugated verb. Probably nerves as much as anything.”
“You want a massage? It’ll help, for sure.” I offered.
“Why not. That would be awesome.” She looked at me with a smirk. “But don’t try anything, pervert.”
“Yeah, like anyone would try something with you.” I quipped back. “Right then, I’ll go and get some massage oil. You need to get you clothes off and be on your front when I get back. Just throw the duvet on the floor.”
I stood up to leave when she said “Ok then. But this had better be the best massage of all time. If you don’t make me feel amazing, I’m going to punch you.”
I left her in the room on her own to go and get my oil from my kit bag. I was thinking that it was good to be able to get some practice like this. I would be faced with this kind of thing on an almost daily basis, I would imagine. Rugby training at the premiership level, let alone the games themselves, can be very gruelling. I washed my hands in quite hot water to make sure that they were warmed up and clean. I also changed out my jeans and rugby shirt into some light shorts and a vest top.