Stopping in the middle of the hallway, I pulled her in and held her tightly.
“Baby, if you’d told Cody before he went in, he might have freaked out, and it would have been even more emotional for him. It might feel bad right now, but it was better for him not to know.”
“How do I— What do I—” she broke off, tightly fisting the small portion of my shirt not covered by the vest in her hands, and pulling it out of where I had it tucked into my pants.
“The doctors will help you explain it to him when he wakes up, and then we look at how to solve it for him. There are testicular implants they can put in if he wants one, but he might decide not to do that, or even make the decision to do it in the future. He’s got options, and he can still lead a full life and have kids with just one.”
Nodding, she hung her head and started walking toward the waiting room again. I didn’t offer up any more words to her, knowing nothing would lift the guilt right now.
Once we were seated in the thankfully empty room, I blew out a breath. I wasn’t going to lie to myself or play dumb about why I was here—it was for the poor boy who’d been in so much pain he could hardly walk. And it was for the woman whose heart was hurting because of it.
“I guess I should call his dad,” she whispered, reaching into her purse for her phone and staring at it like it was a bomb. “I also need to tell my parents. They’re on a cruise just now, but if I don’t tell them, they’ll be upset.”
Knowing she needed to make those calls herself, I didn’t offer to do it for her. I wanted to, though, especially to her ex, given that her voice sounded like she’d rather lie on burning coals than call him.
“I’ll get you a coffee while you do it. If there are any problems, just pass the phone over, and I can fill him in for you, okay?”
Once she’d nodded, I got up and went over to the coffee machine.
It was as I was adding creamer that I heard her blow out a loud breath. “Neil, it’s Evie. Cody’s in surgery just now. He was in pain, and the doctor didn’t know if he had a twisted testicle or not.”
The last word came out croaked. “Anyway, I’ll keep you updated on it.” With that, she ended the call and then shrugged at my raised eyebrow. “What else am I meant to say on a message?”
“Fair point.”
The next call was to her parents, and this one was painful to listen to.
First, I could hear her mom panicking and her dad trying to calm her down, then Evie started crying again. After that, her mom said they’d swim to shore to get home if they had to, which led to Evie and her dad shouting at her to stay where she was.
They got her to text her brother and sister while they were talking, and Maeve and Roque both said they’d come and visit him as soon as the doctors said if he was staying in hospital or if he was being released home.
I could understand that. Other parents would need to use this waiting room at some point, and having it filled with people would deny them a chair while they went through what Evie was.
Finally, there was a turning point at the end. Evie had put the call on speakerphone while she sent the texts, so I heard it the minute her dad gasped.
“Honey, I’ve found an implant for him. There’s a clock on the wall with different colored glass balls beside each number in our cabin. I’ll take one and bring it back with me for them to fill the space. What’s his favorite color?”
There was silence from Evie and Lesley as what he’d said sank in. All the while, I bit down on my lip to hold back the laughter that wanted to burst out of me.
Each second felt like an hour as the silence dragged on, and finally, I lost the battle. It wasn’t audible laughter, but my whole body was shaking with it, and I had tears building in my eyes.
“Did you—” Lesley gasped. “You want to put a glass ball where his testicle was?”
“Hey, implants for that sort of thing were once made out of glass and metal. It’s on the internet right here.”
“I don’t care if it’s written in the sky—you’re not stealing a glass ball from the clock to put inside his body.”
“God, you don’t just put it in there,” he snapped, sounding offended. “You’ve got to sterilize it first and then—”
“Walton Edwards, I’m telling you—for the sake of your wellbeing—to shut up. If you don’t, I’ll use this in court when the judge asks me why you’re missing both balls and half a leg.”