those five tiny stitches Seth had placed more than Ben had, since he’d been given lidocaine to numb the area.
Fighting nausea, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Seth had deemed Ben stable enough to be moved out of the trauma bay, and after the CT scan of his head they’d ended up in a small private room in the ED area. It felt strange to be sitting at his bedside, watching the activity all around, instead of being the one bringing patients in.
Now they were simply waiting for the CT scan results, and for the orthopedic surgeon to cast Ben’s left arm. The break was actually fairly minor, not complex at all, but Ben would need to wear a cast for the next four to six weeks.
She closed her eyes and tried not to succumb to the overwhelming wave of guilt. Ben was okay. He wasn’t hurt badly. He knew the rules—knew he shouldn’t have been riding his bike on the road. She didn’t blame Missy Clairmont, because the real fault was hers. If she hadn’t been trying to impress Seth with having a hypothermia protocol finished in record time maybe she would have stayed outside to watch the boys herself, instead of depending on Joey’s mother to do it.
“Kylie?” Seth called from the doorway.
She lifted her head and struggled to smile. “Hi. Do you have the CT results yet?”
He shook his head. “No, but I would like to put the cast on Ben’s arm, if you don’t object. The orthopedic surgeon is pretty far behind. He’s telling me it’ll be another couple of hours before he can break away to come down here.”
Hours? Good grief—she and Ben had already been here for two and a half hours. At this rate it was amazing Cedar Bluff ever got patients out of the ED.
“I don’t mind.” The break was simple, and she didn’t doubt that Seth wouldn’t have offered to place the cast if he didn’t know what he was doing. He might have an ego where women were concerned, but so far, from what she’d seen, his medical skills were solid.
“Great, I’ll be right back.” When he returned, he was pushing a bulky cart into Ben’s room. “Hey, Ben. How are you feeling?”
Her son glanced over at Seth with his good eye. His left eye was swollen and partially covered by the dressing over his incision. “Better,” Ben answered, although his voice was a little slurred.
She sent Seth a wry look. “They gave him something for the pain and he’s been a little loopy.”
Seth grinned. “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with being a little loopy.” He turned his attention back to Ben. “So, Ben, tell me your favorite color. You get to pick what you want for your cast. Or—” he paused dramatically “—we can put this special Green Bay Packers gauze on. What do you think? Pretty cool, huh?”
Ben’s brow puckered as he solemnly surveyed the options on the cast cart. “Doncha have Chicago Bears gauze?”
“Chicago Bears? What? You’re kidding me, right? Chicago Bears?” Seth clasped his chest dramatically, staggering back a few steps as he stared at Ben in mock horror. “This is Wisconsin, son. What are you thinking? The Chicago Bears are the archenemy.”
Ben giggled, as Seth had meant him to. “I like the Chicago Bears.”
“You do realize Green Bay is only seventy-five miles north of here, don’t you? Heck, the stadium is practically in our backyard.”
Ben shrugged. Kylie doubted her son even understood how far seventy-five miles was. “I don’t care.”
“A Bears fan living in Cedar Bluff.” Seth shook his head from side to side, pretending to be upset. “What is the world coming to? Sorry, Ben, we don’t have any Chicago Bears gauze. But we do have navy blue and we do have orange.”
“Yeah?” Ben’s eyes lit up. “Blue and orange, the Bears colors. That’s what I want on my cast.”
“Okay.” Seth let out a dramatic sigh. “But you’re lucky I like you, Ben, because it’s not going to be easy for me to help out a Chicago Bears fan.” Seth went to work, setting the blue and orange gauze off to the side before slipping the stocking over Ben’s small arm. “You have to promise not to tell anyone I did this for you, all right?”
Ben giggled again, and nodded earnestly. Watching Seth interact with her son made Kylie realize how much Ben missed having a father figure around. She hated to admit it, but she hadn’t even known Ben had