The Baller: A Down and Dirty Football Novel - Vi Keeland Page 0,70

yet when the doctor asked if I had any, I just stared at him like I didn’t speak the language. Eventually, he turned to Brody. The two of them talked quietly for a few minutes. I heard the sound of different voices, but the words didn’t register. It was a feeling I was all too familiar with, the consummate fog of a drug-induced haze. A craving that had finally begun to subside in the last few months came barreling back with a vengeance. My hands gripped the arms of the chair, so it didn’t knock me over.

The doctor closed the door as he left, giving us privacy. “You okay?” Brody walked to me and kneeled down next to where I was sitting.

“No.”

He covered one of my hands with his. “It’s a lot to take in. I know.”

A laugh came out, as bitter as it tasted. “You know what I’m sitting here thinking? After everything the doctor just said?” I looked Brody in the eye, and he held my stare until I continued. “That I want to get the hell out of here so I can go get high. My grandmother, who took me in and never gave up hope on me, is dying. And what do I want to do? Run away. As usual.”

Brody looked down for a long time. I figured he was trying to swallow the hatred he had for me. But when he spoke, he surprised me. “It’s normal. You’re scared, so you want to run.”

I scoffed, hating myself. “I must be scared a lot.”

“You know what, Willow? I think you are scared a lot. I’m no shrink, but people have two choices when they’re scared. To run or to fight. You lived a rough life before Marlene. Running was a survival instinct for you.”

I stared at my lifeless grandmother. “I don’t want to run now. It’s the least I can do.”

“So don’t.”

“You say that like it’s easy.”

“It’s not. Nothing about this is easy.”

I covered his hand with my other one and looked up at him. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. We’ll get through this. Just fight with me.”

***

Brody had missed practice yesterday, so he had no choice but to go today. He was gone about five hours. The look on his face when he walked back into Marlene’s room was one of total relief.

“How is she?” he said.

“About the same.”

He nodded. “And you?”

“I’m fighting.”

Brody smiled and took off his jacket. “Glad to hear it.”

“How was practice?”

“Got knocked on my ass plenty.”

“Hard to focus?”

He ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah. My head wasn’t in it today.”

“I was thinking while you were gone. We should put her game shows on tomorrow. Maybe even play the way we used to play with her. Maybe she can hear us, and that would make her happy.”

“That’s a good idea. She’d like that. And I should call over to Broadhollow Manor, let them know what’s going on. Grouper would probably want to stop by and visit.”

“He seems like a nice guy.”

“He is. Just don’t let him know I said that.”

I laughed. “Funny. He said the exact same thing about you.”

Brody smiled. “I knew the old bastard loved me.”

Hours later, the doctor came back in. He told us to go get some sleep and come back in the morning. Tomorrow they would rerun the scan, and then we would likely have some big decisions to make. I couldn’t even think about tomorrow yet. Around midnight, we decided to go home for a few hours.

“Come on. I’ll give you a ride. My car is in the lot across the street since I came straight from practice.”

I wasn’t even going to pretend to put up an argument. The last two days had caught up with me, and lifting my arm to open a door felt like an effort.

Brody’s car was a Range Rover with an interior of supple leather and wood. “This is much better than the Bronco,” I teased, referring to the 1981 red-and-white-striped jalopy he driven throughout high school and college.

He smiled “Just a little.”

“Although that Bronco held a lot of good memories.” I glanced into the backseat of his fancy new car, thinking of the endless hours we had spent fooling around in the wide back seat. Brody caught my glance, and our eyes met for a brief second. Neither of us said another word the rest of the way uptown, except when I needed to give directions.

Pulling up to my apartment, I was a little embarrassed. The building was in a bad