Except he wasn’t, not really, cracked phone or not. I wasn’t going to forget that.
Zac’s butt cheeks had been plastered to the cover of TSN’s Anatomy Issue—a special edition The Sports Network released once a year that featured professional athlete’s… anatomy. AKA, they were all butt naked but with their crown jewels angled away. I had bought a copy for support. So had millions of other people. I was pretty sure it was still tucked away in my nightstand drawer too.
At the elevator bank, we got in with a couple just as Zac’s phone started ringing once more. He pulled it out of his pocket, took a peek, and then put it right back where it had been.
He caught me looking at him, and I smiled. He smiled back, but it wasn’t anywhere close to being on the same level it had been on when he’d first seen me hours ago. “An old teammate,” he explained in a voice I had never, ever heard from him before, even on TV with people shoving microphones at his face and asking what went wrong, all while hinting that losing had been all his fault. He was that worried.
I just settled for another nod as I wondered if it had been an “old” one from Oklahoma or from before.
One of his cheeks hitched up a little higher in a smile just a millimeter bigger than the one before. “Thanks for bringin’ me, darlin’,” he said in a tired, distracted voice.
“You’re welcome.”
When the doors opened, I walked out ahead of him, following the signs. I stopped at the desk and signed my name in, sensing Zac still behind me. Then I filled in James Travis for him, deciding his first name was too much. You never knew who might read the sign-in sheet. I knew I did.
“I put you down too,” I said as I turned around.
Those familiar-not-familiar blue eyes slid to me, his chin tucked. “Thank you,” he repeated, voice still off and flat.
We were just walking by a glass-encased waiting area when someone called out, “Zac! B!”
I knew that voice. I loved that voice.
I turned around, already grinning because I couldn’t help it despite the circumstances. Sure enough, Boogie was waving at us as he got up from the seat he was in. In his fitted pants and tailored shirt, he had to have come straight from work. But one glance into the waiting room told me that he wasn’t alone. A woman was sitting in the seat next to the one he’d been in. She lifted her hand, and I lifted mine. His girlfriend.
Bleh.
Looking away from her, I got to watch as Boogie and Zac clashed in a hug.
The thirty-five-year-old and the thirty-four-year-old. They’d been best friends since third grade when Zac had moved to Liberty Hill to be closer to his grandparents, who happened to employ Boogie’s dad at the time. His parents had never married, and I wasn’t sure if Zac knew who his dad was.
Boogie and Zac had met at Mamá Lupe’s house when she’d started keeping an eye on him after school while his mom worked. They’d gone to the same middle and high school. Even when Zac had gone to college in Austin, and Boogie had gone to San Antonio, they had still seen each other at least one weekend a month. When Boogie when to Zac’s games, he would always come pick me up and take me with him. Then he’d go back after dropping me off and hang out with him… and whoever else they were with.
Unlike my relationship with him, I had never doubted how much those two cared for each other, especially in situations like this, where I was pretty sure Boogie had come straight to the hospital to be with Zac’s family. But that was just the kind of guy my cousin was, and it was one of the many reasons I loved the shit out of him. He was one of the most selfless, loyal people in the world.
As his dumb girlfriend had already learned.
“He’s conscious,” I heard Boogie say as the two men hugged. “The doctor thinks his blood sugar levels dropped. We’ll find out more soon. He got really lucky.”
Zac’s head dropped forward until it was resting on my cousin’s shoulder, and I didn’t miss the huge relieved breath he let out. I didn’t miss his “Good Lord” either.
My cousin patted him on the back, hard. “Your mom is with him. They have a two-person limit for visitors. He was asking for you earlier. Go on in there.”
Zac nodded, and after another pat on the back, I watched him take a step away from my cousin. He must have glanced into the waiting room like I had, because a second later, he raised his hand the same way I had and dropped it almost immediately.
Maybe Connie and I weren’t the only ones unsure about Boog’s girlfriend.
That made me feel like a little less of a hater.
Then I watched him glance over his shoulder at me and say the last thing I would have expected for the second time in a day. “You comin’, Peewee? Say hi to Mama?”
Did he think I hadn’t seen her in years too?
And how could I say no to telling Ms. Travis hi? Especially when he still drawled mama out all sweet and with that accent? I couldn’t, that was the problem. Two-person limit be damned. I’d leave if someone complained.
I nodded at Zac for probably the twentieth time and gave Boogie a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. We’d talk later. I even raised my hand up one more time at the fake redhead too because it would hurt Boogie’s feelings if I didn’t.
Zac and I headed down the hall to Paw-Paw’s room, following the digits posted on each sterile white door. A man and a woman were standing at the nurses’ station, and I saw the woman glance at us, look down, then do a double take. Well, it wasn’t me who made her look twice. She elbowed the man in the scrubs standing beside her and whispered something.
I was about to say something to Zac, but then realized getting recognized was probably old news for him.
I closed my mouth and kept it that way when Zac happened to look over and see his audience. He lifted that big hand again as he said in a tired voice, “Evenin’.”
The woman greeted him back. The man said nothing.
That must have been enough, because Zac glanced at me with stress clouding those baby blues. And I’d be a freaking liar if I said that a wave of tenderness didn’t hit me right then. “Thanks for comin’ with me,” he said in an eggshell-thin voice that sounded seriously exhausted, his audience forgotten. “Hopefully Paw-Paw is awake. He’ll love to see you.”
I didn’t hold back a little smile. “That’s what he always says.”
Zac was looking straight forward as he asked, “How long’s it been?”
“Mmm, not that long ago,” I admitted, looking forward too because I wanted to, not because I didn’t want to make eye contact.
Silence.
Then, “When was the last time you saw Mama?” my old friend drawled in a tone that might have had me glancing at him if I’d had some balls… but I’d dropped mine along the way somewhere. Probably outside of his house.
“Same time. At Boogie’s birthday party.” Back in March. “They said you were in the Bahamas.” That and I’d seen the pictures he’d posted on his Picturegram account. There was one of him on a yacht surrounded by greenish blue water with two teammates and five women. Boogie claimed he’d been invited to go but hadn’t been able to take the time off.
Looking over, I noticed Zac made the slightest, tiniest face. I turned away at the same time he full-on glanced over.