Love is Blindness

Chapter 9; Scottsdale and Horse Ranches

I woke from the sound of the pilot announcing that we'd be landing very soon and that we should put our seats in the upright position and all those things that they announce minutes before landing. I woke Chris up gently so I could move my head. He opened his eyes and smiled at the sight of me. I smiled

back then remembered that we were flying over Arizona now. I whipped my head towards the window and looked out. It was beautiful! There was cacti everywhere, rock mountains, craters, it was fantastic! Chris saw my fascination. He held my hand again.

"It is beautiful, isn't it?"

"Amazing. Just wonderful. I wish I could come here more often..."

We got closer and closer to the ground and then we flew over Phoenix. I spotted the airport a couple miles away.

We touched down, sending us all into the air slightly. Chris took my hand and guided me through the plane to the doors. He was almost jogging. He had apparently planned this all last night or something because Swede took both Chris and my bags without question. He nodded to Chris then turned his head to look at me as we walked on the pavement. He smiled then nodded his head toward Chris to tell me to get going and have a good time.

Juliana and Sam saw me going in the opposite direction of the them and the team and both gave me a confused look. I returned their expression by holding my arms up in a way saying that I had no idea what was going on. They shrugged then continued on with the team.

Chris led me to a small black Nissan and held the door open for me.

"Where did you get this?" I asked.

"I asked Shane Doan for a favor. Him and I get along pretty well, well that is until I block his shots or he gets em' past me," he said laughing. "Tomorrow we'll drive it to the arena for him to have back and we can take a taxi or the bus back to the hotel."

"Hmm. Alrighty then!" I walked into the pretty sweet car. He soon appeared in the driver seat. He smiled at me then put the car in drive and we sped through the airport.

"So where exactly are you taking me?" I asked curiously.

"You'll find out when we get there! No questions!" he replied excitedly.

I checked the time on the clock. 8:30. What would be open at 8:30 in the morning?

We hit a main road and drove straight for almost an hour. Things started looking familiar again. Then I saw a sign coming up that said that there was an exit in 1 mile to the city of Scottsdale. Chris shifted into that lane. I suddenly realized what he had in mind.

"Scottsdale? This is where you're taking me?"

"First. This is only the first part of the day. I talked to your dad the other night and he told me that your cousins live out here and you barely get to see them. I thought you would like to see them again." My heart suddenly felt really warm. He wanted to waste time at a house full of people he had never heard of before just to get me to see my family. What a great friend he was. Or I mean- boyfriend. I still needed to get used to that.

We got onto the exit and I got really excited.

"Do they know we're coming?" I suddenly asked.

"Nope. That's what's gonna make it even better!" As he said this he drove onto Cactus Road. How did he know the directions?

We took a few more turns then we took a left onto a smaller street. The sun was getting higher in the sky and I was sure that by now it had gotten way warmer. He drove slowly then pulled into my cousin's driveway. I go so excited. I hadn't seen them in nearly 2 years!