Page 59 of True Honey
I stepped forward and with me Ella moved, she saw the same flicker of pain in his eyes. He was hiding an injury. I wanted to call it out, to tell Ryan to pull him off the field but I opened my mouth too late and Cael swung.
It was like watching the muscle tear in slow motion. Arlo held his breath beside me as the bat connected with the ball and soared over the infield wide of center and past the barriers. The team erupted loudly but the three of us didn’t move an inch, knowing exactly what he had just done.
A home run but at the worst cost.
Shit.
“Silas,” Ella’s voice broke as Cael’s entire left side went limp.
“I know, don’t move, let him do his circle,” I said quietly, putting my hand up and wrapping it around the bannister as we all watched Cael run the bases without contest and a huge smile on his face. He was putting on a show. “Get the bag, we’re going to have to force him out of the dugout,” I whispered to Ella as the team cheered loudly for their shortstop.
“Arlo, manage Ryan’s expectations just for the next two innings. Do not let him on to how bad this might be,” I said and he nodded tightly, his hand clenched at his sides. My heart was hammering in my chest uncontrollably waiting for his face to fall as he came into the dugout but he took each high five without giving them a clue what happened.
Ryan eyed him and his eyes flickered to mine before returning to his son’s.
“Locker room now,” he said and Cael was in the process of arguing when Arlo blocked his path into the dugout further, his hard glare looking at the door to the tunnel. Dean appeared beside me, wanting to know what was going on.
“Do not lose this game,” I warned him. Leaving out the fact that if they didn’t it would all be in vain.
Dean tapped his fingers to his chest and started to rally the boys as I pushed my way around them. Ella was standing on the other side of the door with the medical bag slung over her shoulder and a devastated look on her face.
“I’m alright, Peachy—”
Cael didn’t make it a step before the pain took over every muscle in his body and he crumpled against the wall with a shocking thump. Ella gasped her brows pulling together as I bent at the knees scooping up his body by the waist. She darted ahead of us, opening the doors so we could pass through. My grip was tight around him, carrying the majority of his weight just trying to keep him upright long enough to get him into the medical wing.
“Something isn’t right,” Cael groaned, as he rolled onto the nearest bed. “I can’t feel my arm but the pain in my shoulder is—” his words trailed off and his body tightened again.
“We can’t fix this here,” I said to Ella and she instantly whipped her phone out calling for an ambulance. “Cael listen to me,” I said but he was lost in whatever wave of pain had hit again. “Cael come on,” I tapped the side of his face and he forced his eyes open. “There you are, they’re going to have to assess you but there’s a good chance you just tore the muscles in your rotator cuff…again.”
“You and—” he screwed his eyes shut through the surge of pain. “Peachy said that if it happenedagain—”
“It would be the last time you played, that’s right Cael,” I reminded him with a soft tone in my voice as he fought back a string of frustrated tears. “You should have told us it was sore.”
“I just wanted to play,” he groaned, “I didn’t want to let dad down again.”
I cursed the words that tumbled out of him as Ella returned.
“What do you need from me?” She asked, her brown eyes filled with worry.
“Go back to the game,” I said and before she could argue, I cut her off again, “one of us needs to be here in case something else goes wrong and Josh needs to be watched like a hawk. We can’t lose them both. I have all of Cael’s medical information and can handle the doctors at the hospital,” I explained and Ella nodded, understanding without any more arguments. “Go, do not tell Ryan a single thing outside that Cael just needed some ice, wait until the game is over.”
Ella disappeared from the office and eventually the paramedics were brought back through the stadium quietly. They stabilized his shoulder as he barked at them not to give him any drugs. I calmed him back down, with a simple promise to keep an eye on what they were giving him. He stared at me, more terrified of the drugs to ease his pain than the agony of his shoulder being torn to shreds and that broke my heart all over again. Meanwhile, the crowd had no idea they’d just watched what might be his last game ever. I ran my hands through my hair and climbed into the back of the ambulance with them, telling them to leave the lights and sirens off.
The nurses at the hospital wasted no time getting him a bed and there had been more than one doctor in and out of his temporary room in the emergency room. He needed more scans but it was pretty obvious that he had just caused irreparable damage to his body. It wasn't until we were admitted to a bed and Cael was finally asleep that I caught my breath long enough to remember that I promised Drew and August I would meet them in the office.
I texted her quickly, letting her know that I wouldn’t be home for a while feeling shitty on top of guilt for accidentally forgetting about them in all the chaos. I had let Cael’s injury slip through the cracks and found out first hand what it looked like when I failed my team and got distracted. I pressed the heels of my palms into my eyes and did my best not to lose my shit as the distant beeping grew incessant.
“Is he okay?” Ryan’s voice broke as he stepped into the room. His hair was a mess, his hat crumpled in his hand and a distant look on his face.
I nodded, “he will be… Ryan—”
“He’s done, isn’t he? He won't be able to play after this?” He asked me, slowly approaching the bed and his sleeping son.
“Chances he’ll be back on the field are low,” I confirmed and Ryan’s hand roughly curled around the handle of the bed. “I don’t know how I missed it,” I said.
Ryan glared at me and without words, I could feel all of his accusations. I pulled the medical chart from the base of the bed and read through everything explaining what it all meant in simple terms. The more I read, the more devastated Ryan looked. Walking the line between Coach and Father was harder than it looked and today Ryan was battling against the expectations of both.
“Go home, Shore.” He didn’t look up from Cael’s face, his voice tight with anger, “you’ve done enough today. I’ll call you with updates.”
