by Tyler Grey
He chuckled. “It’s cleared.”
Chapter 37
Jacob
“Morning,” Hayden said as I opened the door.
I frowned. I hadn’t been expecting him at all. “Hayden? What are you doing here?”
He laughed. “And a very good morning to you too. Let me guess; you were expecting a beautiful brunette to walk through the door?”
I chuckled. “And instead I got you.”
“Don’t worry; I’ll be out of your hair soon enough. I’m here to get Tank.”
“Tank? Why? What’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing is going on. I thought it would be nice to have him for the weekend.”
“Okay, you’re not making any sense. You’re here to get Tank? But he’s my dog.”
“Well, he’s mine for the weekend. Don’t worry; I’ll look after him. Beatrice is so excited to meet the little guy. I have a feeling we’ll be talking about getting a dog of our own after this.”
“Oh, you’re here!” Alice said suddenly, and I frowned. Alice was here too now? What was going on? “Hey, Jacob. You ready to go?”
“I’m confused.”
She giggled. “Ah, that’s just how I like my men. Don’t worry; all will be revealed soon. I’m taking you away without Tank. Hayden has agreed to look after him this weekend. I promised we’d have him around for dinner next week and that he gets to choose all the meals. So just a heads-up as to what you’re in for next week.”
“Well, I have no idea what’s going on, but I have a feeling nobody is going to tell me. So, yes, I guess I’m ready. And can I just say, you look beautiful today.”
Alice giggled. “Thank you.”
Hayden groaned. “Seriously? Do you guys always do this?”
“Oh yes,” Alice said. “We normally do it around people that don’t know us, though. You know, to make them feel super uncomfortable.”
Hayden laughed. “Weirdos. You guys are meant for each other.”
“Why,[]7’ thank you,” I said.
“Right, now get in the car, you two.”
“In the car? In your car?” I asked Hayden.
“Yes, I am your driver today.”
I shook my head. I had no idea what was happening, but I was getting excited. I climbed into the car and went on and on about how unfair it was that I was being kept in the dark.
“But you’re always in the dark,” Alice said, and we laughed.
“Seriously, how many blind jokes do you guys make in a day?” Hayden asked.
“As many as we can. We really are quite impressive.”
Hayden dropped us off, and we said our goodbyes. I stopped and listened to the sounds around me, trying to figure out where we were. Then I gasped.
“Are we at the airport?”
“We sure are.”
“We’re going on a plane? Seriously?”
“Oh yeah. Like I said, there’s somewhere I wanted to take you.”
I grinned. “Well, this is turning out to be a good date. When will you tell me where we’re going?”
“Right now. I wanted to keep it a secret until we got there, but you’ll hear them announce it before that. I’m taking you to Belgium,” she announced.
“Belgium? What? Seriously?”
She giggled. “Seriously. I thought I’d take you to the most amazing restaurant in the world, and there’s someone I wanted you to meet.”
“The restaurant? Don’t you have to be put on a waiting list for that? I thought the wait was a few months at least.”
“Not if you’re me.”
I laughed. “Wow. Thank you, Alice. This is amazing. Hey, what about my passport?”
She chuckled. “Don’t worry. Hayden helped me with that.”
We got onto the plane and chatted excitedly about what was to come. I was happy to be doing something so romantic with her, but I couldn’t help but also feel frightened. I was used to being at home. I felt confident there. I could move around with ease without knocking anything over. But how was I going to be in a whole new country? I didn’t even have Tank with me. I did, however, have Alice, and that at least put me at ease. It was nice of her to do something like this for me. After everything I had put her through, I couldn’t believe that she would go to so much effort for me.
“You’re a sweetheart; you know that?” I said to her.
“I knew I wanted to bring you here the moment I arrived. That’s when I knew that you and I were right for each other. I felt that I wasn’t able to fully enjoy myself because I kept wanting to do it all with you.”
Alice took me to a hotel for the night, and we spent a lovely evening eating pizza in bed and chatting about our lives. We had started opening up a lot more to each other now that I knew who she was. I told her everything about my parents and about my life, and she told me about hers. We spoke about the bullying quite a lot, and every time we did, we felt closer to one another. It was like we were part of some therapy session. I hadn’t spoken about these things for years, and it felt good to finally face up to what I had done.
The following day, after a long sleep in and a small breakfast in bed, we took a stroll to the restaurant. Alice had booked us in for lunch, and she was giddy with excitement. When we arrived, we were taken to our tables, and I listened to the soft murmurings around us. The music was soft, and the chatter low but happy. There was a good atmosphere in this restaurant that instantly put me in a good mood.
“Oh, here comes Tyronne,” Alice said. “Bonjour Tyronne, it’s so good to see you again.”
“Alice, it’s a pleasure to see you. I’m very pleased you came back for a visit so soon.” Tyronne had a strong French accent and a kind voice.
“This is my boyfriend, Jacob.”
I stood up and held out my hand. Tyronne took it, and when he spoke, I could hear that he was smiling. “Jacob, it’s good to meet you. Alice is such a wonderful lady, and we were sad to lose her, but I can see that she did the right thing. She had a terrible sadness when she was here, but that has all gone now that she is back with you. She’s glowing.”
I smiled. “That’s good to hear. I have heard amazing things about this restaurant, by the way. Thank you for allowing us to come on such short notice.”
“The pleasure is all mine. You are welcome anytime. Now, let me ask the waiters to sort you out with some food and wine. Please, the food is on us today, so eat to your heart’s content.”
“Oh, Tyronne, you don’t have to do that,” Alice said.
“Nonsense. I want to.”
“He’s nice,” I said to Alice when Tyronne had left the table. “I cannot believe we’re not paying for this.”
She chuckled. “I know. I had no idea. Well, the food here does not come cheap, so this is a very good thing. We better eat until we’re about to pop, then.”
“Oh, I think we can manage that.”
The food was everything that Alice had promised it would be. It was perfection on a plate. I was a bit nervous at first to be eating at such a fancy restaurant, but Alice had ensured me that everything would be fine. She’d even put us at a table far away from everyone else so that I didn’t have to worry about people watching me. She knew I was still working on my confidence in some areas and the fact that she’d gone out of her way to do that for me made me happy. We ate until we could barely move and then went to say our goodbye to Tyronne as well as a few of the other staff members that Alice wanted to see. They all made us promise that we would be back.
“We should come here once a year,” I said to Alice as we walked out the restaurant.
“I like that idea.”
“Thank you for doing this for me, Alice. It was very special. It’s nice that I got to see where you were during that month.”
“I’m glad you liked it, but that’s not actually the reason I brought you here. When I said there was someone I wanted you to meet, it wasn’t actually Tyronne.”
“It wasn’t? What do you mean?”
“I’m taking you
to my favorite place in Belgium. It’s an art gallery, and the person that I want you to meet is Patrick, the owner.”
I frowned. “Art gallery?”
“Once upon a time you told me how much you loved art before you were blind. Remember?”
“Yeah, I do. But… well… not anymore,” I said. I wasn’t sure how to say this without hurting her feelings, but the last place I wanted to go to was an art gallery.
“I know. But… trust me.”
I did trust her, so I let her guide me to the art gallery. Once inside we were greeted by a lovely man. Patrick was everything that Alice had promised him to be. On the walk there she had explained how good Patrick had been to her during her last week in Belgium and how he had been the reason why she came back. “He made me see what was important in life,” she had said.
“I hear you’re a fan of art,” Patrick said.
“Was,” I corrected him. “I was a fan of art.”
“Nonsense. Once a fan, always a fan. My son is blind.”
“He is?” That was something that Alice hadn’t told me.
“He is. He wasn’t born blind, either. He lost his eyesight when he was 20. It was horrific. I mean, the whole family is into art. If we don’t make the art, we sell the art. It’s in our blood. When he lost his eyesight, I thought he wouldn’t ever want anything to do with art again. But I was wrong. He started painting, creating artwork especially for blind people. He has no idea what it looks like, but it doesn’t matter, because it makes him feel something. Funny thing is, he paints better than a lot of people who can see. Come, let me show you.”
Patrick led me to the end of the room and explained that all the artwork was on the wall. They were all displayed at a height for people to reach out and touch them.
“Touch them? But what if I dirty them?”
He handed me a cloth. “That’s why I have this. Go on. Wipe your hands and feel the painting.”
I did as he told me and gasped as my hands felt the canvas. The artwork was filled with the most beautiful texture, each one evoking a different emotion in me. I felt it over and over again until I had a clear image of it in my mind.
“It’s beautiful,” I said through tears.
“I knew you’d like it,” Alice said. “When I came here, I knew that I had to bring you here too. Oh, Patrick, it was so good to see you again. I’m so glad the two of you got to meet.”
“I’m glad too,” I said. “Please tell your son that he is very talented and that I will never stop loving art. I never thought I’d ever get to experience it again. I don’t know how he managed to do this, but there’s something very special about these paintings.”
“I know. I knew it the moment I saw it. I feel the emotions when I see it too, just as you do when you feel them. Now, I know that the two of you are leaving tomorrow, so I want to give you something before you go. I have a painting for you. I want you to take it back with you.”
“What? Are you serious?” I said.
“Patrick, this is too much,” Alice said.
“It’s the least I could do. Alice, I’m sad that you left, but I’m glad that you did. I can see that you are very much in love with this man. Jacob, I’m so pleased we met. Hold onto this girl. She’s something special.”
“Oh, I know it.”
We left the art gallery and made our way back to the hotel. Once there, we unwrapped the canvas, and I spent some time feeling it. Afterwards, I told Alice how it made me feel. She then described it to me in detail.
“Alice, I want to tell you how I lost my eyesight,” I said.
Chapter 38
Alice
I looked at Jacob. How could this man be the same boy from my childhood? I thought back to the day he had written I love Jacob on my notebook and told the whole school that I was in love with him. Who knew that his predictions would one day come true? Here I was, completely in love with this man from my past.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, Jacob. I know this must be hard for you to talk about.”
“I know, but I just want to be open with you. I want you to know everything about me just as I want to know everything about you.”
“I’d love to hear your story, then.”
We lay down on the bed and held hands. I looked at the cracks in the ceiling while Jacob told me his story. Like the view above me, he was a broken man. Just as I was a broken woman. But we didn’t feel broken when we were together. Jacob launched into a story about how his squad were being ambushed.
“Tank was there. He wasn’t supposed to be there of course, but there he was. I saw him in the line of fire. I screamed for some of the guys to get him, but nobody would. And that’s when I saw why he was out there. One of the guys had been injured and was lying out in the open. He wasn’t dead, but he couldn’t get up, and Tank was the only one who was willing to save him. I was far out, and it made more sense for some of the other guys to get the guy, but nobody did. I couldn’t stand to see anything happen to my friend, or to Tank, so I rushed out to help them. Mack, that was the guy’s name. He was one of the funniest guys I knew. I remember thinking how lucky it was that we were land-based at the time, because I wasn’t sure if Tank could swim. It was such a stupid thought, but all these weird thoughts were going through my head. Someone shouted at me, but nobody came to help me. I got to Mack and picked him up. He was bleeding profusely, and Tank was pulling at his leg, trying to get him to safety. It was crazy, you know. We’d all gone through some of the toughest military training in the world, and when it came down to it, a dog was the bravest of them all. The attack was unnecessary and unplanned, but we all knew that could happen.”
I gulped. It was hard to think of Jacob in this way. I didn’t want to hear about the danger he was in. These were the sorts of stories that nobody really hears about, and I could see the pain on his face as he recalled the day.
“Mack was crying when I got to him. I never thought I’d ever see someone like Mack cry. Not only was he the funniest guy, but he was also one of the toughest. I had never met anyone with as much determination as him.”
“Where was Hayden?”
“He wasn’t there at the time. I’m certain that if he was, he would’ve come after me. Hayden is that sort of friend, you know. But he wasn’t there, and I was all alone. Someone cheered as I got Mack, and the sound seemed hollow. And then… then… out of nowhere, something flew into my eye. I fell back. That’s all I remember.” He took a breath. “I woke up in the hospital without my eyesight. I was in the hospital for ages. It wasn’t just my eyes that got hurt, but my ribs too. The recovery period was long, and I was taken out of the navy for good. I mean, nobody wants a blind guy out there, right?” he said, and chuckled. This time I didn’t laugh with him.
I squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry, Jacob. I’m so sorry. What happened to Mack?”
“He survived. Strangely, we didn’t become close friends after that. Isn’t that weird? It was like we both drifted apart. He thanked me for what I did, of course. But I haven’t seen him for a long time. I think neither of us like to think about what happened. He wasn’t at the banquet.”
“The banquet!” I said. “No wonder you were so upset. They called you up for your bravery. You got injured because none of them came to help you.”
He sighed. “Yeah, I was pretty upset. Also, I could feel how uncomfortable I made them all with my blindness. Like I was a reminder that they had failed me. Hayden has been the only one that has stayed with me. But hey, I don’t blame them. I was angry on the day, but not anymore. How can I blame them for not wanting to get killed? I can’t.”
“You did an amazing thing that day,” I said. “They’re lucky to have you.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I get so angry sometimes. But if anyone had to ask me if I would do it all over again, I would say yes. In a heartbeat. They’re good people. You know, I wouldn’t be who I am if it wasn’t for the navy. They taught me to be the man I am today. They are good people. I’v
e been so hard on them. When I get back, I’m going to contact each and every one of them and tell them I’m not angry at them. Maybe that’s all they need to hear.” Suddenly he stopped and started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked him.
“Who knew feeling art could make me so emotional?” he said.
“Who knew feeling art was even a thing,” I said and we both dissolved into laughter.
“Alice, I had a terrible childhood,” he started.
“Hang on a second. If we’re having competitions on who had the worst childhood, I think I might be a contender. In fact, I’d go so far as saying I might just win this game.”
He chuckled. “Oh no, let’s not go there. If you win, it only makes me feel worse. Look, I had a bad childhood, despite the image I liked to portray. I had a horrible family. My dad is not a good man, and in the end, my mom chose him over me. It’s been tough. I see these people with the perfect families, and it drives me crazy when I hear them complain. Anyway, now that I’m an adult I’ve realized that I have to make my own family. Some families are given to you, others you make. I’m making mine. My troop is my family. Although most of them are like aunts, uncles, cousins, step-cousins, if you know what I mean. I love them, but I’m not as close to them as I am to the others. I have three members of my real family.”
“Hayden,” I offered.
“Yes. That’s one.”
“Uh… me?” I asked hopefully.
“Absolutely.”
I frowned. “Who is the other one?”
“Tank!”
I giggled. “Of course. How could I forget Tank? Only the second most handsome man in the world. Don’t let him hear me say that, though. When you’re not around, I tell him he’s number one.”
Jacob laughed. “Do we have to go back tomorrow? This has been amazing. I can’t believe we scored a free dinner and a free piece of art. You’re very popular here in Belgium.”
“Well, what can I say? Your girlfriend is out to impress.”
“Oh, and impress me you have. I need to ask you something, Alice, and I want you to be completely honest with me. Please. It’s important to me that you are honest with me.”