The Baller: A Down and Dirty Football Novel(44)
“Wow. And you still keep in touch with her?”
“Haven’t missed a Tuesday since the day I moved her in. Promised her she’d see my smiling face every week.” Brody guffawed. “There’s been some pretty shitty losses on Monday that didn’t have my face smiling on Tuesday, but I haven’t skipped a visit anyway.”
“That’s amazing, Brody. Not many people would do that for someone else. Especially not someone who isn’t even their own family.”
“She’s always been like family to me. I was young when my mother died. Marlene tried to help me and my dad out whenever she could. Plus, someone had to be there for her. Willow sure as shit wasn’t.”
I’d been curious to ask about her since the night he told me about what happened in college, but the opportunity had never presented itself. Until now. “What happened to Willow? You mentioned she disappeared after the night with Colin.”
“She was gone for a long time after that. Didn’t resurface until my first year playing in the pros. That was probably her longest sober period since we were teens. Things were good for a while. Until they weren’t.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“It wasn’t. She disappeared again one night. I searched for days. Went to all the usual hangouts I’d pull her ass out of when she was using. Missed half my practices, and when I did show up, it was a f*cking waste of everyone’s time. I had no focus. Halfway through the regular season, police knocked on Marlene’s door one night. There were a few homeless camps down near the East River—mostly it’s drug addicts who have checked out of life in general. A police boat was patrolling one morning, found her floating face-down.”
“Oh my God.”
“She’d been without oxygen for almost three minutes and was blue from the water temperature. Marlene and I spent two days at the hospital. She crashed twice, and they brought her back. They didn’t know if she would have brain damage if she woke up.”
“That’s awful.”
“If it were you or me, we would have died or been on a feeding tube drooling for the rest of our lives. But not Willow. Ten days later, she walked out of the hospital like nothing had happened.”
“Wow.”
“I thought maybe the whole thing had scared her sober. And for a while, I think it did. Until December third, four years ago.”
“What happened then?”
“Nothing. It was the last time I ever saw her.” Brody paused, lifted his glass from the table, and swallowed back the remainder of his drink. “Until this Tuesday.”
***
Sleep was nearly impossible that night. There were so many things going through my mind. Things that I made a mental mountain out of because of my own insecurities. Like, for example, the fact that Brody kissed me good night and left it at that. I knew it wasn’t normal for couples to have sex every time they spent the night together. Eventually, there would be nights when we would just need some sleep. We’d settle into a routine and some of the newness would wear off. It was normal. It happened in every relationship. But the fact that it happened on that night had me thinking the worst.
Around two in the morning, I decided to stop obsessing and roll over and go to bed. The small light on my bedside nightstand was on, so I reached over to turn it off. My eyes fell to the place where the framed picture of Drew used to be. The irony hit me then. After all these years, I’d finally decided to try and put my past behind me. Right at the same time Brody’s decided to come back into his life.
***
The next few weeks everything seemed to resume to normal. The distance I’d felt for a few days when Willow returned was gone, and Brody returned to his usual cocky-charming self. He even came to Fit Factory with me one Thursday morning. We’d slept at his place, and there was one only a few blocks away.
On the walk over, he held my hand. For a guy who wasn’t looking for more than a fun night only six weeks ago, he’d fallen into boyfriend mode like a pro.
“So what kind of girly shit are we doing at this place, anyway?”
I’d explained the rotational gym program I belonged to. He stopped on the sidewalk before I could answer. “It’s not that Zumba crap, is it?”
“No, it’s not Zumba day. But Zumba isn’t crap. It’s actually hard work. I leave there soaked—that means it was a good workout.”
He returned to walking. “You were soaked this morning, and considering I had you pinned to the wall and did all the work, I don’t think you got such good exercise.”
“You’re a pig, you know that?”
Brody dropped my hand and grabbed a handful of my ass right there on the street. “What’s that say about you? You got it bad for a pig.”
I rolled my eyes. But he was totally right. I had it bad.
A block away from the gym, Brody pointed across the street. “That’s where Marlene lives. Broadhollow Manor.”
I’d walked past the building before. From the outside, it looked more like a ritzy apartment complex than the terrible visual that came to mind when the words nursing home were spoken. “That looks more like luxury condos than a nursing home.”
“It’s a nice place. They keep it clean, and everyone is well taken care of. You should see some of the dumps that I went to see before finding Broadhollow. The places that the state will pay for are one step up from a shelter. I could have bought a luxury condo for cheaper than what the last few years cost me. But it’s worth it. I’d never be able to sleep at night knowing she was in a hole in the wall, and I had bank just sitting around.”