His eyes widened. “You used to game?”
“Hell, yeah, I did. I haven’t played any of the newer versions of Halo, though, so I’m probably like ten years behind.”
“I’ll show you the new ones, and you can game with me,” he offered quickly, looking as excited as a sick kid in pain could. But then something occurred to him to take away the look. “I’d understand if you didn’t want to, though. I just thought—”
Poking him in the arm, I smiled widely down at him. “That would be awesome. Do you mind if I see if DB wants to join? He’s kickass at it, and I doubt he’s had time to play for a long time.”
“You really want to?” When I nodded, genuinely meaning it, a small smile tilted his lips. “Do you think he’d want to, too? I mean, he’s the sheriff.”
“He’s also a child at heart. You should see how excited he got going toy shopping for his daughter. I swear, it’ll blow his mind having the opportunity to game again.”
I was pretty sure that wasn’t an exaggeration either.
“Awesome,” he breathed. “I’d really like that.”
“Me, too, bud. As soon as you’re better, we’ll set it up. If I ask him immediately, he’ll take over, and I’ll never get a game in.”
Just then, the curtain was pulled back, and the doctor and Evie were joining us again. I couldn’t tell from the expression on his face what the doctor was thinking, but I could definitely tell the smile on Evie’s face was fake and that she was minutes away from cracking.
“Okay, Cody. I’ve just explained to your mom that we think you have what’s called a torsion of your right testicle. To fix it, we need to take you up to surgery and just move it back around so that it’s not twisted anymore.
“Your mom and Detective Bell can come with you until you’re in anesthesia, then they’ll be brought back to you when you’re in recovery.”
I closed my eyes for a moment and prayed for the first time in a long time that the poor kid didn’t lose the testicle. As a grown man, if I lost one, at least I’d had over fifty years with mine. It’d be a brutal hit, but I’d like to think I’d accept it and make peace with that loss.
For an eleven-year-old boy who was just hitting puberty, though… fuck!
Because he wouldn’t let go of my hand, Evie moved around to the other side and took his free hand, and together we walked with him lying on the gurney toward the elevator that’d take us to the floor they were going to operate on. The doctor who’d taken over his case was a urologist, so I had to hope they knew what they were doing.
As they took him through putting on a hospital gown, putting the IV in the back of his hand, and getting him prepped, I stood strong for him and his mom. It was when they were about to wheel him in for his anesthetic, though, that he held his arm out to me, and I damn near lost it.
Pulling me closer, he whispered, “Thank you so much. Look after Mom for me, she’s going to cry.”
“Always, bud. Now, you go in there and wow them with your awesomeness. I’m going to watch some videos on Halo to see what the new ones are like and plan how to beat you.”
Lifting slightly, I tapped him on the nose. “I’ll also order some tacos because you deserve all the good stuff.”
Evie went through with him while they did what they had to do, but when she came out, she sank down on her knees in the middle of the room and burst into tears.
Squatting beside her, I helped her up and guided her over to the chairs, holding her while big, hacking sobs wracked her body.
With her upper half on my chest and my chin resting on the top of her head, I rubbed her back, doing my best not to cry with her.
“Ms. Edwards? Detective Bell? If you’d like to go to the waiting room down the hall, we’ll call you when there’s an update on Cody,” a nurse said softly. “There’s coffee and beverages in the room and vending machines outside of it if you’re hungry.”
She had to be kidding. Who got hungry while their kid was having emergency surgery, regardless of why they were having it?
Shooting her a smile, I helped Evie to her feet and took her hand as we walked toward where the room was that we needed to be in.
“I had to sign a form for them to remove his testicle,” she rasped. “I had to say it was okay for them to take part of him away, and he doesn’t even know. I’m such a fucking failure as a parent, it isn’t even funny.”