Mend

𝑺𝒊𝒙

"Does your grandma always lash out like that?" I asked Cheyenne, who was sitting in the large garden with an ice pack on her swollen cheek.

I didn't have to come out and start up conversation with her, she obviously had some things to deal with, and maybe it would be best to leave her be, but I'd been thinking about her, hoping I'd bump into her again. I hadn't expected it to be at Pamoja, under these awkward circumstances, but I'd take what I could.

"Please, I don't want to talk about that." she said, her eyes taking in my green scrubs. "What are you even doing here? I thought you were a doctor at VCH."

"I thought so, too. Trust me." I sat down next to her and took the ice pack off her face to check if her skin had broken open anywhere. My fingers momentarily brushed hers, and I heard her catch her breath. I cleared my throat and tried not to think about the electric undercurrent flowing between us as we sat side by side, my fingers yearning to touch her again. "No open wound. That's good. Your face will be good as new once the swelling goes down."

"What did you mean by 'I thought so, too,'?"

I sighed. "I am a doctor, but as of last week Monday I have to work here as a punishment for something I did at the hospital. I'll be here for the next few months."

"Punishment? What did you do?" she asked, flinching a little when she placed the ice pack back on her face. I watched her silently, my eyes drinking in her beauty as she sat next to me in a flowy skirt, her hair tied up, the scar from the stitches I put on her forehead almost completely faded. Her eyes were as unreadable as last time, but this time, I had a feeling they were hiding some serious pain.

"I operated on my own daughter." I said carefully, watching to see what reaction she'd have to the fact that I was a father, and then wondering why that mattered to me.

"Did she survive it?" Cheyenne asked, her face not giving away anything that suggested that my parental status bothered her.

I nodded, a proud feeling growing as I recalled the sound of the machine that let me know Rufaro's heart was beating properly in her chest. "She did. She's alive and in good shape."

"That's good." she said warmly. "I'm sure these few months feel like a small sacrifice, since your child is okay."

They hadn't. Not until right now, anyway. The three months had felt like the perfect way for Tendai to get under my skin. I hadn't tallied the sacrifice up against my daughter's life until Cheyenne suggested it, and she was right. Three months of this felt like nothing considering the years I'd won Rufaro with that graft.

"You're right." I told her, smiling down at her face, and almost winning myself a smile.

Just the hint of her smile excited me. I immediately knew I was skirting dangerous territory. I didn't know her enough to have desires to see her smile, or let her guard down, or open up to me about the emotional moment she'd just shared with her grandmother. The last time I'd felt this way was with Tendai, and back then, it had taken her much longer to get me to this level of interested. I decided to establish distance, slightly shifting on the bench and turning my body away from her.