Love Is Blind

Colors

  After Gabriel left, I shut the door and leaned against it. Obviously, I should have heeded his advice and went to call Lacey, even though it would be dubious of her to answer. I should have sprinted back to her place and tried to sort it all out. But I couldn't. Not yet. I still needed some time of my own to come to terms and get used to the idea and sensation of being able to see.

  So, pushing away from the wooden door, I slipped my shoes back on. Shrugging on my coat, I locked the door behind me before I left. Ambling down the street, I made my way down the sidewalks, trying to memorize every winding street and where each walkway led.

  Three hundred steps later, (fifty to get to town, two hundred to walk downtown, and another fifty to find the location I had been looking for) I looked up to see the large sign. Nona's Internet Café. Sucking in a nervous breath, I pushed open the glass door.

  Looming above me, the bell rang to signify that someone, me, had entered the café. A few people looked up, but I knew for a fact that none of them could see me. The front of the store was sectioned off for the blind, because it made it easier than having Braille computers and regular computers all mixed together.

At the bar seating area, stood Nona and her son, Declan. Nona's real name was actually Blake, but after her son and his wife had their baby, Nannie, she began calling herself Nona. Everyone else picked up on the habit, and few people ever called her anything other than Nona. Seeing me, without my cane and standing there staring at her, I watched her jaw go slack and she busily tried to make herself look less like a codfish.

  Making my way up to her, I gave her a small simper, hoping I didn't look too defeated from my day, "Hey, Nona. Anyway you could help me out?"

  "Well, of course I can, sweet pea!" She gave a wink and beamed at me, bustling over to grab my hand in her old, gnarled ones, "What can I do for you, sugar?"

  Chewing my bottom lip, it took me a moment to actually say the words, and even then my voice was barely audible, "Can we talk about this in private?"

  Her face scrunched up, causing the lines and wrinkles on her face to deepen, but she gave me a polite smile, "I'm sorry, sweetie, I didn't quite get that. What did you say?"

  Letting out a slow sigh, I began to repeat myself, not all that surprised she hadn't heard me,  "Would you mind if we went and talked in the back?"

  Nodding, she gave me a larger smile, obviously trying to give me some form of comfort and soothe the nerves I must have been showing, "Of course we can, Jacob, my boy. Let's go, let's go."

  Hurrying me into the back she called over her shoulder for Declan to watch the store for a moment, just until she finished up with me. Following her down a long hallway, we finally slipped into a door marked PRIVATE.

  Sitting down in a large, plush chair that was partially hidden behind an old, metal desk, Nona motioned for me to sit as well. Taking my seat on the cushy sofa that sat across from the desk in the small room, I folded my hands on my lap and looked up at the woman before me. "Okay, what is it that you need?"

  "Well..." I began, forcing my eyes to stay on her face instead of trailing down to the coffee stains on the floor, "I have a favor that I need to ask of you."

  "Anything," She promised, even though she didn't know what I was going to ask for. In all honesty, she probably knew anyway. She was smarter than most people, and anyway, she could see the obvious.

  "Okay... So.. You can tell I've, uh, changed.." I started, still unsure of how to exactly proceed with this conversation.

  Thankfully, Nona bored fast and she gave me a slight frown, "Jacob, bubby, I can see that you've got vision. Now, you ain't the type of boy to go around flaunting girls or anything, but you haven't told anyone about this mystery person you've been dating. I didn't even know you had been dating. And even if you aren't, you've obviously found your soulmate. The only issue is, you don't know how to handle this, correct?"