pretty face. “But Yake,” she said plaintively, “Cassie can’t see anything. She’s blind.”
Stunned silence filled the car as Jake drove the rest of the way home. Heidi wanted to know why he looked so funny, and why Cassie didn’t like him, and why this and why that, but Jake just shook his head, mumbling pacifying responses. His thoughts were numb, but his mind raced to understand what Heidi had said. Maybe she had just meant that Cassie was blind to his charms or good looks or ... ? Heidi didn’t know how to use the word blind figuratively. When she said Cassie was blind, she meant Cassie was physically blind.
Images from the few times she had met him coursed through his memory. Those pale blue eyes, almost haunting, the way she would look out into a room and see … nothing. How she could talk to him without looking at him, as if she were focused on someone else in the room. Jake shook his head slightly, and Heidi looked at him.
“Yake, why doesn’t Cassie like you? I tell her all the time how nice you are, and how much you work with the cows and the horses, and how I think you should live here with me and mom and dad. She always says I’m lucky to have such a good big brother, but I tell her there is no luck, just genes. We have the same genes.”
Jake listened with a halting smile as Heidi babbled beside him like a mountain brook. She had forgotten about the mustangs and was now completely focused on Cassie. She had a million things to say, and she told him all about Cassie. Cassie had come to work for Miriam because she was trained in equine therapy but specialized in mobility and independence for the blind. She was from Danbury, Connecticut, and had been on horseback since she had gone blind when she was four years old. She had gone to Missoula, Montana, for college where she got her psychology and sociology degree and had preferred the heartier Western stock to the blue-blooded horses on the expensive farms of Connecticut. She had lived in New Mexico and Arizona before coming to Lindley to work for Miriam.
“How did she go blind?”
“Her eyes stopped working,” Heidi said sleepily. Jake rolled his eyes and smiled at her as they pulled the car up to the ranch house.
“So do you know what made them stop working?”
Heidi shook her head.
“She just said that when she was four, her head got sick and her eyes stopped working.”
Jake frowned slightly. “Her head?”
Heidi yawned again, and Jake turned off the ignition switch.
“Her brain or something else in her head?”
Heidi was out of the car and halfway up the steps without an answer, and Jake sat still in the silence of the front of his car. She’s blind, he thought, mystified. He’d never known anyone before who … no, that wasn’t true. He had met blind people before. Met, kept a polite distance from, and respected from afar.
But Cassie? Jake was still thinking about all the misinterpretations of her he had made, his conscious thought fighting back the realization that it was selfish and cruel but the first thing about her he had understood since meeting her. She had no idea what he looked like. She was not swept away like the other women because the sheer power of his rugged good looks was lost on her.
Jake smiled broadly, feeling the sense of relief finally allowed a foothold. She wasn’t oblivious to his attraction, she just couldn’t see it. He laughed now, at her, at himself for being worried.
Jake reached for the car door as a second thought struck him just as powerfully as the relief. She didn’t like him, and without seeing his good looks and raw physical presence, she never would. Jake tossed the errant thought away and climbed out of the car. Who cares? he thought indignantly. There were plenty of women who would be more than happy to see him for who he was.
Maybe I just see through the masks people use to hide who they really are.
Her words to him that night in Mcgoo’s rang in his mind as he walked to the
Stunned silence filled the car as Jake drove the rest of the way home. Heidi wanted to know why he looked so funny, and why Cassie didn’t like him, and why this and why that, but Jake just shook his head, mumbling pacifying responses. His thoughts were numb, but his mind raced to understand what Heidi had said. Maybe she had just meant that Cassie was blind to his charms or good looks or ... ? Heidi didn’t know how to use the word blind figuratively. When she said Cassie was blind, she meant Cassie was physically blind.
Images from the few times she had met him coursed through his memory. Those pale blue eyes, almost haunting, the way she would look out into a room and see … nothing. How she could talk to him without looking at him, as if she were focused on someone else in the room. Jake shook his head slightly, and Heidi looked at him.
“Yake, why doesn’t Cassie like you? I tell her all the time how nice you are, and how much you work with the cows and the horses, and how I think you should live here with me and mom and dad. She always says I’m lucky to have such a good big brother, but I tell her there is no luck, just genes. We have the same genes.”
Jake listened with a halting smile as Heidi babbled beside him like a mountain brook. She had forgotten about the mustangs and was now completely focused on Cassie. She had a million things to say, and she told him all about Cassie. Cassie had come to work for Miriam because she was trained in equine therapy but specialized in mobility and independence for the blind. She was from Danbury, Connecticut, and had been on horseback since she had gone blind when she was four years old. She had gone to Missoula, Montana, for college where she got her psychology and sociology degree and had preferred the heartier Western stock to the blue-blooded horses on the expensive farms of Connecticut. She had lived in New Mexico and Arizona before coming to Lindley to work for Miriam.
“How did she go blind?”
“Her eyes stopped working,” Heidi said sleepily. Jake rolled his eyes and smiled at her as they pulled the car up to the ranch house.
“So do you know what made them stop working?”
Heidi shook her head.
“She just said that when she was four, her head got sick and her eyes stopped working.”
Jake frowned slightly. “Her head?”
Heidi yawned again, and Jake turned off the ignition switch.
“Her brain or something else in her head?”
Heidi was out of the car and halfway up the steps without an answer, and Jake sat still in the silence of the front of his car. She’s blind, he thought, mystified. He’d never known anyone before who … no, that wasn’t true. He had met blind people before. Met, kept a polite distance from, and respected from afar.
But Cassie? Jake was still thinking about all the misinterpretations of her he had made, his conscious thought fighting back the realization that it was selfish and cruel but the first thing about her he had understood since meeting her. She had no idea what he looked like. She was not swept away like the other women because the sheer power of his rugged good looks was lost on her.
Jake smiled broadly, feeling the sense of relief finally allowed a foothold. She wasn’t oblivious to his attraction, she just couldn’t see it. He laughed now, at her, at himself for being worried.
Jake reached for the car door as a second thought struck him just as powerfully as the relief. She didn’t like him, and without seeing his good looks and raw physical presence, she never would. Jake tossed the errant thought away and climbed out of the car. Who cares? he thought indignantly. There were plenty of women who would be more than happy to see him for who he was.
Maybe I just see through the masks people use to hide who they really are.
Her words to him that night in Mcgoo’s rang in his mind as he walked to the
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