Page 42 of Healing of the Heart

“So what did Jenna say to you?” Blake asks when she’s in bed, in between coughs.

“You were right, and I’m sorry,” Amory says. “She told me that you weren’t cheating on her. I should have listened to you.”

“Yeah,” Blake says, “but I understand why you didn’t believe me. I’ve hurt you before. It’s hard to believe that people have changed, especially when they’ve hurt you before.”

“Yeah,” Amory says with a frown, “but I still should have listened. I should have given you a chance.”

“Well you gave me a chance at first, and you’re giving me a chance, now. That’s all I could ask for.”

“And for what it’s worth,” Blake says, “I am really sorry for what happened with Natalie.”

“I know,” Amory says, knowing how much guilt Blake has for that. It wasn’t even entirely her fault and she keeps apologizing. “And I forgive you.”

“Then all is good, right? Does this mean we’re all good?”

“Yes,” Amory says with a laugh. “We’re all good.” Amory wonders how Blake could forgive her so easily, when she couldn’t forgive Blake for something she didn’t even do.

“Good,” Blake says, “because I think I’m falling in love with you.”

Amory feels a hot flush running through her body. It is exactly what she needed to hear, but she feels terrified. She takes a deep breath and takes Blake’s hand and looks into her beautiful dark brown eyes.

“I think I’m falling in love with you, too.”

Blake smiles and squeezes her hand before she breaks out into another coughing fit. “And I’d tell you to come over here and give me another kiss, but I don’t want to get you sick.”

Amory laughs and leans in to give Blake a kiss on her forehead.

“I’ll take that,” Blake says.

A week later, and Blake is all better. She goes back to work with Amory and the two of them go back to their old routine, walking back to the cabin together and cooking supper in the evenings.

They’ll be leaving Zambia in a few weeks and Amory is worried about what this means for their relationship. They have yet to even have a talk about the future. If Amory is honest with herself, she really thinks Blake is the one. She feels happier with Blake than she has ever been.

She’s understandably a little nervous. It has been years since she’s been in a relationship, after all, and her chosen partner is Blake Gold of all people. It doesn’t help that she still feels the guilt from assuming that Blake was cheating on her. She doesn’t want to mess up what they have.

She wants to talk about it with Blake but doesn’t know how to bring up the topic. Why couldn’t Blake just do it? Ugh. She hates being anxious. She’s normally overly confident and not scared of anything but being around Blake has her heart acting all funky and her gut twisting in places.

Amory picks at her food while the two of them eat. They made chili again, and it’s so good. It’s also an easy meal, so they’ve had it a few times since coming to Zambia. It’s a good thing that chili is one of their favorite foods or Amory can imagine that it would get old quickly. Just like there’s an abundance of rice and pasta in their pantry and Amory has run out of new and interesting ways to make rice, and she likes fried rice. They’ve also had to learn how to cook maize and have been having it with almost every meal.

They even put it in the chili, but it tastes good with the beans, and Amory can hardly tell the difference.

“So,” Amory starts and pauses. Blake looks at her expectedly and Amory looks down at her food. Curse her nerves. This should be easy, the next obvious step in a developing relationship.

“What?” Blake asks as if she’s oblivious to Amory’s internal distress.

“We need to talk,” Amory says, hoping that Blake will understand what she wants.

“What do you mean?” Blake asks, and Amory is growing frustrated and anxious.

“Um,” Amory tries again. “What are we?” she blurts out.

“What do you mean?” Blake asks, confused. “Like, aren’t we doctors?”

Amory groans and turns her attention to her food, shoving a forkful in her mouth. She swallows and takes a deep breath. “No,” she says, and then cringes, “I mean, yes, but that’s not what I’m asking.” She takes a moment to pause for breath and tries to summon some of her doctorly courage before she looks up at Blake again.

“I mean,” she says, “do you want us to be together, like properly, when we get back home?”

Blake’s eyes light up and she vigorously nods her head, looking like a bobble head.

---