Part of him had thought she might just hang around outside the door in case Bryson started to cry for her, so he was glad to see she’d gone further than that, to a place that was guaranteed to take her out of earshot of her son.
“We read books, Momma,” he said with a smile, his eyes wide. “Four of them!”
“That’s great, baby.” Sophia set her things down on a chair then approached the bed, bringing with her a subtle scent of flowers. “Did you help Ryker with the words?”
Bryson nodded. “And I drank more smoothie.”
Ryker wasn’t sure if the boy had been talking this much in the days he’d been gone, but from the look of joy on Sophia’s face, he was going to guess that perhaps he hadn’t. Not that he thought he was some miracle worker or anything, but Ryker had a feeling that Sophia tended to baby Bryson a bit. Afraid to push him too far.
Ryker, on the other hand, tried to present Bryson with things that he’d done before in hopes of having him rise to the occasion. Though the boy had definitely recited the stories with more gusto and accuracy in the past, the fact that he’d done what he had was encouraging.
“Thank you for staying with him,” Sophia said as she sank down on the other chair next to the bed. “I’m happy he’s staying awake for longer periods now, but it does make it challenging for me to get away for even a few minutes. I worry that he’ll wake up and…”
Ryker nodded. “Understandable. But we did fine, didn’t we buddy?” He held his fist out to Bryson, smiling when Bryson’s smaller fist bumped against his.
“I’m going to step out for a few minutes,” he said as he got to his feet. “Do you want me to heat up the rest of your lasagna?”
“Sure. That would be great.”
With a nod, Ryker went back to the table and picked up the containers with their food, then left the room. Before heading to the family room to heat up the food, he went to the nurses’ station.
“Hello, Doctor Bennett,” the nurse who had come into Bryson’s room earlier greeted him. “Is everything okay?”
“Yep. I’m not sure how the neurological assessments are going on Bryson,” Ryker said. “But I thought I’d report what I’ve seen given that I knew him before he got sick.”
“Okay.” She grabbed a notepad and set it on the elevated counter in front of him. “You can write it out, and I’ll leave a note for the doctor to review it on rounds tomorrow.”
“Thanks.” Ryker set the containers down and took the pen she held out.
Writing quickly, he made a note of Bryson’s abilities before the illness, then added information about what he’d observed during his interactions with him that night. If the doctor had been anyone but his old mentor, he might have been a bit more concerned about stepping on toes. However, one of the reasons he’d so admired and appreciated the older doctor was his ability to put his patients’ wellbeing above his pride.
When he was done, he handed both the pen and notepad back to the nurse. “Thanks so much.”
“You’re welcome.”
With that done, he headed for the family lounge, where he knew there was a microwave. There were a couple of people in the room who looked up as he walked in. Their expressions showed the stress that came with having a child in the PICU, which was likely their situation given that this room was used most often by the family members of children in that unit.
He gave them a sympathetic smile and a nod as he made his way to the microwave. It didn’t take long to get the food warmed up, then he carefully carried the containers back to Bryson’s room.
When he walked in, he noticed that Sophia was still at Bryson’s bedside, her hand slowly carding through his curls. It appeared that the boy had fallen asleep once again.
After he set the containers on the table, Sophia joined him there, sitting down on the chair she’d occupied earlier.
“Thank you,” she said as she looked down at the food. “I feel like I have a bit more of an appetite now.”
“That’s good. I was starting to wonder if I needed to bring you a smoothie too.” He smiled at her in an effort to take the sting out of his words. “You need to be taking care of yourself.”
“That smoothie was a genius idea,”