Page 8 of Blind Trust
“Of course,” he said. “Thanks for having lunch with me.”
“Thank you for the sandwich,” she said, rising to go back in, just as Leah was coming out onto the porch, looking for her.
He rose with Cecelia, though she didn’t see him. “My pleasure,” he said. “We’ll have to do this again, sometime.”
“Yes,” she said with a nod. “We will.”
“There’s a call for you, Cecelia,” Leah said. “I put them on hold.”
He watched the women go back inside, the smile never leaving Cecelia’s face. He was glad to have had a hand at putting it there.
* * *
Brian wentto visit Cecelia at her desk for a chat, thinking he would ask her out again, but when he got there, he saw there was a new woman joining the center who had just arrived, and Cecelia was processing her in.
He busied himself with checking the security system that had already been checked by the night shift and waited for a chance to speak to her.
“If you need anything,” she said to the new resident, “You can stop by my desk or call the private line.” Cecelia picked up a card with numbers written on it, as if her hand knew just where to go, having done it so many times. “You’ll have a phone in your room you can use to call out. Please memorize this number, so you’ll have an emergency number to call if you leave the property.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” the short woman with the dark pixie haircut said. “I don’t even have a car here.”
“Humor me, okay?” Cecelia reached into a drawer and fumbled to find the key she was looking for.
He already knew that each key had a braille code on it so she could tell one from the other. He’d watched her do this before and found the way she coped with things fascinating.
Everything about her intrigued him.
“You never know where you’ll find yourself, and I’ll feel better if you know this number,” she said. “I like to know where all our ladies are, and I get nervous and worry if I think any of our ladies will be out of touch. This way, you won’t be.” She pulled out a key. “Here it is.” She held the key out, smiling. “This key is yours. You’re in the third room on the right.”
“Thank you,” the young woman said, taking the key.
“You’re quite welcome,” Cecelia said.
Another call came over the headset, and she took the call, giving the new woman a wave as she went back to work.
“Hazel, how are you?” Cecelia asked. “Everything going okay over at Rosewood Center this week?”
The Rosewood Center, in North Carolina, was the first of the two Courage and Confidence Centers to be established and worked similarly to the Three C’s ranch. One evening, out of curiosity, he’d read the brochure about the centers which had been in the library on an end table. Now it
Brian had planned to ask Cecelia out again today, but she was busy every time he’d tried to talk to her.
Persistence though, he had that. And patience. Today however, did not seem to be his day.
“Just a minute, Hazel,” Cecelia said. She turned toward Brian. “Is there anything you need right, now, Brian?”
He grinned and was tempted to answer with,A kiss from you, but instead he said, “Nothing that can’t wait.”
“Okay. Talk to you later.” She went back to her call, and he went outside to walk around the grounds.
This security job mostly consisted of walking, watching, and checking. He could walk over to the stables and see what the ranch foreman was doing with the horses.
Yesterday, the foreman had told him the vet would be arriving right about now. It would be interesting watching what he would do with the animals today.
He wondered if Cecelia would consider going for a horse ride with him, if they chose a gentle animal and kept to the easy trail for beginners. He’d make sure to keep her safe from harm on a horse, or anywhere else.
The list of ‘dating in’ possibilities was growing.
The only question was would she say yes to any of them?
