“My company wants me to move to China.”
“No way! Congratulations, right? But you know you can’t leave me.”
“Don’t worry. There’s at least two trips home a year.”
“Cool, so why are you not sounding excited?”
“Phoenix,” Orchid said with a sigh.
“Weren’t my orders for you to move on?”
“Yeah, except it’s not what I thought,” Orchid said. “He didn’t call me because he was in a train accident and didn’t want me to worry, or he thought I’d reject him or something stupid like that.”
“Train accident? Sounds serious. Is he okay?”
“Hard to say. He looks okay. He looks good, actually. I’ve only seen him a few times since I came back. Remember at that holiday party? I guess I was so focused on the girl he was all wrapped around that I didn’t notice much else.”
“Yeah, what happened with that girl?”
“Turns out I misunderstood. That was his admin, and they weren’t dating.” Orchid took a sip then replaced her glass onto the counter. “So, my boss took me to a party at his agency.”
“You go, girl.”
“Only when I see him, I look down and realize he’s missing his hand.”
“Oh, no!”
“Yeah, poor guy, right?”
“Yeah, and poor you. How are you feeling about all this?”
“Stupid sensitive me. I had a minor freakout. But then, I was so worried for him, like did it hurt, was he okay. Then I thought that maybe that was why he stopped talking to me and he just needed to see that we’re still good together, and we can make it all right again.”
“Sounds good. And if that were the case, I’m guessing you wouldn’t look so glum, right?”
“You know me too well. So, it gets complicated. Phoenix’s not returning my calls, so I went to see his brother to ask for his help.”
“You’ve got me on the edge of my seat here. Hot brother willing to help out?”
“I dunno,” Orchid said, “except he tells me that the accident took his leg, too.”
“What? Oh my god! That’s messed up.”
“I know. I feel terrible that this happened to him. And I wasn’t even around when he was going through all this. And then, he doesn’t even want to tell me. He kept it secret for six months. Just from me, ‘cause he thinks I’m a total dolt.”
“Aw, Orchid. You’re not a dolt. He knows about what happened to your parents?”
“Yeah, I think that’s why he didn’t want to tell me. Plus, I freaked over a cut on my foot with him once. He knows I don’t watch the news. And I couldn’t look at pictures of injured soldiers, and . . .” Her voice trailed off realizing how damning the evidence must have appeared to him.
“Hey, just curious here, how could you not tell before? About his leg?”
“Well, he walks perfectly fine. He was wearing pants, and you really can’t tell anything’s different. After I found out about his arm, I looked it up online. With adaptations, he can probably do what he wants.”
“Holy crap, this is unbelievable. Are you okay, honey?”
“I’m okay. He’s the strong one. I can’t believe everything he must’ve been through. And here’s the kicker. Last time I saw him, I called my cut hideous and disfiguring.” Orchid pointed towards the bandage on her forehead. “He walked out.”
“Uh-oh.”
