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“Ah, Allie offered to take Edward with her to the library for the next few weeks—until he starts school in January. She said he could be her aide and get to know the other kids and figure out the campus.”
“That’s wonderful!” Miss Gina’s eyes light, and I’ve successfully got her off the Zane trail. “Although I’ll miss having Eddie Nashville around the house. He knows so much about everything. I felt like I was back in school just talking to him.”
“Right…” My voice trails off. “The other kids don’t always find it so charming.”
“Now don’t think yourself out of happiness. Knowledge is power!”
“I know, I know, but middle schoolers aren’t known for appreciating things.”
“Middle schoolers have self-esteem issues. The sooner he learns that, the better.”
She has no idea how difficult that lesson is to learn, especially for twelve-year-old boys.
“I’ll try.”
“You know, middle schoolers didn’t always think little blind girls were charming either.” She holds out a hand, and I take it. “Very few, in fact. They didn’t like me getting special attention from the teacher, and they especially didn’t like how my eyes didn’t look in the right direction. For a long time, I wore those heavy, dark glasses to cover them.”
“Oh, no…” I lean down, hugging her bony shoulders. “I’ve never even considered that. You’re always so sunny and upbeat. Why are kids such jerks?”
“I don’t know, but some are real meanies. You tell my friend Eddie Nashville he’s welcome here anytime he needs someone to talk to.”
“I love you.” I grin, giving her another squeeze. “And I’ve got some more news—one of us finally convinced Zane Bradford to let me work on his back. Would you mind if I did that for a few hours this morning?”
Her lips form anOand her brows rise. “How exciting! You know I worry about my handsome handyman. He carries a lot of weight on those broad shoulders, and now you get to put your hands all over them.”
My eyes narrow, and I tilt my head. “You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“How does a blind person know Zane Bradford is handsome and has broad shoulders?”
“He does, doesn’t he?” She grins mischievously, and I realize I walked right into her trap. “He sounds like he’d have nice muscles, too.”
“What does someone with nice muscles sound like?” A slant is in my eyes.
“His voice is clear and strong, and he doesn’t wheeze or sound like he gets tired easily. These are all very good signs—means he has great stamina.” Her eyebrows waggle.
“Miss G!” My voice rises, and she puts a hand over her mouth as she laughs. “All that might be true, and he does seem to have a nice physique under his clothes?—”
“You’ll find out this morning.”
“It still doesn’t mean he’s handsome. He could have great stamina and not be good-looking.”
“He is, though. I bet he has a square jaw like Mr. Darcy.”
“He does.” I lean closer. “And dark hair and cool-blue eyes.”
She exhales a little squeal. “Go set up the massage table, and take as long as you need! Don’t worry about me.”
Shaking my head, I make my way to the patio. “I do worry about you. Call me if you need anything.”
“I won’t need anything. I have a very important audiobook to finish. I’ll have headphones on, and I won’t hear a thing if you’d like to test out some of that Nuru?—”
“Stop!” My voice goes louder. “I can’t talk to you about that. It’s too weird.”
Turning, I head for the glass and wrought-iron patio door as her voice titters behind me.
Every time we get close, Zane Bradford shuts me down, but I’m starting to see a pattern to his behavior. He keeps reaching out, but he pulls back before he can touch the flame.
