I soak in his confident words. He’s right. We got this.
“I’m going to walk.” We both say at the same time and let out a nervous laugh. I guess we are both feeling a little awkward about last night. Or maybe it was the position of our bodies when we woke up this morning. All tangled together.
“Are you sure?” he asks.
“My thighs are raw, and my hips are killing me. I need to walk it off.”
“Want me to go grab a brethren? I’m sure they’d love the opportunity to give you a massage," he says, stifling a laugh.
“Ha, ha. Very funny. Don’t tell me you aren’t sore from riding the last few days.”
“I’m in absolute agony, but I couldn’t very well complain when you were handling it like a champion,” he says, rubbing his neck.
“As long as I don’t lose another hair tie, I should be fine.”
“I’ve got plenty of shirt left if you do.”
My ovaries do a double backflip.
Daisy affectionately rests her trunk on Tai’s shoulder and walks right alongside us. Dammit, why does that have to look so cute?
My legs have been getting used to walking in the sand. Even though it’s hot and the terrain is uneven, it feels better than riding.
“Never thought I’d say this, but I think I’m getting used to it here,” I say.
“I wish I could say the same thing,” Tai says and flexes his elbow. The joint in his bionic arm creaks. There is no keeping the sand out of the tiny cracks. I hope no permanent damage is done.
“Is it acting up again?” I ask.
“Yeah, but not as bad as before.” He wiggles his fingers at me and sighs. “This thing cost me a fortune.”
“They didn’t give it to you when you enlisted?” I ask, trying to piece together the small bits of information I know about him from his past.
“I got a smaller version when I enlisted. I sized up a few times as I bulked up. This one should have been a permanent replacement, but I don’t know how much longer it will last now.”
I really didn’t think about the impact of this place on him when I demanded we stay, so I could force my savior complex on a bunch of dudes who were not interested.
“Tai, I’m sorry…” I say, wanting to acknowledge my part in this.
“Nope. Don’t do that. We started over. Remember?” he says.
“Well, at least let me cover part of the cost when we get home,” I offer. I wish I could buy him a brand-new arm as a thank you for everything he’s done for me.
“You have credits like that laying around somewhere?”
“Eventually. I’ll get back to my research and discover some DNA sequence to reverse the appearance of wrinkles or whatever and sell it to rich people.”
“Is that why you chose genetics?” he asks, squinting into the sun when he looks over at me.
“No, it’s not.” I kick some sand his way at the implication that my motivations are that shallow. “But it can pay the bills until I can do what I really want.”
“And what’s that?”
“Genetics was an interesting subject in school. I thought there might be some good career opportunities there. Which, for the record, I was right about. But once I have enough credits, and pay back my family, I’m going to start a foundation.”
“A foundation?”
“It’s basically a program with money used to support a cause.” j’Tilak, the paradise planet, wouldn’t need something like this, but the rest of the universe could really benefit from it.
