"Yes?" Chadwick grinned at the two. " You are beautiful too," her tiny voice piped.
"Why thank you," she laughed, then placed a loving kiss on her cheek. "Now go play,'
"Watch me hop scotch,"
" Alright,"
"Darling?" his deep Turkish accent asked. "You don't even call me that,"
"Well, your not a three year old who needs encouragement. You have all the confidence anyone could ask for,"
The girls chubby legs weaved through the invisible chalk stains. "Don't get to attached," slowly he rose from his seat. "We're leaving in a week. Kellan has another lead."
"Of course not." the wind carried her blonde hair in the opposite direction she was staring. "But I'm not heartless."
" I never said you were,"
"I know. But you think it. Everyone does." her voice flat . "We're learning about each other aren't we?" he nodded in agreement. "I came to India for the girls. That was my purpose. Not all the this government crap. It was my fathers idea. He said it would reach further than what I was doing alone." she paused. "I guess it did."
"Watch!" the girl cried.
"I'm watching," she felt a small lump build in her throat. Now was not the moment she wanted to do this. Not in front of the kid.
"Heartless people don't smile. And heartless people don't call other people 'darling'," Malina felt his shoulder brush past hers as he took the role of hop scotching. He'd must of known she was on the verge of an episode, but left her alone to work it out.
She wasn't ready for it yet. The calming. Or the holding. Neither was he. So he let her deal with it, without prompting her. Lifting the girl over his head, Chadwick began miming a merry go round. The giggles that rang through the yard came over him like music. The happiness of a child bet the sharp blaring of alarms or the cocking of guns.
Malina looked away. In order to calm herself she couldn't pay much attention to motion. It made her sick.
Beating like a drum, her heart felt like it was caving in on itself. A tear fell from her heated cheek, into the small of her neck. "Mal," a sweat broke at her forehead.
"Mal," Chadwick called again. "Look at the sky,"
He was right. There were no clouds. So, it didn't make her sick.
Between distracting the girl and eyeing Malina, Chadwick handled the situation with ease.
"I'm fine,"
Maybe dating him wasn't the biggest mistake she thought it to be. Maybe one day he'd be her calm sky. Or maybe he already was.