could mean surgery.”
Kyle groaned.
Joy patted her son’s arm. “Looks like I’ll have a roommate for a while.” She turned to the doctor. “He’ll come home with me.”
“Glad to hear it.” She made a note in her chart. “We’re going to take Kyle to get that cast on, and as soon as we’re done, you can take him home.”
Two orderlies arrived, and a few minutes later, they were rolling Kyle out of the room.
When Joy and Jackson were alone, Joy studied the normally outspoken young man whose personality was usually larger than life. His face was white, and he looked shaken. “He’s going to be okay. You know that, right?”
Jackson nodded. “Yeah. He scared me there for a minute though. I heard the crash on the phone and…” He shook his head. “I’m not sure I’m ever going to forget that.”
A shudder ran through Joy as she imagined her son’s car hitting that tree. It felt like a punch in the gut, and her chest ached with the realization that the outcome could’ve been so much worse. She shook her head. The last thing she needed to do was worry about what hadn’t happened. She cleared her throat and changed the subject. “So, you and Kyle? Is everything okay there?”
He glanced away. “I’m sorry, I can’t talk about this, Mrs. Lansing.”
“Call me Joy,” she insisted again.
“Right. Joy.” He took a seat across the room from her and stared at his feet.
Joy sighed. And then because she had to make sure he knew where she stood, she said, “I don’t want to make any assumptions here, and I’m not asking you to tell me anything, but if there is something more than friendship between you and my son, I’m completely okay with it.”
He blinked, and his mouth worked as if he were trying to figure out what to say.
Joy held her hand up. “Really, don’t say anything. I’m certain if there is something for me to know, it’s a conversation I should be having with Kyle whenever he’s ready for it. I just wanted to make myself clear, okay?”
Jackson nodded and then smiled. “Okay.”
Joy stood and made her way across the room. The boy she’d known since he was five years old looked up at her. She smiled down at him and opened her arms wide. “I think it’s time for a hug, don’t you?”
He let out a chuckle and got to his feet, embracing her in a bear hug. “I love you, Mrs. L.”
It was what his mom had told him to call her when he was little, so she didn’t correct him again. Instead, she held him tightly and said, “Thank you for being here for Kyle. I love you, too.”
Chapter Four
The phone rang, startling Joy out of a deep sleep. She sat straight up in bed and glanced around, looking for her phone through blurry eyes. It had been late when she and Kyle got home the night before, and by the time she got him settled back in his old room, it had been well past three in the morning. Then it had taken a couple hours for her to finally get to sleep.
She wiped the sleep from her eyes and squinted at her clock. It was just past eight. Three hours wasn’t nearly enough. She grabbed her phone, glanced at the screen, and then answered. “Grace? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong here,” her best friend said impatiently over the line. “I’m calling to find out why I had to hear from Lex that Kyle was in a car accident. Is he okay? What happened?”
Joy yawned, but then her lips curled into a tiny smile. It was good to have friends who cared so much. She just hadn’t thought the rumor mill would’ve been spinning quite that early. But then she should’ve known it wouldn’t take long for Grace to learn about the accident. Her niece, Lex, was good friends with both Jackson and Kyle. Jackson had probably called her the night before. It wouldn’t have taken long for Lex to call Grace. “He’s okay. Or at least he was last night when I put him to bed.”
“He’s there at the house?” Grace asked.
Joy nodded even though Grace couldn’t see her as she climbed out of bed and dug around in her dresser for her favorite yoga pants. “Yep. He’ll be here for a while. He has a fractured tibia and is in a cast. He’s not supposed to put any weight on it, and those stairs at his apartment