Covering Kendall(77)
Chapter Seventeen
* * *
LATER THAT DAY, Kendall pulled the blankets up Drew’s chest as she watched his eyelids flutter shut. The nurses had re-packed and changed his dressing about half an hour ago. They’d pumped him full of painkillers before they did it, but the pain etched on his face told her whatever shot they gave him wasn’t quite enough. He was exhausted. His parents had left a few minutes ago.
She wished she could stay.
“They’re letting me take a shower tomorrow, baby,” he whispered. “Can’t wait.”
She had to smile. “Alone?”
“I’ll have a couple of assistants. Maybe you’d like to help too.”
“Sounds steamy,” she said. “Are you sure you’re ready for all that action?”
“Bring it on,” he said.
She leaned over the bed and touched her mouth to his as she stroked his hair. His mom had brushed the tangles out of it earlier and put it back into a ponytail, but it was already rumpled.
“I heard you’re getting out of here tomorrow.”
“That’s what the doctor said.”
He was half-asleep. She had to leave. There was so much to say and he wasn’t awake to talk about any of it. She’d spent the entire afternoon talking and laughing with him and his parents instead.
Neil and Bonnie McCoy were terrific people. She really liked them. She knew her parents would love Drew. He would joke with her dad and flirt with her mom, and there wouldn’t be in-law problems or unpleasantness. The longer she stayed, the more she ignored the truth.
It wasn’t going to work between them. Neither of them was willing to give an inch on the compromises needed to make any relationship thrive. She could give up the things she wanted to be with him, but she knew she’d resent those sacrifices. She’d be giving up her own goals and aspirations, and that scared her more than a lifetime of being alone.
He could retire or get himself traded to a team in California, and he’d still be wondering if he’d done the right thing. Bitterness would build.
She knew she was falling in love with him. She knew she might spend the rest of her life kicking herself, but maybe it was best to cut it off before things were even worse—the exchange of “I love you’s,” the lonely nights spent Skyping or texting when you’d give almost anything to lie next to your loved one and tell him about your day.
She reached over to kiss him one more time. He was almost asleep. Hopefully, he wouldn’t figure out she was gone until morning.
“Good night, baby,” she whispered. “I’ll be back soon. Sleep well.”
He let out a murmur of protest, but he was so drugged up he couldn’t force himself awake. She watched him relax into a deep sleep. She stroked the roughness of his cheek and kissed the middle of his forehead. She turned to pick up the backpack and handbag she’d brought with her from San Francisco.
She hurried out of his room, took the elevator to the first floor, and pulled her cell phone out of her handbag to let Mr. Curtis’s pilot know she was on her way to Boeing Field.
DREW’S BEDSIDE PHONE rang the next morning. He reflexively reached out to grab it and let out a “son of a bitch” as he realized that probably wasn’t the best career move. He should have put the fucking thing on the table next to his left hand. In those split seconds, he also realized that Kendall wasn’t in the room. Her stuff was gone.
Shit.
He knocked the receiver off of the cradle, said, “Just a minute,” and finally managed to grab it with his good hand.
“Hello?”
“It’s Kendall,” she said. “Good morning.”
“Where are you? I thought you were going to be here this morning—”
She let out a sigh. “I thought I was too. I’m so sorry.”
“When did you decide you were leaving?”
“I had meetings today.”
“Wouldn’t it have been a good thing to tell me about yesterday?”
He could hear the strain in her voice, but he was hurt and angry. Pissed enough to finally say something about it, as a matter of fact.
“Drew, I’m so sorry—”
“That’s what you claim, but I’m not sure you really mean it. I need you right now.”
He heard her gasp, and he heard voices in the background.
“Kendall, we’re ready to get started,” a male voice said.
“I have to go,” she said.
He’d make it easy on her. He knew it was childish and he should cut her a little slack for being in an impossible situation, but right now, he didn’t want to. He hung up on her.
AFTER A SHOWER that had nothing in common with the “naughty nurses” porn he’d seen at other guys’ bachelor parties, Drew’s incision was inspected, re-bandaged and wrapped again for the trip home. He was helped into cross trainers, Sharks warm-ups, and a very loose button-down shirt. His mom draped a fleece jacket over his currently useless shoulder and his entourage (nurses, parents, and Sharks security) made their way to the SUV that would be taking him home.