He wasn’t about to overshare on a Seattle radio station but the words were stuck in his brain.
“Was it a more significant injury than originally thought?” Thayer asked, and Nick had to admit, there was no judgment in the guy’s tone, just genuine curiosity.
Whether Drew read his body language or just had something to say, Nick didn’t know but he appreciated that his friend leaned in to answer.
“Listen, man. We’re not as young as we used to be. Some people chirp at us for even playing the games at this age, but we got a special combination of experience and talent. While we love what we do and wanna keep going, your body just doesn’t heal the way it once did. Hell—can I say hell?”
“You just did, twice,” Thayer said.
Nick covered his laugh with a hand over his mouth.
“I used to go to practice, hang out with my buds, throw a few back, get barely any sleep, and still run that ball. Now, just getting out of bed in the morning can hurt.”
Nick laughed. “To be clear, he’s speaking for himself right now. I am fully capable of sneezing without needing time off work.”
Drew razzed him back a bit and Thayer laughed.
“But honestly,” Nick said. “He’s right in that your body can only take so much, so yeah, it might have looked like a minor injury but there was more than what anyone could just see at the surface level.” Especially since he hadn’t shared how deep his issues went.
They continued to go back and forth for a bit, took a few caller questions, which must have been weeded through by the producer, and within a half hour, they were walking out of the booth. Almost entirely painless.
As they walked out of the station together, Liv walking quickly ahead of them, Drew slowed his pace, then stopped before they reached the car his assistant climbed into.
Drew put a hand on his arm. “You all right, man?”
Nick ran a hand through his hair, sighed. “I feel done. I never thought I’d feel this way.”
Meeting his gaze, Drew nodded. “Every hit makes it harder to get up. We give everything to what we do, physically, mentally, emotionally. Hell, socially. Why do you think I haven’t settled down with a woman?”
“Because no one will have you?” Nick said, even knowing this wasn’t entirely true, but he liked to mess with his friend if he could.
Drew pushed his shoulder. “Back at you. But really, we ain’t young. We’re not old by regular-job standards, man, but what we do isn’t regular. Our bodies are tired. No shame in that. What’d we say back in the day when we met?”
Nick thought about that, remembered the good times they used to have when life felt a bit easier; right when they were in the prime of it. Then he remembered.
“You play until you don’t. You get up and go every single day until the day you wake up and wonder, what am I missing? When that happens, you know you’re ready for a different path.”
“I am a wise, wise man, my friend,” Drew said with a cocky grin.
“Every now and again.”
“You wondering what you’re missing, Nick?” Drew’s gaze was serious.
He knew what he was missing: waking up pain free, time with a woman who turned his heart upside down and made him smile, his sister, watching Asher grow up.
“Might be getting there.”
Drew squeezed Nick’s shoulder, kept his hand there, leaned in. “Nothing wrong with that. I’m going to the Super Bowl. Then I’m done.”
Nick reared back. “What?”
Drew nodded. “I wanna go out on top while I can still walk off the field without limping. I love this game. But I’m ready to see it from a different spot.”
“I had no idea,” Nick said, well and truly stunned.
“Why would you? We don’t share the hard shit often enough. I’m here if you need anything, brother.”
Nick gave him a hard hug then stepped back. “I might take you up on that. For talking, anyway. And right back at you. You need anything, I’m here.”