“I didn’t realize there were so many children here?” My palms grew clammy, and I felt the color draining from my face. I could do this, right? They were just babies. Little. Helpless. Babies.
Shit.I was going to vomit. I moved the green wand thing and held it over my stomach as I stood. I loved kids. Loved them. Loved watching them play and laugh. Loved their innocence. But only in movies. TV commercials. Not in real life.
In real life they suffered. Too much.
I couldn’t breathe as memories flooded my system. I hunched over and tried to hide my panic.
Rachel’s hand came to rest on my shoulder. “You don’t have to go if this is too much. We can be a lot to take in all at once.”
“No.” I was not going to ruin my chance to make a good first impression with the women I would, hopefully, be spending the rest of my life living with on this planet. “I’m fine.”
“All right. Let’s go then.” She fell in step behind me, and I walked the corridors with my new friends, glad they appeared to be open, kind, and not interested in my past. I didn’t want to talk about it. I wanted to forget. All of it.