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I laugh, liking that even in this situation, she still finds a way to make a joke. She’s always been that way. Even though she’s been a struggling single mom the entire time I’ve known her, she’s always stayed positive and playful.
Dad and Beau come back to the waiting room with waters and snacks.
“These are all the vending machine had.” Dad lays out our options.
Debbie grabs a water. “Thank you.”
Dad sits on the other side of Debbie, and as they start to chat, I stand up to go to Beau.
“Thanks for coming,” I say, wrapping my arms around his middle, loving that he took off his gear and I can actually feel his body even if he is still a little sweaty.
“Of course I’d be here. For you and for him. He’s my quarterback. No matter what’s happened, teammates come first.”
I give him a small kiss and hug him tighter, and then we head to a few chairs, where we both take a seat and get comfortable for what will probably be a long night.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE
Senior Year
“Are you guys here for Aaron Thompson?” a man standing in the doorway to the waiting room, wearing a white coat, asks.
I was just starting to doze off on Beau’s shoulder, but just like that, I’m up on my feet and hurrying to where he’s standing.
“I’m his mom,” Debbie says, her voice laced with desperation for any news on her son.
“He made it through surgery and is stable,” the man says.
“But?” Dad questions in his no-nonsense way.
“But he has a long journey ahead of him.”
A clock on the wall next to the doctor catches my attention, and I notice it’s three in the morning.
In shock, I whisper to Beau, “Is that time right?”
He nods, then turns his attention back to the doctor as he wraps his arm around me, bringing me in for a comforting embrace that I think is more for him in this moment than it is for me. When I look up at him, all I see is fear—a fear that worries me to my core.
“What does that mean?” Debbie asks, her voice cracking from the tears she’s fighting back.
Dad wraps his arm around Debbie in a show of strength since she appears a little unsteady on her feet. “Give it to us straight, Doc,” he says.
“Surgery had a lot of complications. With a compound fracture, there’re a lot of risks because of his bone breaking through the skin. There was dirt, grass, and even some of his sock that we had to pull out of his body. He will most likely have a fever for a few days, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he has to fight some infections as well as other things.”
He pauses and looks at all of us to make sure we’re following along. Each of us is just staring at him, not sure if we want to hear what’s actually going on, but still dying to know if he’ll be okay.
The doctor takes a breath in, then continues, “His fibula is broken. Then, he had a spiral fracture that started down in the ankle joint and spiraled all the way up through the tibia to the knee. We had to put in quite a few plates and screws to set it correctly.”
“Will he be able to walk again?” Debbie asks through her tears.
“It’s going to be a while, but, yes, I think he’ll make a full recovery,” the doctor says, and we all breathe a sigh of relief.
“What about his scholarship?” Debbie looks up to Dad in a panic.
Dad hugs her tighter. “Don’t you worry about that right now. If Doc here says he’ll be able to play again, then he’ll do just that.”
Debbie buries herself in my dad’s chest as I wrap my arms around Beau and hold him tighter.
I wasn’t even thinking about his scholarship to the University of Texas. If he can’t play, there goes not only his dream of playing football, but also his ticket out of this town. Since we were little, he’s talked about moving away from Tennessee to see other places. With his mom being a single mom, they don’t have the opportunity to travel anywhere, and he always thought football would allow him to see the United States.
