“Need me to call anyone for you, honey?” the nurse asked.
“Oh, my boss!” She sat up, remembering. The movement started the gash bleeding, drops hitting the white sheet. “Ouch.” She closed her eyes, unable to look at the red stain.
The nurse eased her back against pillows.
“I’ll text Joan not to worry, that you’re in good hands,” Phoenix said, pulling out his cell phone and typing a message with his right thumb. His left arm hung limply like a forgotten appendage.
Orchid swallowed, her fogged brain unable to process Phoenix’s altered state. His eyes met hers. “You look like a horror movie extra,” Orchid said, hoping he would think she’d been staring at his bloodstained outfit.
“We must’ve been cast in the same film,” he said lightly, coming over to take her hand. “Too bad about that dress. I have fond memories of that outfit.”
His closeness made her already addled brain float higher. “You remember! I didn’t even know I was seeing you today. Joan sprung it on me at work.”
“Serendipity again.”
Before she could respond, a pretty blond woman knocked and marched in. Phoenix stepped back from the bed to make space for her white-smocked, efficient presence. Orchid missed Phoenix’s proximity.
“Hello, Ms. Paige? I’m a plastic surgery resident here,” she said, shaking Orchid’s hand.
“Plastic surgery?” Orchid asked, alarmed. “Will I need surgery?”
“Probably not, but let me take a look.” She removed the bandage and examined the wound site. “It’s a deep laceration. Looks like seven to nine stitches should do the trick,” she declared.
“Stitches?” Orchid asked, her voice careening.
The doctor eyed her. “Probably three internal, six external. We’ll give you a local anesthetic.”
“Can I see a mirror?” Orchid asked, feeling faint.
The nurse looked around, then pulled a round mirror out of the supplies cabinet and handed it to her, handle first.
Orchid’s breath caught in her throat at her reflection. Cuts gashed along her left cheek, speckling her skin dark red with drying blood. Those were minor compared to an inch-long raw slice, diagonal above her left brow. The flesh lay split open like the first cut into a hunk of raw meat, red drops pooling into the cavity. Phoenix stood at her side, observing her observe herself. She dropped the mirror face down onto the bed, ashamed for Phoenix to see her like this.
“There is nothing wrong with the way you look,” he said, his words frozen over.
She couldn’t examine why he was acting cold right now. The pressing questions shot out, directed at the doctor. “Oh my God, I’m hideous. My face is disfigured. Will I have a scar? Please tell me there won’t be a scar.”
The doctor explained. “You have a pretty clean cut. The scarring will be minimal. You’ll have to adhere to wound care basics. Staying out of the sun will help. We’ll go over all the details with you.”
Orchid didn’t hear what the doctor had to say. Her mouth hung open watching the door swing shut behind Phoenix. Her lagging brain finally surfaced what her subconscious had pieced together. He’d been injured when she left for China, after which, he’d refused to see the woman who couldn’t look at a cut on her foot or pictures of physically imperfect soldiers.
There should be hope. If only she could tell him whatever feelings over his injury he projected onto her weren’t true. Then, fear of losing that chance bathed her in cold sweat, as she realized she’d just called her inch-long gash “a hideous disfigurement.”
CHAPTER 42
HYPOCRITICAL KISS
Phoenix
FRIDAY MARCH 15
“Why?” Rina asked again, as if studying for a test. She crossed one leg over the other, her movement giving away her emotion as much as the rising tone of her voice.
“Because we’re not right together. Because you can do better.” Phoenix placed the glass she’d given him onto her coffee table. He probably didn’t deserve the drink, seeing that he was breaking her heart.
“We get along great. Why do you think I can do better?”
Phoenix studied her ramrod posture and silky brown-blond hair. Rina really was very pretty. And smart. They’d enjoyed many pleasurable evenings in this compact one-bedroom apartment. He could see how they could be a good match. He tried to explain to the stoic woman before him.
