Page 6 of Blind Trust
“Fine,” she said, shivering a little because she liked the sexy edge to his voice. “Something smells good.” She smiled up at him. “Lunch?”
“Italian sub,” he said, holding a bag from the deli, which held the long Italian sub and a bag of barbeque chips. “Do you like subs?”
“Yes,” she said. “I do.”
“The deli was running a lunch special, and a whole sub is more than I can eat for lunch today,” he said. “Want the other half?”
“Sure,” she said. “Thank you.”
His grin went wide, though she couldn’t see it. “When do you take your lunch?” he asked.
“Right now,” she said, pushing her chair away from the desk and standing.
“Good,” he said.
“I’ll just tell Emma, our cook,” she said. “So she’ll know not to prepare anything for me.”
“Does she usually fix your lunch?”
“Yes,” Cecelia nodded. “I take all my meals here at the ranch. It’s part of my compensation package, and I don’t have to worry about shopping or cooking.”
“Nice perks off the job,” he said.
“Yes, Emma takes good care of me here. She’s a fabulous cook. So, I lucked out.”
“Yes, you did,” he said. He could see how cooking might be difficult for a blind person. He couldn’t imagine how they managed it.
There were a lot of things he wondered how she managed. Since he’d met her, questions had been gathering in his mind.
“Okay, I’ll go tell Emma and have her make us some lemonade or iced tea,” she said. “Which would you prefer?”
“Iced tea, unsweetened.”
“No sugar at all?”
“I like to add my own.”
“Okay, I’ll be sure she brings some sugar packets, too” she said.
“Perfect,” he said.
He was glad Cecelia had agreed to share his lunch. It would give them a chance to get to know each other better. Cecelia fascinated him, and he wanted to know more about her.
“Indoors, or out?” he asked once she came back from talking with Emma.
“Out,” she said. “I need the fresh air.”
“You pick the spot,” he said. “And I’ll follow you.”
“Okay,” she said. She walked to the front door and onto the big wooden front porch. “This okay?” she asked.
“Sounds good,” he said. He was still getting used to the fact she couldn’t see his nods, or his smiles, and how all good communication with her required words.
Before meeting her, he’d never realized how much he smiled and nodded and used nonverbal communication. In his job as a Recon Marine, and now his job in security, it was essential to be able to communicate silently with his teammates.
Talking to Cecelia had opened up his world even more to seeing things from a different angle.
He realized many of the mannerly gestures he made, she would never see. She might sense them, and she was quite good at that, but she would not see them all.
