Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
“Hey.” She looked over at me, all glassy-eyed and red-cheeked. “He’s gonna be okay. The doctors are gonna fix him up, and he’ll be as good as new. Just wait and see.”
She nodded, but she wasn’t completely buying it.
“What about Lucas?”
“Oh, God. I forgot all about him. His practice will be over at five.”
“We’ll need to get someone to pick him up.”
“I’ll call my dad. He’ll go get him and bring him home.”
Raelyn called her dad and got things sorted with Lucas. I thought that might help settle her. It didn’t. She kept checking her phone every two seconds, and her knee was bouncing nonstop. She was freaking out. I got that. I knew better than anyone that there was no worse feeling than knowing you weren’t there when your kid needed you.
But this wasn’t about me.
Raelyn needed calm and steady. Thomas did, too. So, I kept my shit together and got us to the hospital in one piece. When we pulled up, Raelyn grew even more tense. She was in her head, and there was nothing I could do to help with that. She would ease up as soon as she laid eyes on her son.
I parked, and we both hurried through the front door. We went straight up to the front desk, and you couldn’t miss the panic in her voice when Rae said, “I’m looking for my son… Thomas Pierce. He was brought in from his school.”
The receptionist straightened her cardigan and took her time turning to her computer. She started typing as she asked, “Are you his mother?”
“I am.”
“Okay.” After more typing and shuffling through a stack of papers, she turned to Rae and said, “We need to get a couple of signatures before we can proceed with imaging.”
“I already signed those with the school.”
“I understand, ma’am.” Looking put out, she slid the paperwork toward Rae and huffed, “But we’re going to need your signature for hospital consent.”
“Okay. Whatever you need.” Raelyn barely glanced at it before signing on the dotted line. As soon as she handed it back, she asked her, “Can I see him?”
“Sure thing.” She pointed to the doors next to us and said, “He’s right through these doors on the right. Room twelve.”
She pushed the button, and as soon as the doors opened, Rae and I went to find room twelve. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I hoped for the best when I found the door and opened it for Rae. She went in first and made a beeline for Thomas.
He was leaning back against the gurney, pale and sweaty, and his arm was hanging stiff at his side, like even breathing hurt. As soon as he saw the pained look on his mother’s face, he muttered, “I’m sorry, Mom.”
“Oh, honey.” She leaned in and kissed him on the forehead. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“I just feel bad. I know this freaked you out.”
“Don’t worry about me, sweetheart.” She placed her hand on his knee. “I just want you to be okay.”
“Doc said he didn’t think my collarbone was broken. Pretty sure it’s just a dislocated shoulder.”
“I guess that’s good.”
“Definitely better than a broken collarbone,” I interjected.
Thomas glanced up at me and said, “Yeah, I heard it hurts like a sonofabitch when they fix it.”
“Thomas.”
“Their words. Not mine.”
That earned him a chuckle from both of us. The room fell silent when the nurse came in and announced, “Alright. I’m ready to take you down to imagining. Then, we can finally see what we’re dealing with.”
Thomas nodded, and Rae gave his hand a quick squeeze as she told him, “It’ll be fine.”
“I know. I’m just ready to get it over with.” He stood, and the nurse helped him into the wheelchair. When they started out the door, he announced, “Coach called Dad.”
“Okay. Is he coming?”
“I don’t think so. He said something about being caught up in a meeting and to call when I knew something.”
“Okay.” Rae forced a smile as she told him, “We’ll be right here when you get back.”
Raelyn stood there, staring at the empty doorway, and it wasn’t long before her shoulders finally sagged. Her adrenaline was starting to wear off, so I stepped closer and asked, “You okay?”
The words barely left my mouth before she’d turned and wrapped her arms around my waist. I hugged her back, and she melted into me. Her head was tucked under my chin, and she was holding me tight when she whispered, “Thank you for being here.”
“You couldn’t keep me away, babe.” I kissed her on the forehead. “I love you, and I love your boys. Nothing I wouldn’t do for y’all.”
“You just said you loved me.”
“That’s not new information.”
“Yeah, it kind of is.” She looked up at me with emotion in her eyes. “You’ve never said it before.”
She was right. I hadn’t said the words out loud. But that didn’t mean I hadn’t thought it, hadn’t felt it. Hell, I’d felt it for months. I didn’t know I had it in me, but then again, love doesn’t come when you ask for it. It shows up at your door unannounced, in the midst of all the chaos, and drops you to your knees.