Going out was the last thing she wanted to do. Sure, she been elated earlier at being back in the operating room. Remembering, on a visceral, soul-deep level, why she’d become a doctor, and knowing for the first time since the accident she’d find a way to be true to her calling.
It was a little like awakening from a deep, restless sleep, with the sense of time lost, she thought, as she climbed into the shower.
But that was the hospital. A place where no one working there would be inclined to be curious about a one-handed person. Anywhere else, she was sure to get those strange looks and stares, the inquisitive questions.
Yet, hiding from it wasn’t going to change anything, and that reality was something she’d steadfastly refused to accept.
Caring for the patient today had brought it into focus. She was in a state of transition from the life she used to have, to a new way of being. Looking back, she wondered where things had gone wrong, and why she’d made some of the decisions she’d made. But in truth, no amount of navel-gazing was going to change a moment of her past and, in order to go forward, she had to find acceptance.
Lifting her left arm, she looked at her stump, turning it back and forth under the water. Seeing and examining it fully for the first time. She’d been trying to ignore it, to pretend that at some point she’d look down and her hand would, magically, be there.
So much denial, and anger, and sadness, over something no one—nothing—could undo.
Tears threatened, but she held them back, despite the fact she felt only a lingering sense of sorrow, not the racking pain she associated with thoughts of the accident and memories of her loss.
“It’s time you got your head on straight, Mina Haraldson.” The words echoed in the shower stall, weightier for being spoken aloud. “No more feeling sorry for yourself or pretending that losing your hand means everything is finished. Time to make a new plan and get on with life.”
Then she stuck her head under the spray, letting the water wash away the tears she swore would be the last she shed for Warren, for the accident, for the loss of her hand. For a life that had, if she were honest, grown stale and gray despite her love for her work.
Onward and upward.
By the time she’d dressed and looked at herself in the mirror, Mina felt she’d successfully covered any evidence of her tears. A little eyeshadow and mascara did wonders, she reflected, and her linen pirate-inspired blouse, with its flouncy cuffs, hopefully would camouflage her stump.
Even her new determination and just-finished pep talk couldn’t totally reduce her tension, but seeing Kiah in a bright orange shirt somehow made the outing far less stressful.
“Going for the Bird of Paradise look?” she asked, earning a giggle from Charm and a glare from Kiah.
“Don’t you like it?” he asked, striking a pose, one hand behind his head, the other on an outthrust hip. “Will it embarrass you to be seen with me like this?”
“Would you change it, if I said yes?”
“Nope,” he said, striding across the room, then doing a dramatic turn. “I’d run downtown and see if I could find a pair of matching pants.”
“You see how bad he is, Auntie?” Charm said, shaking her head.
“Oh, you’d be surprised at how many ladies love a man in a blinding shirt,” Mina replied, making even Miss Pearl chuckle.
In truth, the shirt emphasized Kiah’s handsomeness, showing off his dark, smooth complexion and sparkling eyes. As he kissed first Miss Pearl then Charm good-night, Mina found herself hard-pressed to take her gaze off him. The effect of the look he’d given her earlier lingered beneath her skin, heightening her awareness of him. No matter how often she told herself it was just a sweet, nostalgic moment, her body refused to listen. Instead, she was extremely conscious of their closeness within the confines of the car as they got underway.
But she made sure to keep the conversation light, hoping these new sensations would fade.
They better.
Kiah found himself watching Mina carefully as they left the house.
He wasn’t sure what had passed between them earlier, when he’d reacted to Charm’s story. His niece’s words had taken him back to the first time they’d met, and his gaze was drawn straight to Mina’s.
The memory had been there in her eyes, too, but it had been soft, fond, while he...
Hell, he didn’t even know what he’d been projecting, only knew the raw emotion in his blood wasn’t soft. Or fond. No, it had been fierce, almost desperate. And God only knew what Mina thought his expression meant.
He half expected her to bring it up, but she didn’t. Instead, she chatted about Miss Pearl and Charm’s movie date, as though that was the only thing of importance occurring that evening.
It was a relief.
When they pulled up to the little club on the beach, she gave a cry of delight.
“I remember this place,” she said as she opened her car door. “It wasn’t called the Sweet Spot then, though, was it?”
“No,” he replied, smiling at her enthusiasm. “It was called Yellow Bird the last time you were here.”
“We had a blast that night, although that young woman who took a shine to American Jimmy got so drunk and became obnoxious when he wouldn’t take her home with him. Whatever happened to Jimmy?” she asked as they approached the door. “Is he still around? He’s a fun guy.”
“He is still around,” Kiah said, of the man who’d come to work on St. Eustace fifteen years before and never left. “He’s been seeing a really nice woman, and I heard he’s gone to Barbados to meet her family.”
“Sounds serious,” she said as she looked around the small club. In true Caribbean style, it was still almost empty, since
