Griffin chuckled.
“That’s not what I said,” his dad called in the background.
“What he said wasn’t nearly as nice,” Griffin’s mom quipped.
“It was great.” Griffin grinned. “No tripping or making an idiot of myself.”
“Damn it!” his dad hollered.
A laugh shot out before I could stop it.
Thankfully, Griffin’s laugh covered it. “Sorry to disappoint, Dad.”
“I’m going to check cows,” his dad said, as if his day had just been ruined.
A door banged in the background, and his mom snickered, “Silly man.”
Griffin laughed, but his shoulders hunched. “So I take it from everyone’s happy mood that the news was good?”
What was this?
“Yes.” His mom exhaled. “The doctor said that even though Sage has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, she should be fine.”
That sounded serious.
“They can deliver the baby safely?” Griffin asked.
So Sage, whoever she was, was expecting.
“Yes. Probably by C-section. After she’s born, they’ll do a procedure to cut away the wall that’s blocking blood flow.”
“Dang.” Griffin dragged a hand down his face. “That’s… wow. Open heart surgery?”
“Yes,” his mom said. “But the doctor’s confident they’ve got a handle on the situation.”
“Is Jamestaking the news okay?” Griffin asked.
James was his brother. I remembered that from their high school reels.
“It’s James… so….” his mom’s sentence trailed off.
“Yeah,” was all Griffin said.
“Sage keeps telling him to stop being such a worrywart.” She laughed. “I’m just grateful we found out before something bad happened.”
“Me too.” Griffin’s shoulders finally relaxed. “Tell them I love them.”
“Will do. And sweetie?” her tone turned tense.
“Yes, Mom,” Griffin said with a laugh.
“Please be safe.”
“I will.”
The call ended, and he stared straight ahead, lost in thought.
“Who’s Sage?” I asked.
