Page 104 of Play the Last Card

Just as I decide to send her a text—something I refrained from this morning even though it almost broke me—the door to the hospital room opens and Billy is wheeled inside.

“Aren’t you supposed to be walking around?” I ask, getting up to help him back into bed. When he’s settled, I shake his hand.

His grip is weak and his hand falls limply into his lap when I let go.

“Not today,” the nurse that wheeled him in answers for Billy. “We’re a bit tired today so only one cheeseburger and lots of fluids.” She eyes me sternly, pointing a warning finger at the bag before leaving us alone.

“How are you feeling?” I ask, pulling the chair Ivy normally occupies closer to his bedside.

“Like I’m dying,” he says dryly, I try not to laugh but I can’t help but crack a smile. The fact he still has some sense of humor at the end of his life astounds me. He shifts on the bed, trying to get himself comfortable. I itch to help him but after I tried the first time I came for a Tuesday lunch and he all but barked at me to sit back in my seat, I refrain. Ivy is the only one he’ll let fuss over him.

“So,” he says once comfortable. He reaches for the grease-stained bag and I pass it over. Gingerly, he takes out a burger and unwraps it. “How’s our girl?”

“She tried breaking up with me last night.”

Billy shakes his head. “I was afraid she’d try to do that.”

“We’re not. Breaking up, I mean.”

“Didn’t think you would be,” he says, mouth full of his bite. “Have you seen you around her? You’re obsessed with my granddaughter.”

I laugh, lounging back in the chair and grabbing a burger of my own. I unwrap it and take a bite. Billy and I just sit in silence, enjoying the fast food and the company. When he’s done, he places the wrapper on the roll away table hovering over the hospital bed.

“I’m dying, Scott.” I swallow my bite without chewing and cough. Goddamn, this man has no filter. He stares at me hard as he continues, “I need you to look after my girl. No matter how hard it might be, I need you to stick with her. Have a bit of patience.”

I can only nod.

“I’m serious.” He shakes his again, eyes closing as the ghost of a smile crosses his face as if he’s remembering a fond memory. “She’s so stubborn. Just like her mother.”

“What were they like?” I reach for the bottle of water I brought with me, needing to clear my throat.

“Matty was my son so of course I loved him. But Sara? She was the daughter we never had. I remember when they came home one weekend in their freshman year and told us Sara was pregnant. I’ve never told Ivy this but Sara was out of her mind scared at the idea of being a mother.”

“Really? Ivy speaks as if she was a natural.”

“She was. We used to tell Ivy that all the time when she was little and it’s true. But at first, Sara was spooked. Matty was the one to calm her down, to convince her they could do it. He was smitten with his daughter from the moment they found out Sara was even pregnant.” He reaches for his own water on the side table with one shaking hand. “Sara had a plan. Being pregnant in her freshman year of college wasn’t part of the plan. She was convinced they wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

I dip my head, thinking of the walls Ivy puts up when I try to get her to talk about football and the connection.

“I love my granddaughter, Scott,” he says. “She’s the light of my life. But she’s stubborn. She has been holding a grudge against an entire sport her whole life and along the way, I think she’s forgotten what a connection it could be for her to her dad. She needs some time to come to that conclusion on her own.”

“I have no intentions of going anywhere,” I confirm. I clear up the burger wrappers and place the remaining burgers in the bag back on the couch with my coat. I’ll likely eat them later.

“I was so happy when she told me about meeting you. When she told me you were a football player, I was … well, happy.” He takes a small sip of his water, the straw shaking as he tries to capture it with his mouth. “You are her gateway. To move on, to let go, to find the connection with her dad and finally just start living.”

“She’s been watching more of my games. I think it is getting easier for her,” I say in agreement. “If only those photos hadn’t leaked …”

Billy rests his head against the pillows, exhaustion flooding his features. He looks more and more fragile every time I see him. Today is the worst he’s been.

Fuck.

“I love her, Billy,” I tell him quietly. My elbows rest on my thighs as I lean forward in the chair and watch him.

His eyes close and exhales in a sigh of relief. “I know you do.”

“I want to marry her. One day,” I add. “She’s it for me.”

“Good.” He nods with his eyes closed. After a moment, a tired smile spreads across his lips. He cracks open one eyes and glances over to me. “She wears Matty’s ring around her neck but Sara’s engagement ring is in the safe in my bedroom at the house. The code is Ivy’s birthday.”