Page 11 of Blind Trust
“Okay, okay,” Cecelia said, putting her hands up in surrender. “Enough persuading. I can’t take both of you pushing me. I’ll ride along to San Diego. Sam said San Diego is rougher than it used to be. She wasn’t keen on me coming out alone.”
“Great,” Brian said. “I’m looking forward to our trip.”
“I am, too,” she said. “Thank you for taking me all the way out there to see my friend.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. His phone beeped and looking down at it, he said, “I need to take this,” and then walked outside.
As he walked, he held back a fist pump in the air that he felt like making.
Hot damn. I just wanted one date out with her, away from the ranch. Now I’ll have a whole week. Plenty of time for us to get to know each other better.
Cecelia heardhim go out the door and sighed.
What have I just agreed to? Six days on the road with Brian. I don’t know if I can do this. And we have to leave tomorrow!
Fortunately, her workday got so busy she didn’t have time to think on it further. She’d agreed to go, this would help them both, and now she needed to stay busy today instead of worrying about it and turning into a nervous wreck.
* * *
The next day,everything had been prepared, and Brian was more than ready. The gas tank on his truck was full, and he’d even washed the truck inside and out before driving to the ranch to get Cecelia. There was a cooler of water in the back, along with trail mix and apples for snacks to tide them over in between stops. He even had a solid chocolate bar in the cooler in case she got a craving for chocolate. He wanted everything about this trip to be a good experience for her.
Everything had been well planned, the way he liked things. He would stay at the Naval base while Cecelia would stay at her cousin Samantha Whitaker’s house. They would need to pick up Sam’s house key at the hospital when they went to see her, so the first thing they would do is visit her cousin.
Then he’d drop Cecelia off the next morning for a longer visit, while he went to his appointment on base. After which, he would come back to the hospital and take her out to lunch. She would have one more day to visit her cousin, and then they’d start the three-day drive back.
That gave him eight days together with her, to prove he was just the boyfriend she needed.
He wondered how Cecelia would handle staying alone in her cousin’s house where she would be alone. If she would be afraid. But she’d explained, it was originally her aunt’s house, and her cousin had inherited it. She’d spent many holidays there and was familiar with the house.
Brian could not wait to get on the road with her.
He pulled up to the ranch, parked, and got out.
Her suitcases were sitting on the big wooden porch beside the front door, and she sat in a rocking chair waiting for him. Pretty as a picture with her soft blue T-shirt and blue jeans, white socks and white tennis shoes, and her dark sunglasses on, she could have been on the cover of a magazine, promoting the restful beauty of the ranch.
Hurrying toward her and up the steps, he called out, “Good morning! Are you all packed and ready to go?”
“I am,” she said, and nodded with a smile as she reached for her cane and stood.
“Good,” he said. “I’m looking forward to our trip. Weather reports are good, so we should have smooth sailing.”
She smiled at that. “You Marines and the sailing,” she said. “It must be something, sailing on those big carriers.”
“It is,” he agreed. Then he changed the subject. “Stay put while I put your bags in the truck, and then I’ll come back and- “
“I don’t need help down the steps,” she said, interrupting him, her tongue quick to respond. “I know these steps. And you need to know the ground rules before we leave. Lead a blind person only after they accept your offer to do so. Don’t assume I am helpless and leap up every time. I will get around quite well, without you, most of the time.”
He’d never heard her be snappish before, but she sure was this morning.
What had set her off?
“I have something for you,” he said. “And I would like to give it to you here, before we get into the truck. If that is all right with you.”
“For me?” Her voice held surprise. “You didn’t have to get anything for me.”
I might as well give it to her now, reframe this morning, and soften her mood if I can.
“Hold out your hand.” His commanding voice told her not to argue with him.
