DREW LEANED AGAINST THE WINDOW LEDGE AND watched Carolina get into the taxi and drive away.
He was such a dick. It would have cost him nothing but a few hours of his time to go ahead and do the advertising campaign. They’d already run through it once. He knew what to expect. And then it would be over, she’d have what she wanted, and he could go on and do his thing.
But hell, what would he promote for her? Certainly not a damn winning image. He wasn’t a winner. Not this season, anyway. She should go in another direction, get some famous model whose face would sell millions for her.
He sat on his sofa and dropped his chin to his chest. He felt washed-up and finished, like a loser. And it had been a long damn time since he’d felt that way. In college, when he’d struggled it had taken a kick in the ass from Bill Briscoe to remind him why he was there in the first place, and all the things that were worth fighting for.
Bill would kick his ass right now if he could see him sitting here in the dark feeling sorry for himself, when he should be trying to figure out what the problem was with his play, or with his team’s play.
Instead, he was blaming the woman he cared about. But hell, he was grasping here, and what else did he have to grab on to other than Carolina as an excuse for everything that was fucked up so far about this season?
Something else Bill would likely kick his ass over.
His stomach tightened at the thought of not having Bill around to seek advice from.
He grabbed his phone and dialed Ginger Briscoe’s cell. She answered on the third ring.
“Well, hello, Drew. How are you?”
“I’m doing fine, Miss Ginger. And you?”
“Hanging in there.”
He didn’t want to ask the question, but he had to know. “How’s Bill doing?”
“Hang on just a second, Drew.”
He heard rustling, then a door closing.
“He’s sleeping right now, so I didn’t want my talkin’ to wake him up. It’s not good, Drew. Doctors think the next week or two at most.”
Drew took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Miss Ginger.”
“Nothin’ for you to be sorry about. It’s just his time. The nice doctors down here have done all they could but there’s nothin’ left to be done. It’s in God’s hands now.”
“Is he in any pain?”
“No, honey. They’ve got him medicated. He sleeps a lot, smiles at me a lot, and he and Haven and I are just sittin’ around laughin’ about all the good times we had with all you boys.”
Drew swallowed past the lump in his throat. “I’m going to head down there tomorrow.”
“You do that. I know he’d love to see you before . . . well, he’d love to see you.”
“I’ll talk to you soon, Miss Ginger.”
Drew hung up and got online, booked a flight to Houston, then called his coach, letting him know he’d miss practice tomorrow for family business. He explained the situation, which his coach said was fine with him. Drew promised he’d be back the next day.
It was important to see Bill, to be able to say good-bye while Bill was still around.
The next morning he hopped a flight to Houston and rented a car, then drove to MD Anderson. He sat in the parking lot for fifteen minutes before he gathered up the courage to get out of the damn car.
He needed to see Bill. He wanted to see him, but he didn’t know if he could handle this.
He loved his parents, loved his dad, but Bill had always been like a second father to him. He’d told all his deepest, darkest fears to Bill Briscoe. Bill had seen him at his absolute worst, and had pushed him along when he thought he couldn’t become the man—the athlete—that he needed to be.
And as he stood in the lobby in front of the elevators, Drew needed to be that man right now.
He sucked in a breath and pushed the elevator button, taking it up to the floor where Bill’s room was. He walked down the long hallway, the smell of medicine, illness, and utter hopelessness surrounding him like a dark cloud. By the time he got to Bill’s room, he knew if he didn’t shake this off, he was going to crumble when he walked in.
Fortunately, Haven opened the door, her gorgeous face a sweet balm to his tortured senses. Her eyes widened and she threw her arms around him.
“Drew. I’m so glad to see you.”
He put his arms around her and hugged her tight. “Haven. I’m glad to see you, too.”
She shut the door behind her. “Dad will be really happy you came. Gray came by last week. So did Garrett. Trevor was here the other day. I swear a day doesn’t go by that one of the college boys doesn’t show up. So many of you stopping by has meant so much to him.”
“He means everything to all of us. I hope he knows that.”
She squeezed his hand. “He knows.”
“Is he awake or is this a bad time?”
“He’s in and out a lot because he’s heavily medicated. But come on in.” She pushed the door open and led him inside.
“Look who I found loitering outside in the hall.”