AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dr. Alsworth, his wife, and two teens have been here for two years. They are missionaries of sorts, him working as a doctor and she teaches school to the village kids, English mostly. They hold Sunday services, which I mostly attended with them. They were sobering experiences, and I hoped my prayers for forgiveness did not go unheard.
After changing out of my scrubs for the last time, I put on some sweatpants and a tee, and head to the mess hall tent for dinner.
“Well, it’s your last night eating this stuff. Bet you can’t wait to get back to the States and all that delicious food,” Clive says as we sit and eat.
I shrug and poke my pork chop with my fork, lifting the whole thing to my mouth. “I won’t lie and say I don’t miss a good Mexican... meal.” Or a beautiful Mexican girl I think about every day.
“Ah, never tried it, but I do want to visit America one day.”
“I really hope you do. Come to Denver, I will show you the most beautiful mountains in the world,” I tell him, biting into the chop.
He looks at me and makes a face. “We have knives, you know.”
I shrug. “I know, I’m starving.”
He chuckles and takes a bite of sweet potato. “I’d love to see Colorado. Got any pretty ladies there?”
It makes me happy to know he’s thinking of moving on, and I answer honestly. “The most beautiful in the world. I’ve never seen an ugly woman there.”
He laughs. “Do you have your own? Woman, I mean.”
I hesitate and pull out my regular cell phone. I keep it charged up to access the photos and contacts on it, but I have to use my little Blackberry for phone for calls and texts because mine wasn’t compatible here, nor was there data service. I swipe through photos and pull up one of Christa and me at her company picnic last summer.
Clive takes the phone and whistles under his breath. “Wow, what a knockout, mate. Love the tattoos. Very colorful and sexy. She’s a curvy one, eh?” He hands it back to me.
I smile. “That’s just one of the things I love about her.”
“That’s great. Bet she’s missin’ ya something fierce, eh?” he asks, picking up his milk.
“I don’t know. We... haven’t spoken.”
He pauses the scratched plastic cup at his lips. “What? Why not?”
“I couldn’t ask her to wait six months for me. I’m assuming she’s moved on.”
Clive shakes his head. “You are downright mad. Why wouldn’t you keep in touch? Don’t you love her?”
“More than anything.”
“And she loves you, too?”
I nod. “Yeah. Well, I think so.”
“Then what’s the problem?” he asks.
I blow out a breath. “I don’t deserve her. She can do much better than me.”
“Bollocks.” He shakes his head. “Even you don’t believe the words comin’ out of your mouth, mate.”
“It’s true, but I appreciate the vote of confidence.”
“Does she know you’re comin’ home?”
I lift a shoulder. “I don’t know. I assume my sister probably told her. They’re good friends.”
“And she hasn’t tried to contact you at all?”
I pass the phone back to him and let him read the texts. He gives it back to me.
