He swallows again while nodding. “Okay.”
“I can stay with you during the X-ray. Or you can take Mum in with you. You don’t have to do it by yourself.”
I watch him visibly relax with that information. I should have led with it.
“Okay,” the doctor says, joining us in the cubicle. “We’re almost ready to go up to X-ray.”
I watch Sawyer while the doctor gives us all the information we need, making sure to keep his hand firmly in mine while he listens to it all. After Layla asks a few questions, the doctor leaves, telling us that someone will be in soon to take us up to radiology.
My phone vibrates with five messages throughout this, but I ignore them all. Nothing is more important to me right now than my son and wife. Not even the work situation I know those texts are likely in relation to.
“You should check those,” Layla says softly after giving Sawyer her phone to play the game that she knows will help distract him from any anxiety he’s feeling.
I stand and turn to her. “They can wait.” I narrow my eyes, taking in the worry lining her face. “Are you doing okay?”
She nods. “Yes.” She moves into me, clutching my shirt. “I’m glad you’re here now.”
Layla doesn’t do well in hospitals. It was one reason I was adamant about coming. “I’m not going back to work today.”
She frowns. “You’ve got so much on at the moment?—”
“I’ve got you and Sawyer on at the moment, and that’s it. The rest can be dealt with later.”
Her frown eases and she gives me one of her smiles. I fucking live for those smiles. “Thank you.”
“This isn’t something you have to thank me for, sweetheart.”
More of that smile. “I know, but I want you to know it means a lot to me that you’re here.”
We’re interrupted when a guy comes in to take Sawyer to have his X-ray.
On the walk up to the next level, I talk with Sawyer about the game we’ve been playing on his X-box and about the games he wants to get. It helps keep his mind off the X-ray, but I can hear in his voice that he’s not fully distracted from thoughts of that.
He opts for Layla to go in with him for the X-ray and I wait patiently outside. I take the opportunity to check my messages and reply to them. I let Merrick, my right-hand-man, know to handle everything he can and that I’ll be back on deck tonight once Sawyer goes to bed.
Sawyer finishes getting his X-ray and tells me it didn’t hurt, just like I said. He also mentions that I was right that it might be uncomfortable but that he was okay with that. I see the new piece of trust in me he files away. It’s these little bits of trust I’ve been gathering for eight years that I strive for. My father never gave me any pieces of trust to store. I’ll be damned if I don’t create a different experience for my children.
We’re taken back down to the emergency room and wait for the doctor to come back to us with the results. She arrives half an hour later with the news that Sawyer has a buckle fracture of his wrist and will have to wear a splint and sling for it to heal.
We spend another hour and a half at the hospital getting his splint sorted. Layla keeps in touch with Harlow who offers to have Elizabeth sleep over at her house tonight, an offer we take her up on.
We arrive home just after seven p.m. Sawyer is exhausted and goes straight to bed after we have dinner of leftovers from last night. I read with him for fifteen minutes at which point he’s fast asleep.
I switch off his light and go in search of my wife. I find her in our en suite, undressing to take a shower.
“He’s asleep?” she asks as I run my gaze down her naked body. Layla’s curves never fail to catch my attention. She works out but only enough to stay fit and healthy, not enough to steal all the softness from her body that I love.
I rest against the door frame. “Yeah. Hopefully, he’ll sleep through the night okay.”
“Oh, God, I hope so. I’m exhausted.” She exhales a breath, and my eyes are drawn to her chest as it rises and falls with that breath.
“If he wakes, I’ll go and sleep in his room with him.” Sawyer might be good at keeping his emotions in check during the day, but he sometimes has the kind of nightmares that require one of us to stay with him during the night.
“Baby,” she says, “You need to stop looking at me like that. I seriously don’t have the energy for what you’re thinking you want to do to me.”
I move into her, sliding my arm around her waist. “I’m not thinking I’ll do any of these things to you tonight, but that doesn’t mean I’m removing my eyes from your body.” I drop my lips to hers, taking the kiss I’ve wanted all day.
Layla sent me enough texts today to ensure she was on my mind most of the day. She often sends me dirty texts that I don’t reply to but that she knows I like receiving. I don’t reply to thembecause if I did, I’d have to spend time I don’t have taking care of the hard-on she always inspires. Today, before Sawyer fractured his wrist, I thought a lot about the things I want to do to her with my mouth and tongue, this kiss being first on the list.
