Page 67 of True Honey
“It’s okay, if the roles were reversed I would have thrown in a few more choice adjectives,” Drew said, allowing Riona an easy out. “Your daughter is also the only reason my son is up on a weekend and if he doesn’t behave I’ll lock him in his room for a week?” She gave her a weak smile.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, and I’m sorry I insulted him…” Riona crossed the room and held her hand out to her. Drew offered her a coffee but after seeing the face Arlo made, passed on the cup and took the bag of pastries out of my hand.
“How long has he been in surgery?” I asked, stepping back to rest against Drew, grounding myself to her and silently thanking her for the push.
“Half an hour maybe?” Ryan looked down at his watch with a grunt, “Clem should be back soon, I sent her home to sleep a while ago.”
“El?” I asked Arlo.
“She drove Clementine home, and is going to bring her back,” he explained. There were small moments of brightness in the dark, like Ella finding her confidence to drive again. It was only occasional and only when she had to, she still used her bike more often than not but she was working toward something and that mattered.
“She’s just keeping herself busy so she doesn’t go insane with worry.”
“Clem will take care of her,” I said to Arlo and he nodded.
Riona grumbled something in response to that as she started to chew down a danish. Ryan pushed from the chair and stretched out what could have only been exhausted muscles.
“Everyone go home, get some sleep.” He looked around the room, old green eyes pausing briefly on Drew before they flickered to Arlo. “You too. He’ll be groggy as all hell, coming out of this and I’m going to need your help in the morning.”
Arlo opened his mouth to argue but got the glare of death and thought better of it. “One of us needs sleep and some patience or a bum shoulder will be the least of his worries,” Ryan joked, earning a soft laugh from the room. The look of concern on his face was palpable. The first time he had injured himself, he had also quit drugs cold turkey and threw himself in a rehab facility. None of us had to truly survive the tidal wave that was enduring the pain he would no doubt be in when he woke up.
The next week or so would be the worst until the dull sting of metal instruments poking around inside of his muscles and scraping against his bonessubsided. I couldn’t imagine how horrible it was going to be without even ibuprofen, but we’ll be lucky if we even get him to take that.
The worry was loud between the three of us, in a deadlock of fear for what was to come when he got out of surgery. Riona cleaned her hands off and cleared her throat after a moment and we all managed to get free of our thoughts.
“Come on, Cap. I’ll give you a ride,” Riona patted him on the shoulder, still referring to him as she always had and ushered him from the room after giving her brother a soft look.
“Silas,” Ryan said as I turned to Drew, she smiled at Ryan and excused herself.
“Yeah?” I twisted back to him and braced for the scolding. It had been awhile since he had been coach and me a player but even I had my moments where Ryan was more father than friend. The look on his face told me that this was one of those times.
“The doctor said that Cael could have torn that muscle reaching for a can in the cupboard, it was as thin as paper when the injury happened. Barely hanging on under his skin. There was nothing any of us could have done to stop it. Do you understand?” He asked and I nodded. “I’m sorry I snapped at you yesterday, that…” he paused, struggling with his apology. “It shouldn’t have happened but I was frustrated andscared. You were the first person I saw and it just came out.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m scared too.”
Ryan inhaled, filling his chest with air before speaking again, “he’s going to be fine.”
“He’s too stubborn to be anything else,” I added as he wandered closer and gave me a pat on the shoulder. I stood with him for a quiet moment, the both of us taking the chance to settle our heart rates in the silence.
Ryan Cody never got enough credit for wrangling all of us. Lorraine was often the forefront of conversation when it came to her instincts and our upbringing within the Nest. But Ryan had watched us grow from the dugout, he’d watched boys come in and out of that locker room each one coming in a boy and leaving a man. He wasn’t always eloquent with his words or loud about his love but he had always protected us from the monsters in the dark that none ofus could see. Raised us to know how to fight them when he wasn’t around to do it.
He’d stumbled with Cael—but raising your mirror is the hardest thing a man can do.
And unfortunately, Cael was running around in the world with the heart of Lorraine completely unprotected and unaware of how much it hurt Ryan every time he was in pain.
“I’ll stop by the office, grab your duffle before I come back in the morning. Do you need anything else?” I asked him.
“A fucking vacation,” Ryan joked.
“After playoffs,” I smiled. Backing away to where Drew stood in the doorway. “I’ll pay for the plane ticket.”
Ryan shook his head, waving me off. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
By the time we get back to the apartment after running some errands and stopping at the stadium for a bag of Ryan’s things, the Nest is full again and everyone is upstairs making noise. There’s a massive banner on the kitchen table that Dean had started to paint for Cael’s return and Drew giggled at the sight of it.
“He’s got the artistic skill of a toddler,” Arlo scowled, staring at it. Ella was tucked in his arms with her back against his chest, staring at it with her eyebrows scrunched together.
“But it’s so cute, and telling him would break his heart,” Ella said. “I still have my birthday one rolled up in the room. I’ll treasure it forever,” she laughed.
