“You’ll regret starting this conversation,” I say. “And you’ll resent me for your moment of weakness.”
“I may regret it, but I won’t resent you.”
I grunt in defiance. “Yeah, right.”
After a brief hesitation, he says, “I won’t resent you because we’ll never cross paths again once this mission is over.”
“That was brutally honest.”
“Reward me with brutal honesty of your own.”
I shake my head, reluctant. “Wasn’t ‘rough terrain’ brutal enough?”
“It was a euphemism meant to spare my feelings.”
“What do you want me to say, Theo?”
His blue gaze drills into mine, cold yet burning, like liquid ice. “The truth. Tell me the truth.”
“Why? You can look in the mirror, can’t you?”
He doesn’t answer.
“I mean, a regular mirror, not a distorted one,” I add quickly. “You can see what you look like.”
“I can,” he says. “But I’m so used to my disfigurement, I don’t really see it anymore. At times, especially when surrounded by my family, I forget about it.”
“Good.”
“No, not good.” He swallows hard. “It makes me unprepared for the next wince, for the next person who averts their eyes, unable to look at my face.”
“People just need time to adjust, that’s all.”
He appears unconvinced.
“All right,” I say as a sudden fatigue comes over me. “You asked for it.”
“And I take full responsibility! Go ahead. Be as honest as you can be.”
“Your skin makes me think of a tomato omelet.”
“Because of the uneven pigmentation?”
I nod. “Your face is essentially a quilt of puckered scar tissue.”Happy now?
“Thank you,” he says. “I truly appreciate the honesty.”
“Anytime.”
“You deserve a reward.”
Before I get a chance to ask what he means, he hooks up his arm through mine and steers me toward the next tent.
THEO
“Where are you taking me?” Elise asks. “I didn’t catch the name of this tent.”
“You’ll find out in a sec.”
