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Maddie bit the inside of her lip. “Fine.”
She pushed off the counter, following Saff to the bathroom and silently cursing her with every step.
Maddie placed her cane in the corner of the bathroom, resting it against the wall. Then she leaned back, placing her palm flat on the cool surface behind her.
“Can I see your arm?”
“That’s why we’re here, right?” Maddie bit back, letting every word drip with the irritation she no longer cared to contain.
There was a beat of silence that felt like it lasted slightly too long. Then Saff’s fingers gently took her palm, while the other hand moved up her arm, carefully avoiding the bandages she’d placed the night before.
She stopped at her shoulder, right before the hem of her sleeve.
“I need to see the burn on top of your shoulder. Can I roll the sleeve up?”
Maddie swallowed. She’d been trying to avoid thinking about that one. It was easily the most painful spot, even with the bandage blocking the fabric from rubbing directly against it.
Maddie gave one small, reluctant nod.
Then, without pause, Saff began rolling up the sleeve. And when she’d finally finished, Maddie released a tight breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
Saff tugged a bit at the top of the sleeve, and Maddie winced as she felt the shirt press against her tender skin.
Saff tried again, and Maddie pulled the arm back as her flesh screamed out in protest.
“The top of it is covered by your shirt. I can’t see it enough.”
Maddie bit the inside of her lip, waiting for the pain to stop radiating out over her shoulder and down her back.
“Then take my shirt off.” She spat the words with every ounce of anger that had boiled inside her, and yet they still somehow sounded far too intimate—too much like a request.
Saff was quiet for a few moments, and Maddie’s lip curled up slightly with the small win.
She wanted to stop her in her tracks. She wanted to force her to acknowledge what was between them, even if she had lied, and even if she was just going to leave at the end of it. The one thing she couldn’t—wouldn’t—allow was Saff acting like it was all nothing. Like nothing had happened between them.
“It would probably hurt worse trying to take the shirt off,” Saff replied, her cool medical persona sliding firmly back into place.
But Maddie knew it had broken in that pause.
Even in silence, she knew Saff. She also knew that she was right about the shirt. It had taken just about everything in her to get it on that morning without crying in pain. And even then, she’d only been able to do it with her mom’s help to avoid scraping the burns.
“I could cut it off.”
Maddie stiffened. Without meaning to, her hand went to the shirt, clutching the decal on the front protectively.
She hadn’t meant to put Saff’s shirt on that morning. Her mother had come in and offered to help get her arm into something, and she’d grabbed the first shirt in the pile. It wasn’t until after she’d gotten her arm into it that she’d felt the familiar logo on the front. And no matter how much she hated Saff for lying to her, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that what happened between them wasn’t part of that lie. And when Saff eventually did leave, she just wanted something—anything—to remind her of that.
She dropped her hand, trying to hide her immediate reaction—trying to hide how much she cared.
“No,” she replied in the most callous way she could muster. She held her arm out. “You can pull the sleeve up farther. I won’t pull it back.”
Saff waited a few beats before Maddie felt her hand return to the sleeve.
She pulled it up again, and Maddie squeezed her eyes shut, doing her best to block out the waves of pain that shot through her.
The sleeve rolled up to the point it had before, then Saff inched it back farther.
Maddie bit down so hard on her lip that, for a second, she thought her teeth might break through the skin.