“I knew it!” Dex pounded his fist onto the desk between them.
“Knew what?”
“That she had a thing for you. At the anniversary party, she was all doe-eyed. But I don’t get it. Wasn’t she a bitch to you? And why was she thinking you were engaged to Tish?”
Phoenix shook his head. “My life is a mess.”
“If we ever pitch a soap opera, we’re coming to you for material.”
“I cut her out of my life. After the accident. Don’t judge me.”
“No judging here. That was a hell of an accident. It’d screw anyone up, for a bit anyway. So, you know Fiona’s going to want all the details. Why’d you cut her out of your life, and what happened when she showed up for Easter?”
“Isn’t it obvious? That is one sensitive woman. Remember she was the one who couldn’t look at military ads? Who was bleeding all over the office and still tried to avoid the hospital?”
“So what?” Dex huffed. “She’s also the one you said was special and sweet. The one you brought to Cannes and came back like you were smitten.”
“Yeah, that was all before I ended up half metal, half man.”
“All right. So what happened at Easter? Is she all freaked out, or cool, love my metal-man?”
Phoenix got up to walk to the plate glass overlooking Midtown. “Crazy woman says she loves me.” The words hit him hard. “She doesn’t want to admit it, but she’s still traumatized on the inside.”
“Yeah? What makes you think that? Did she faint? Freak?”
“Naw, she was cool. She even stayed with me one night.”
“You sly dog.”
“Cut it out.” He paced, agitated. “You know her parents died, right? Some terrible car accident. She witnessed it, and seeing people hurt reminds her. So what am I going to do, torture her every time she’s with me?”
Dex stroked his unruly beard. “Honestly, all decked out in Armani, you don’t look that busted up to me.”
Phoenix looked down, from tailored suit to buffed shoes.
“It’s more like you’re bionic. Cool in that Ironman, Six-Million-Dollar-Man way,” Dex said.
Phoenix considered this. He’d achieved all those goals he’d set with Nadine.
“Hey, if she’s telling you she loves you, you might want to hold onto her. Fiona only tells me that after she’s had a glass of wine. Or four.”
And then he saw it.
The pieces of the puzzle he’d been focused on, Orchid’s horror over her cut, while true, was just one side of the image. Flipped to the front side, he recognized new connections. Orchid massaging away his pain, seeing his missing pieces and, after these many months, still offering her care. Caleb, Mom, and now Dex each advised the same thing. The loving textures and hues of Orchid’s care had been there all along, just obscured by his own prejudice. She saw nothing less than 100 percent. Maybe he could do the same.
CHAPTER 54
MISSING PIECES
Orchid
Two days frozen and then Orchid’s thaw came in wet salted waves.
She first pictured Phoenix whole and angry. Gorgeous and stunning too, even while pelting her with sarcastic and biting accusations.
Next, she saw his pain, and the inequity of what he had to deal with. Her own source of pain was that, despite the finality of his abandonment, she still cared for him.
It wasn’t how he looked that shocked her. Rather, seeing him ambulate without prostheses produced pained images of his difficulties. His scooting, hand past bum, gave a glimpse of daily challenges.
