I Can See for Miles (7 page)

T
WENTY
minutes later, Josh found himself sitting on Dottie’s broad back, his feet secure in the stirrups and a riding hat firmly pushed onto his mop of hair. He had, of course, complained teasingly about the hat, stating that a cowboy needed a Stetson, didn’t Charlie know that? He had street cred to protect. Charlie promised him a Stetson if he didn’t fall off on his first trek. Slightly mollified, Josh settled back on Dottie and clasped her reins loosely in his hand as they’d been instructed. Charlie told everyone that Sophia and Adam had opted out of the pony trek and that Maggie and Tom were going to set them up with some games and maybe even start up the new potter’s wheel that had arrived last week. Josh tried to ignore the sudden flash of the famous clay scene from
Ghost
skittering across his brain, starring Charlie and him rather than Swayze and Moore. A smile played around his lips as he filed it away for later.

“Okay, everyone,” Charlie said briskly. “Now we’re all ready. Jason is at the rear with Porthos, and I’m up front with Aramis. The trails are more than wide enough for two horses, so your sighted partners are at the right of you. Greg, if you just go singularly behind Mario and Josh, that’ll be great. Okay, gang, let’s get going. If we’re lucky, we might hear the eagles as we go around Eagle Ridge. They’re nesting again, something I know a particular young man in our party is just a tad excited about.”

Josh chuckled at the whoop of joy from Davey and turned his head in Mario’s direction as they began to move off. “Don’t let me fall off, Tavella. I’m trusting you to get me through the next hour or so with some dignity intact.”

“You know me, man,” Mario replied solemnly enough, although Josh could tell he was holding back the urge to laugh. “I got your back. So if you fall on your front, it ain’t my fault.”

As the horses ambled along, Jason and Charlie kept up a steady stream of information—detailed descriptions of flowers, trees, rock formations, and the contrast in the blues of the sky—to enable each and every one of them to create their own picture in their heads of the trail around them. Josh let the sound of Charlie’s voice wash over him every time the man spoke. It felt like a caress on his skin, and he could almost see the blue of the sky and the yellow of the sun as it warmed his flesh. He could smell the freshness of the greenery around them, and the scent of pine trees floated on the air as they moved higher up the trail toward Eagle Ridge. As the gradient increased, Dottie harrumphed and put a little more effort into her rolling gait, while Josh leaned back in the saddle and grimaced to himself, turning his head as he felt the warmth of Mario’s leg brush against his.

“You having a good time, man?” Mario asked, patting Josh’s thigh.

Josh nodded. “Me and Dottie have an understanding, don’t we, Dottie?” he said softly, rubbing his fingers through the horse’s mane, feeling her neck move up and down as if she were answering his question. “Mario? What’s Dottie like? Charlie didn’t tell me what color she is or anything.”

“Me? You know Greg’s better at this kind of shit.” Josh looked pointedly at Mario and his expression was unashamedly smug when Mario sighed heavily. “Okay, she’s like this honey-gold color, and her mane is like…. I dunno. It’s kinda corn-colored… no, wheat-colored. It’s beautiful, and she’s got these huge brown eyes that have a definite ‘I ain’t gonna take no shit, so don’t even try it’ look in ’em.”

Josh laughed, a deep, rich belly laugh, taking the information Mario had given him and coming up with his version of Dottie, hoping it was as close to the real thing as possible. “That’s my girl, Dottie. Don’t ever change,” Josh said, leaning forward slightly to pat her soft neck. “See, you did great, Tavella. I have a perfect picture of her in my head now,” he teased. “You don’t always gotta be such a hard-ass. Wow… is that what I think it is?” Tilting his head, Josh looked up toward the sky as a high-pitched screech echoed around the valley.

“Yeah. There are two eagles circling above us, dude. I reckon they’re about thirty feet up, just lazily flying around, watching us watching them. They’re beautiful.” Mario was obviously awed by the sight. Josh could hear it in his voice and feel the emotion in the way Mario squeezed his thigh in excitement.

“They’re here, Charlie, they’re here!” Davey’s enthusiastic shout echoed around them. “What are they like, Charlie? Is it Thor and Lissa?”

There was a long pregnant pause before Charlie answered, and Josh frowned, wondering what the delay was. Why wasn’t Charlie answering? What was going on? He was about to ask when he heard Charlie clear his throat and begin to speak. His voice wobbled on the first few words, but Josh doubted anyone else noticed—but he did.

“It is indeed, Davey. Guys, last year when we were here, Davey named our resident eagles. Thor has about five feathers missing on his left wing. We don’t know how it happened, but we’re guessing that he either got into a fight, or—” Charlie chuckled softly. “—Davey thinks Thor may have been late home for dinner one night, and Lissa was a little bit mad.”

Jason’s deep bellow suddenly bounced off the rocks around them. “Okay, guys. Just up ahead is a little picnic area. Maggie and Tom packed us a pretty tasty lunch, so we’re going to stop and eat and have a breather before we go further up the valley and around, which will lead us back down to camp. Everybody happy with that?” Josh heard the other man burst out laughing at the shouts of “Hell Yeah” and “Woo-hoo” that answered his question, and he urged Dottie on. Not that he couldn’t eat. He could always eat, but he wanted to stop so he could talk to Charlie and find out exactly what had happened.

W
HEN
they reached the picnic area, Mario helped Josh down from Dottie and settled him on one of the blankets Jason and Charlie had strewn around.

“Greg and I are gonna get us something to eat,” Mario said, slapping a plastic tube into Josh’s palm. “Put some more sunscreen on your nose. You look like my Uncle Willie after a lifetime facedown in the JD bottle.”

Josh shook his head but didn’t even bother offering a response. He’d met Mario’s uncle on several occasions, and judging by the warmth of his skin under his probing fingers, Mario wasn’t far wrong. Opening the tube, he squeezed a little onto his fingertips and methodically rubbed it into his flesh, ensuring he smoothed some across his cheekbones, too.

He smiled as Mario and Greg returned with their food and Greg leaned on Josh’s shoulder to ease himself down onto the blanket. Taking the plate brushed against his hand, Josh chuckled at the hiss of complaint from Greg beside him. “What’s up?” Josh asked. “Feeling a little saddle sore?” He feigned pain when his friend punched him playfully in response and Josh picked up another sandwich from his plate. The chicken inside practically melted in his mouth and the crunchy salad leaves released different flavors on his tongue. Turning his head, Josh tried to pick out Charlie’s voice in the cacophony around him but couldn’t. He leaned a little closer to Greg and lowered his voice. “Where’s Charlie?”

“Why do—?”

Mario’s inquisition was stopped in its tracks as Greg answered, “He’s sitting by the stream, on his own. Want me to take you over there?” Josh nodded and put his plate down in front of him, holding up his hands for Greg’s assistance.

Greg walked with Josh over to where Charlie was sitting, squeezed Josh’s elbow before he let it go, and quietly informed him that Charlie was to his right before Josh heard Greg’s muted footfalls in the grass retreating. “Mind if I join you?” Josh asked quietly.

“Josh… um… no, sure.” Charlie stumbled over the words, and to Josh it sounded as though having him sit with him was the last thing Charlie wanted. But he ignored him, held out his hand, and waited patiently until Charlie gently clasped his fingers and helped him to sit down without the ground rushing up to meet his already tender rump.

“What do you see?” Josh asked softly, the gentle breeze blowing his bangs across his forehead, cooling and welcome. “Tell me what we’re looking at.” Charlie sighed, a soft sound filled with contentment, and the warmth of it washed over Josh in a wave. Closing his eyes, he waited for Charlie to paint him a picture.

“The river runs the length of the woods, widening out into the lake and then flowing off into smaller streams before it joins the bigger river at the south end of the valley,” Charlie began, his voice sounding almost lyrical. “The stream is about four feet across. It deepens suddenly after about a foot in from the edge, which can take you by surprise. The water is so clear it kind of lulls you into a false sense of security, almost hypnotizing you when the sun falls on the surface. The river bed is full of rocks and stones, and some of the trees have actually grown together, their branches meeting in the middle, so some parts of it are shaded from the sun.”

“Are there fish?” Josh asked.

“Yeah,” Charlie replied. “This far down are usually just little fish, what I like to call ‘nibbly fish’ because when I used to sit with my feet dangling in the water as a kid, they’d nibble my toes.”

Josh smiled softly at the images his mind conjured up—a miniature version of the man beside him kicking, splashing, and skimming stones on the surface of the cool water. “Can I ask you something?”

“Depends on what it is,” Charlie drawled, taking the lid off his soda, the hiss of the gas inside bouncing off Josh’s eardrums.

“How much of that description was what you actually saw, and how much was from memory?” Josh didn’t miss Charlie’s gasp, and he knew he’d been right. The pauses and the intonation of Charlie’s voice had given him away, but then Josh had been looking for any signs. From the moment Charlie had been unable to immediately answer Davey’s question about the eagles, Josh had known something was wrong.

“How?” Charlie’s tone was confused and disbelieving all at the same time.

“I’m not just a pretty face,” Josh replied, reaching out his hand until it came into contact with Charlie’s denim-clad thigh. He felt Charlie tense at his touch, but he didn’t remove his fingers. “How bad is it today?”

Another long pause, but Josh wasn’t going anywhere. “It comes and goes,” Charlie finally confessed. “Today I have about 20 percent in my left eye, and my right is at about 40 percent. But I don’t understand… how could you know I was describing it from memory?”

Shrugging, Josh removed his hand from Charlie’s thigh and lowered himself down to one elbow, his long fingers tangling in the blades of grass he was lying on. “Just a hunch. You started off okay, but then the tone of your voice changed, became wistful, I guess, like when you’re seeing something in your mind’s eye.” Josh took another deep breath and lifted his head to look straight in front of him. “What’s the next step?”

“Josh. I’m not really comfortable with personal stuff,” Charlie murmured, starting when Josh moved closer, close enough to feel Charlie’s breath on his skin.

“Charlie,” Josh said, low enough for only Charlie to hear. “You’ve had your tongue in my mouth, and I can still feel your hands in my hair. I think I’m already personal stuff.” Josh moved away just as smoothly, hoping to God Charlie couldn’t hear the pounding of his heart within his chest. He had felt the warmth from Charlie’s flesh close to his face and wanted to lean in just that little bit more and press his lips to the soft skin so badly that it stole his breath.

“You’re not going to give up, are you?” Charlie sighed heavily at the shake of Josh’s head. “I have an appointment on Wednesday with my doctor. I don’t really know the next step until I see him. But I’m not expecting him to tell me anything I want to hear.”

“My momma always says that you have to play the cards you’re dealt. That God never gives us more than we can bear,” Josh said, leaning closer again, wanting to make sure Charlie heard every word. “Just with the sound of your voice, I can see everything you just described, and more besides, you know? Like all the little things I probably wouldn’t have ever noticed if I could still see. You’re so lucky, Charlie.” He reached out, and his heart leapt with hope when Charlie put a hand in his. “The people that come through this camp would give their eyeteeth to have the sights you have stored away in that beautiful head of yours. Whether your vision is at forty, twenty, or zero, all you have to do is close your eyes and you can see for miles.”

The silence between them seemed to last forever, and Josh thought he had gone too far until Charlie’s fingers tightened on his. He knew he could be a little intense at times, but he’d meant every word. His own sense memory was filled with cities and buildings and suburban streets. To have the kind of images Charlie had stored away must be amazing. He was glad of his spidey-senses as he felt Charlie’s gaze on his face, like a caress, and he couldn’t help but smile.

“What?” Charlie questioned.

“Are you checking me out again?” Josh teased in an attempt to lighten the moment, but Charlie’s response sent his stomach heading toward his shoes.

“Josh… don’t… please.”

“Boy,” Josh said lifting a hand and running it through his thick dark hair, unaware that Charlie’s gaze followed his movement. “Whoever he was, he must have really hurt you. That sucks, Charlie, and I’m sorry.” Josh eased himself to his feet and looked down at Charlie, his gaze tinged with sadness. “But you’re not the only one.”

“Josh—”

“Come on, everybody,” Jason’s voice boomed around them, cutting Charlie off. “Let’s get back on those horses and make our way back down the other side of the valley to camp. Then I believe we’ve got some swimming in the lake to do this afternoon.”

Josh could feel Charlie watching him as he walked back the way he’d come, grateful for Greg’s fingers on his elbow when he met Josh halfway and guided him back to Mario and the horses. How the hell would he make Charlie believe that whatever this thing between them was deserved a chance?

Chapter Seven

W
HEN
they reached the stables, Charlie instructed Jason to take everyone up to the main house and get Tom and Mike to take them down to the lake, while he helped the two stable hands sort the horses.