Drake

Much to my astonishment, Lexi’s car really had a problem. It wasn’t something she couldn’t have figured out on her own. A big rusty nail had lodged itself into the right back tire and it was as flat as a pancake. It took me all of fifteen minutes to change it.

She thanked me and invited me inside for a glass of lemonade, which I thought was covert for sex until she led me into her kitchen. Sitting at a small round table where two small Lexi look-alikes eating peanut butter sandwiches and watching cartoons.

That’s when I realized she was a single mom working days as a teacher and evenings as a waitress to support her two children. They must have been with their father the nights we tumbled into her bungalow tearing off each other’s clothes on the way to the bedroom.

She lured me here to show me what she was afraid to tell me. She’s interested in more than an occasional kink-filled evening tryst. She knew her tire was flat. Hell, she may have driven over that nail on purpose.

But it was all done in vain. I’m not interested in anything long-term and I think she knew that. If she didn’t, she does now. It was an asshole move, but when I saw the kids I nodded at them and politely declined the lemonade before turning to leave.

She didn’t try to stop me or come after me. She knew it was a long shot. I should give her credit for trying, though. My personal life is no secret in this small town. Everyone knows that the only long-term relationship I’ve ever had is with the Marines.

In a bar thirty minutes away from Jewel Falls, I sit staring at a pint of beer. I wonder if Jayden is going to stand me up for his new lady friend or maybe to spend time with his sister.

It is her first night home after all. I told him yesterday we could skip our regular night out if he wanted, but he insisted on coming. I lift the condensation-covered glass to my mouth and let half of the amber liquid slide down my throat before setting it back on the bar.

It’s quiet for Saturday night at nine o’clock in the city. It’s looking like this might be a dud night but anything’s better than sitting around at home waiting to go blind.

“Did you think I stood you up, old man?” Jayden’s voice comes from behind me just before he slaps me on the back.

“Well, it wouldn’t be the first time today, who was the hot number you took out to breakfast this morning? I figured you might be busy all day and night taking care of that.”

Jayden stops pulling out the bar stool next to me. I turn to see why and find him glaring at me with narrow eyes and beat red cheeks.

“Jay, you okay?”

“That shit’s not funny, man. I’m serious. I told you not to fuck around when it comes to my little sister.”

“Really? You’re one to talk.”

“What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?” Jayden shoves the bar chair back under the bar and steps back puffing out his chest.

Something’s wrong, Jayden’s usually a peaceful guy. I’ve never seen him pick a fight with anyone, let alone me.

“Whoa, Jay, what’s going on? I never said anything about your sister. I just thought it was pretty shitty to pick her up from the airport and dump her off at home so you could have breakfast with some hot piece of ass you’ve never even mentioned. I’m not a dick, I get it that you need to help your sister but I think she and I both got the shaft this morning when you switched up plans to get laid.”

The crack of Jayden’s fist making contact with my nose bounces around in my head and searing pain slices through my face making my eyes water.

I jump off my seat and back away covering my face with my hand. Bright red blood oozes between my fingers and down my arm onto my crisp white dress shirt. What the hell is wrong with him?

The two-hundred-pound brick-house bartender Al rounds the bar and pins Jayden’s arms behind his back while he screams and thrashes. He’s trying to get in another punch and for what?

“Calm the fuck down, boy, or I’m gonna have to call the law!” Al yells into his ear but he’s a man possessed, he can’t hear, his eyes are full of rage and even Al is struggling to keep him at bay.

I’m trying to make sense of his attack when the lights go out but it’s not the lights in the bar, it’s the lights in my brain. I can’t see. For the longest moment, I struggle to keep my balance until I wobble and feel the bar against my side. I let go of my nose and let the blood flow freely down my face. I can’t let on to anyone what’s happening, it could be the end of my career.

Jayden is the only person who can help me and coincidently, he’s the one currently trying to kill me. I hear scuffling of shoes and chairs and more voices of the people who frequent Al’s bar. They are helping Al keep him off me.

“You fucking asshole, you can’t talk about my baby sister like that! I’ll rip your head off and shove it up your ass if I ever hear you say a word about her again!”

Slowly the room comes back into view, the blurry wood of the bar under my hand, the big screen television glowing above hundreds of bottles of liquor and the curious patrons staring at us.

His sister? Wait a minute his sister and I are the victim’s here, what the hell is he talking about?

“Jay, calm down, I never said shit about your sister, I was talking about the chick you were with at the café this morning.”

“That was my sister, you asshole!”

Now I’m mentally in the dark. The woman he was with at the diner couldn’t possibly be his sister. Her hair was nothing like I remember it. She had curves that went on for days, an ass so sexy and fuckable it made me hard for her five blocks away. She was taller, sophisticated, modern and put together like… like my mother.

It’s an odd thought, but my mother happens to be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known and to compare anyone to her is a huge compliment.

“What? No, your sister had frizzy black hair, she was short and, and not sexy.”

Okay, so not the smartest response but I’m still struggling to make sense of what he saying.

Jayden lurches forward and comes within millimeters of hitting me again but this time I’m expecting it and I move back, knocking a chair to the ground with a loud clatter.

“I’m gonna kill you, Drake, if you say one more fucking word about my sister. I’m gonna lay you out right here and beat you to death!”

“Alright now, I think it’s time you went on home, Jayden. I don’t know what’s going on between you two but nobody’s getting an ass whooping in my bar tonight,” Al says tugging Jay toward the door. He’s still got his arms twisted behind his back and with a bouncer on either side of him, he won’t have any trouble removing him.

“Wait, so you’re telling me that woman in the tight skirt and stilettoes this morning was Tiana?” I still can’t believe it but it’s the only thing that makes any sense.

“Yes. Why the hell do you think I told you to stay away from her?” He stops talking and leans forward narrowing his eyes as if he sees something on my face. “Stop thinking about her, you already have that look in your eyes!”

“Look? What fucking look, the look of astonishment? Because if that was your sister, I’m floored.”

“No, man, the I gotta have that one look. I never knew a woman you didn’t fuck after seeing that look on your face, but you’re not getting your hands on her, you hear me?”

“Goddamn, Jayden, the whole East Coast can hear you, man. I’m not trying to fuck your little sister and I don’t know what look you're talking about. Shit, you just broke my nose for not recognizing your sister, what the hell?”

“No, I broke your nose for thinking she’s a hot piece of ass.”

Well he’s right on that one, I can’t admit it out loud or he’s going to try to kill me but I can’t deny it for the same reason. I’ve never known anyone so overprotective. Jayden’s borderline psychotic right now, no wonder Tiana ran away to New York and never came back.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath before saying another word.

“Jay, apparently, your sister has changed a lot since she’s grown up. I won’t deny she’s attractive, even from five blocks away facing the opposite direction that was obvious.”

He lurches again but I hold out my bloody hands to signal that I’m not finished.

“But, I swear I had no idea that was Tiana. I would never talk about your sister like that. You have nothing to worry about. A promise is a promise. I’ll keep my distance like I said I would. She’s off limits, totally and completely.”

His shoulders relax and the redness in his face begins to fade. His hands that have been balled up into fists open and he takes a deep breath.

“I think you can let him go, Al, it was a misunderstanding, he’s fine now, aren’t you, Jayden?”

He doesn’t respond right away but after a little jostle from Al he agrees.

“Yeah, I’m good, let me go.”

“You sure, man? I don’t want any more trouble.” Al asks.

“I’m fine, sorry about your nose. I’ll pay to get it fixed.”

I laugh, my nose has been broken so many times I don’t think a plastic surgeon would know how to ‘fix’ it.

“You got a mad right hook, ya know that? I think you missed your calling, you should have been a boxer, not a Marine.”

He reaches out and I flinch. “Relax, I’m done messing you up.”

“You sure about that? You were wound pretty tight a second ago.”

He takes my chin and turns my face side to side. “Al, can I get a bag of ice? Pretty boy over here is working on two black eyes and a broken nose.”

“Thanks to you.”

Al hands him an ice pack he had already been making and Jayden puts it in my hand.

“Nobody disses my sister, man, now you know.”

“Indeed, I do.” I press the ice between my eyes and hiss when the pain intensifies.

“Here, drink this,” Al says pushing a shot of whiskey across the bar.

“Thanks, I think I’m going to need a couple more, though.”

“No problem.” He lines up a few more shot glasses and fills them in one sweep with what I hope is enough alcohol to numb the pain shooting through my face. He tosses Jayden a wet towel and he wipes the blood from between my fingers.

“Maybe we should make it an early night?”

“No way, you don’t get to pummel my face and dip out early. I’m going to need a ride home after I drink all of this.”

“Fair enough, you don’t happen to have a clean shirt back there do you, Al?” Jay asks.

“Will a Drink at Al’s T-shirt do?”

“Yep, toss it over and add it to my tab. Time to melt some hearts, Drake, your shirt’s toast.” Jay’s always giving me shit about my chiseled body, he thinks since I’m an old geezer, as he puts it, that I should take it easy when I work out. Per him, men my age should spend their weekends in a recliner watching football instead of running marathons and pumping iron. He doesn’t really believe that shit, he’s just jealous that I’m five years older than he is and I can kick his ass at anything.

I look down at the formerly white button-down that I ironed to perfection an hour ago. Noses bleed a lot, this shirt’s going straight into the trash. I unbutton it with my free hand and shrug it off. With all the attention we have drawn, it’s not a surprise when several women gasp and one or two squirms on their bar stools at the sight of me shirtless.

I’m not an exhibitionist, but now I know I can’t make it to the bathroom to change with my vision blurring in and out.

“I hate you, man,” he whispers handing me the clean t-shirt.

“I thought we had this all cleared up”

“Nah, not the Tiana thing, the way women react to you, it’s sickening.”

“If you made it to the gym every day with me you’d get the same reaction, my friend.”

“It’s not just the physique and you know it.” He snorts and throws back a shot of whiskey and slams it down pushing the glass toward Al for a refill.

“You’re in a pissy mood tonight, maybe we should cut it short after all.”

“I’m not mad about it, I just don’t get it. I work out every day, maybe not as hard as you, but I’m five years your junior and you could go home with a different woman every night if you wanted without even tryin’. I’m not a bad lookin’ guy, but damn, Drake, some of us gotta work at it. I have to get my game on and lure women in. You just sit there and they come to you like bees to honey.”

“It’s confidence and indifference and the knowledge that none of them will ever mean anything to me other than what they can give me over the next few hours. You need to play up your old accent. You’ve gotten too Southern. Women love a Brit. They drool all over themselves when they hear that bit of the UK coming through but you’re always hiding it.”

“Because it’s my past and the US is my present and future. I’ve never even visited back home and I don’t plan to.”

“I didn’t say you had to take a woman back to the homeland, just key up the accent to suck her in. Believe me, it’ll work like a charm I promise. And then you can stop being a jealous baby about my conquests.”

“Yeah, alright, I’ll give it a shot I guess, can’t hurt.”

“Great, now you can stop whining and find yourself a woman.”

“Not tonight, this is strictly guys’ night now. Tiana is at the house, I’m not bringing any strange women home when she’s there.”

“Yeah okay, I understand that, but how long’s she staying? Are you going to let her cramp your style forever?”

“She’s not cramping my style. And she can stay as long as she wants. I like havin’ her where I can see her.”

“She’s not a baby anymore, you’re going to end up smothering her again and she’ll run. You need to be her brother, not her crazy sucker-punching overprotective dad.”

“I’m not talking about my sister anymore with you.”

I adjust the ice pack to the left where my nose isn’t numb enough and almost drop it on the bar when I watch a drop-dead gorgeous woman stroll through the door hand in hand with Private First Class Daniels.

Jayden follows my gaze to see why my jaw just hit the bar.

“What the hell is she doing here, and with that pig?”

I can’t respond, I’m being held in my seat by pure awe and admiration of the female anatomy. Long shapely legs carry the most perfect woman across the bar and lower her into a booth where she is facing Jayden and me. Unfortunately for Daniels, he has his back to us and Jay is up and taking long purposeful strides across the bar on his way to their table.

When my brain frees me from my vegetative state I leap from my stool and grab the back of his shirt ignoring the severe dizziness plaguing my head.

“Whoa there, little buddy. You can’t just barge in on her night hulk-style and start throwing punches. What are you gonna do? Beat up every man who looks at her?”

“Yes, I can and yes, I will.”

Tiana waves from the booth when she sees her brother, clearly not noticing that he’s nearing nuclear detonation.

I push up close behind him and whisper into his ear while I smile at his sister, “Look at her, do you see that gorgeous smile, those eyes full of admiration and love for you? Get your shit together, man. Walk over there, shake that peon’s hand and treat her like the lady that she is.”

God, that was hard to say. One look into her unique eyes and all I wanted to do was throw her over my shoulder like a caveman and take her home with me. I envisioned my hand smacking her perfect ass for being with a boy instead of a man like myself.

Now I understand why Jayden broke my nose and threatened my life. His baby sister is a goddess, a creature worthy of protecting and keeping hidden away from all the dirty evil men of the world. I would have done the same thing if I were him.

“But she’s with Daniels, I can’t…”

“You can, and you will. Come on, I’ll go with you.”

He walks in front of me stiff as a board with his hands balled into fists.

“Hey, big brother,” Tiana says smiling. Her eyes dart in my direction and her smile falters. “What on earth happened to you?” She slides out of the booth and moves right into my bubble to examine my face. Normally I would protest or at least step away, but I’m enamored by her amazing eyes, one chocolate brown and one as blue as a summer sky.

“A little misunderstanding, it’s nothing,” I say, my words trailing off into silence when she reaches up to touch my cheek with the tips of her fingers. It hurts but I’ll gladly allow her to probe and poke all she wants if she stays close enough for me to keep breathing in the sweet smell of peaches and vanilla emanating from her warm skin.

“You remember Drake, don’t you, Tiana?” Jayden reaches out and removes her hand from my face and guides her back into the booth. “He lives next door to us, moved in while you were in college.”

Her face is crumpled in an adorable frown that makes her look ten years younger and more beautiful if that were possible. Her tawny skin is flawless, her bare shoulders are seductive and her soft peach lips nearly irresistible.

She rolls her eyes and sighs as if she’s used to her brother’s annoying overprotectiveness.

“I don’t think we were ever properly introduced. I’m Tiana, soon to be Jayden’s long-lost sister if he doesn’t back off.” She thrusts out her hand and I take it holding my breath.

I try to keep the contact brief when I see the twisted look on Jayden’s face but she holds onto my hand a beat longer than she should. She’s feisty and not at all fond of being controlled, a combination that fucking turns me on. Staying away from this woman is not going to be easy.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, it’s nice to finally meet you, Tiana.”

“Don’t listen to a word of it. Jay’s always putting me on a pedestal that I don’t belong on.”

Everything in me wants to keep her hand, lean in and say there’s no pedestal high enough for you, beautiful girl. But that would make my best friend’s head spontaneously combust and as annoying as he is at times I’d like to keep him around.

“Well it’s true, he only has good things to say about you.”

She glances across the table and her face changes from captivated to surprise as if she had forgotten about her date.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, this is Cameron Daniels. Cameron this is my mollycoddling big brother Jayden and his neighbor Drake.”

The minute bit of British accent left from her childhood is accentuated when she uses the word mollycoddling. Fuck, why couldn’t she be a snarly-toothed pudgy troll? That would make it so much easier to keep my distance. Why haven’t I ever seen pictures of her at his house? How could I have been living next door to this rare beauty and not have noticed her?

“Nice to meet you, I’ve seen you around the base,” Cameron says offering his hand.

I reach out to shake it when Jayden doesn’t. He’s pressing his lips together in a straight line and I know what he’s thinking. How the hell did she end up here with this dweeb? Cameron is tall and thin, too thin with angular facial features, thin hair and an awkward lopsided grin. He’s known on base as the weasel. I can’t imagine what she’s doing here with him.

“Nice to meet you. How do you two know each other?” I ask because I want to know, but also for Jay.

“We went to high school together. There aren’t many people from my class left in Jewel Falls so I asked him out to catch me up.”

“You have his phone number after three years?” Jayden asks.

“Oh no, I bumped into Tiana at Parkers.”

Parkers is a small grocery store in the town square. People go there for groceries but it’s also sort of a hangout. If you want to know somebody’s business just drop by Parkers and any one of a dozen gossips will fill you in, no problem.

Jay seems to relax a little bit when he believes that this isn’t a date.

“Do you two want to have a drink with us?” Tiana asks and I look at Jayden for guidance. I’d prefer to put miles of distance between this woman and myself, but this is Jayden’s game and I’m playing by his rules.

“Yes, we would.” He slides into the booth next to his sister and I sit down with the weasel. I knew he wouldn’t leave her alone with a guy no matter how unlikely it is that these two would end up in bed together.

It strikes me as odd that on her first night home, she would go to a bar with a man she doesn’t know very well after her recent debacle in a New York club. At least I don’t think they know each other very well. I shouldn’t assume I guess but damn, if she went out with this guy in high school or college, I’ll eat my hat.

A perky blonde waitress who reminds me of a cheerleader I dated years ago, approaches the table.

“Hey, y’all, I’m Abigail, what are ya drinkin’ tonight?” She smiles a toothy smile and taps her pencil on a small pad of paper. I didn’t think anyone wrote on paper anymore. Everywhere you look these days, things have gone digital.

“I’ll have a beer, whatever’s on tap and two shots of Wild Turkey,” Jayden says.

Tiana raises her eyebrows and does this thing with the corner of her mouth that makes my cock twitch. It’s almost a smirk but sexier, or maybe everything she does is sexy? I don’t know, but I’m starting to think of excuses to go home.

“You trying to be worthless tomorrow, brother? I thought we were going to plant flowers and go shopping.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“How about you, handsome? You drinkin’?” Abigail asks and I turn to Cameron with a look of expectation. I don’t want it to seem like she’s talking to me, although I’m sure she is.

I tip my head in Cameron’s direction, “Cam?”

“Oh, uh yeah, I’ll have a Blue Moon. Thanks, Abigail.”

My brain cringes, Blue Moon? Treehugger.

“You got it, how about you?” Now I’m sure she’s talking to me. Her voice has lowered two octaves and she is shamelessly batting her eyelashes and thrusting out her hip in my direction.

“I’ll have a Corona.”

“Ah, a party man, I like it. What about you, sweetie?” She asks Tiana still tapping her pencil on the paper, which she is not writing on.

“I’ll have a Diet Coke, please.”

“Bless your heart. You must be the DD.”

She bites her full bottom lip and nods her head up and down once.

“Okay, I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere, ya hear?”

I wonder where she thinks we will go but the thought disappears when Tiana’s foot brushes against my leg. I close my eyes for a moment and rest my back against the cool pleather of the booth.

“You’re quite a supporter of this place, aren’t you?”

I frown and pain shoots through my sinuses. I might need to see a doctor tomorrow after all.

“Your shirt,” she says nodding her head at my chest.

“Ah, it wasn’t my first choice.”

“That just happened?”

“Yes. The bartender was kind enough to give me a clean shirt.”

She narrows her eyes with suspicion and turns to Jayden.

“You did that, didn’t you?”

“What? Me? No.”

“You’re a crappy liar. How could you punch your best friend? If that was about me, so help me, Jayden…” Her voice trails off with her threat and I avert my eyes to the big screen behind the bar. When she gets angry, her Brit accent comes out and when her accent comes out I have dirty thoughts about my friend’s sister.

“It had nothing to do with you, Tia. I got carried away about a bet we had on a game, that’s all.”

His voice has softened. I think he’s afraid she will pack up and go back to New York if he pisses her off too much and from what I’ve seen so far, she just might. As conflicted as I am about her I don’t want her leaving either, so I go along with his crap story.

“You lost, fair and square, you’re a rotten loser.”

“Jay, you need anger management help if you’re punching your friends over a stupid baseball game.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

Abigail arrives with our drinks. She passes them out, making sure to reach across me to hand Cameron his beer giving me a close-up of her breasts straining against her white Drink at Al’s T-shirt. Normally I’d take that as an invitation and be sure to gather her up at closing time but tonight her full bust does nothing for me.

“I know a good therapist,” Cam perks up taking a drink of his beer.

Of course he does, tree huggers are all about therapy.

“No, thanks.” I watch a blood vessel in Jayden’s temple bulge to the beat of the music of the live band playing on the other side of the bar. If Cameron keeps making suggestions like that it’s going to burst.

“It was an isolated incident. Hell, I’m surprised you have never done it before. We’ve been friends for what, seven years now?” I push a shot of Wild Turkey toward his hand and he tosses it back, hissing when it’s gone.

“Yeah, about that long.”

“So, you met when I went to college?” Tiana asks.

“I was stationed here then and needed a house, your brother told me about one on his block that was for sale and that was that.”

“Where were you stationed before that?”

“Hawaii for five years and Virginia for two.”

She sighs and rests her back against the booth when I say Hawaii.

“I’d love to live in Hawaii surrounded by all that beauty and sun.”

“It was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, if you like the tropics it’s perfect.”

“Don’t get her started. She’s wanted to live on an island since she was two.”

“The UK was so depressing, all the dark skies and rain… nope, not for me. I need sun and beaches.”

“New York wasn’t the place for you then.” I regret the words as soon as they leave my mouth. I didn’t mean to drudge up bad feelings.

Her face dims but only for a second. “No, it definitely was not. I loved the hustle and bustle and all the people but I would have traded it all in a heartbeat for island life.”

“Have you ever been to Bluebell Island? It’s not exactly tropical but it’s very beautiful –– waterfalls, laid back atmosphere, beaches,” I say.

“I think my friend Lacy mentioned it in college, but no, I’ve never been. Maybe you guys can take me sometime soon.”

“I’ve been there, Drake’s right, it’s gorgeous,” Cameron says, and the way he says gorgeous leads me to believe he may not be the heterosexual geek I thought he was. Maybe he’s just gay, which would be so much better. I need to think of a way to clear that up for Jayden.

“You should take her, I hear it’s supposed to be beautiful weather all week,” I say to Cameron. Jayden’s eyes go wide and if I weren’t going blind I’d say Tiana’s bottom lip pouted ever so slightly but that can’t be. Even if she were pouting there is nothing I can do about it. I’m not taking her to Bluebell Island.

She would be scantily dressed due to the heat and one of the biggest attractions is the beach so there would be bikinis and sunscreen and alcoholic drinks… no. I mentally shake off the vision of this sumptuous woman nearly naked on the beach of one of my favorite places on earth.

Jayden kicks me under the table and tosses back his second 100 proof shot of Wild Turkey and chases it with his beer.

“I just saw Mason come in, didn’t you want to ask him about that meeting tomorrow?”

Mason? Caption Mason Reeves? I’ve never seen him at Al’s. He’s trying to get rid of me and I think it’s a good time to make a break for it. The smell of Tiana’s skin is starting to seep into my brain cells and take over my thoughts.

“Yes, I do, couldn’t get him on the phone all day. If you’ll excuse me I need to talk to someone. It was a pleasure meeting you formally, Tiana.” I nod in her direction avoiding direct eye contact because one -- I can’t see her when I look straight at her and two -- I don’t need to see her anymore. The vision of her face is forever burned on the surface of my mind. “And it was good to meet you too, Cameron.” He touches my shoulder, “You too. Good luck with the promotion.”

I scoot out of the booth catching Jayden’s eye as I go. He saw the touch. He gets it. But how does Cameron know about my promotion?

“How do you know about that?” I tower over the booth at six-foot-four, casting a shadow over scrawny Cameron.

“I’m an administrative clerk. A lot of paperwork comes across my desk.” He smiles wide and I’m surprised by how straight and white his teeth are.

“I see.” I turn to Jayden, “Are you going to get home all right?”

Tiana cuts in before he can answer. “I’ll make sure of it, I’m not drinking.”

“Very good.” I lean down to look Jayden in the eyes turning my head ever so slightly to look at him from my peripheral. “Try to play nice the rest of the evening.” He grunts and I hear Tiana snicker before I make my way out of Al’s.

If I were in a bigger city I’d stop into the closest emergency room and have my nose looked after. But there is only one hospital here and I can’t risk anyone discovering my inevitable blindness.

My Uber driver chats incessantly about nothing all the way home. I jump out of the Chevy Malibu and take a deep breath when he comes to a stop in front of my house.

“Thanks, man, have a good night. Don’t forget to request me next time,” says the driver. The only request I’ll be making is to not have that annoying driver again.

I nod and count my steps in the dark to the porch. Seeing at night is the worst but I’ve learned over the years to adapt the way totally blind people do. I count steps in familiar places. I don’t rearrange my sparse furniture. I can read Braille and do most daily activities with my eyes closed. The only thing I have left to see about, no pun intended, is a guide dog.

I contacted the people at Guide Dogs of America six months ago. My puppy has been at their training camp for a while now and in a few weeks, I will be secretly training alongside him. I have mixed feelings about that. Taking the class is the last step in admitting to myself that this is really going to happen. I can’t avoid it any longer. I can’t pretend it was a misdiagnosis or a temporary condition. I am going to be a blind man but not until I get that promotion.