Dragon of Central Perk (Exiled Dragons Book 11) Read online

  “No, the past twenty-three,” Susan teased.

  “Yeah, this is going to be fun. Well, since you are so independent now, I guess I will go make us some lunch while you get reacquainted with your room. Your father should be here in just a bit with your stuff from the pharmacy,” her mother told her on her way to the kitchen.

  Walking into her room, she caught sight of the large mirror that formed the back of an antique dresser that had belonged to her grandmother. She was afraid to turn toward it for a moment, taking a deep breath before bringing herself to confront her reflection in the mirror. Pulling a nearby chair over, she sat down to face herself for the first time in years. She steeled herself and pulled away the sunglasses to expose the entirety of her face. Even with the lights off in her room and only the sun shining in through the blinds, she winced at the sudden influx of light. After a few moments, she could focus on the stranger in her mirror.

  There they were. The tiny scars that she had grown accustomed to touching over the years were visible, but not nearly as bad as she had thought. Time had faded them to thin little pink lines that a good concealer would remedy. She breathed a sigh of relief. Though she knew it was somewhat shallow, the prospect of overcoming blindness only to find that she was some sort of monstrosity had bothered her much more than it should. It was one of those things that you couldn’t really admit to anyone because you knew they would think you were ungrateful, but that you still felt inside.

  “There’s my beautiful girl,” her father sang happily as he walked into her open doorway with bags from the pharmacy before laying them in front of her on the dresser. He looked over her shoulder at her reflection in the mirror and smiled. Susan was struck by how much he had aged since she saw him last and felt sad that she had most definitely been responsible for some of that.

  “Thanks, Dad. It feels weird. Who knew that something as simple as sight could seem so strange?” she told him.

  “It’s been a long, hard road, but you are going to be okay, kiddo,” he told her. “Now, let’s get some of these drops in your eyes. Can you manage or do you need my help?” he asked.

  “I can manage. Thank you for everything,” she told him, feeling close to tears. She wasn’t sure why she felt so unexpectedly emotional, but she did. He patted her lightly on the shoulder and turned to leave.

  Susan’s eyes focused on a picture frame that sat on her dresser. She walked over and picked it up. She had never seen these pictures before, and they almost made her weep. One was of her and her date, a friend named Dan, as they stood together in the entryway, getting ready to go to prom. Looking at it broke her heart.

  At bedtime, she was still confined to the shields, so she returned to complete darkness. Each morning, she awoke in a slight panic until her foggy brain cleared enough to remember she had to remove them to see again. It felt a little like experiencing a miracle again every morning, though there was a part of her that still feared she would remove them to find herself still shrouded in darkness. Each morning, she held her breath as she pulled them out and saw the light again.

  Chapter 3

  Over the course of the next few weeks, Susan’s eyesight got gradually better, though never completely perfect. She finally could stop wearing the shields at night, but it appeared that she was going to need glasses, after all. She decided to get the tinted kind that would protect her eyes whether she was in the sun or just in bright lights, rather than those that darkened only when out in the sun. They were much darker than she anticipated, and you could hardly see her eyes through them, but she found that she was happy with that as it hid the visible stitches and scars without having to spackle on makeup in that area.

  Susan had gotten well enough now that she was considering finding a job besides the hotline. While she would still volunteer there, she wanted to do something else and considered enrolling in college classes, as well. She had completed her high school studies with the help of a tutor for the blind and graduated, though she had missed graduation with her class due to her delicate condition at the time. The accident had only been a couple of months before commencement. It was all still up in the air, as she wasn’t sure that she wanted to spend her time sitting in a classroom right now. If nothing else, this whole chapter of her life had taught her that life was precious and should be grabbed by the horns.

  Her thoughts were interrupted as her father stepped to her door and spoke to her. “Susan, your mother and I would like to speak to you in the kitchen. Is now a good time?”

  “Sure, Dad. I’ll be right there,” she replied, wondering what they could want that sounded so formal. She sat down the photo album she had been flipping through and walked downstairs to see what they wanted. They both smiled broadly at her as she sat down across from them at the table, so it didn’t appear to be unwelcome news.

  “Susan, your mother and I want to discuss the coffee shop with you. We’ve been there for almost thirty years, and we think it is time to hand it down to the next generation and lead a more relaxing life. We’d like for you to take it over if you are interested,” her father said.

  “Are you kidding me? You guys love that place!” Susan said, shocked that they would consider entrusting her with their business.

  “We do, and we’ve worked hard all these years. We know that you love it there, too, and will do a fantastic job with it if you want to do this. If you don’t, then we understand. The choice is very much yours,” her mother responded.

  “This is unbelievable. Thank you so much! I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, to be honest. This sounds perfect, though. It will give me something to do while I decide what I want to be when I grow up,” Susan said with a little laugh.

  “Just know that we won’t be upset at all if you decide it isn’t for you. Don’t hesitate to tell us if you get in there and find that you would rather be going to school or traveling...or whatever. You’ve already missed out on so much, and the shop is a big responsibility,” her mother told her.

  “I will. I think I will really love it there, though. You know how much I always enjoyed getting in the kitchen and cooking. I should be even better at it now that I can see what I’m doing!” she told them with a smile.

  “All right, it is settled then. We’ll get you some more details once we work it all out,” her father told her.

  Back in her room a bit later, she began to work out a plan for the shop based on how she foresaw it moving into the future. She wanted to be fully prepared to take complete control when she took over at the shop, which looked like it would be within the week if her dad was having the paperwork drawn up right away. It was impossible to know what he future held in store.

  Pulling her hair up into a ponytail, she decided to head out to the park for a while. She had come to love it there during the years she was blind, enjoying the sounds and smells. Now, it was amazing to her to see all the things that she had imagined in her mind as being one way when they were another. The loud man selling hot dogs, for instance, had sounded older when she used to hear him barking about his wares. Now, that she could see him, she realized that he was not much older than she, and that it was only his booming voice that had made his voice seemed more aged.

  The sun was bright today, and even with her dark prescription glasses on, it still beamed brightly into her eyes as she drove to the park. She stopped by the hot dog stand and bought a bratwurst from the man before heading over to a bench and sitting down to enjoy her food. As always, she had brought a bag of stale bread from the coffee shop. After her quick meal, she began crumbling it into small pieces and tossing it out to the small birds and squirrels that grabbed what they could. It was a wonder to watch them as they gobbled up the entire loaf as quickly as she provided it to them.

  Across the way from her, she saw a man looking at her. He was the same man that she had been seeing here since her sight had been restored, and she wondered if he had always been here. He, too, was feeding the birds that flocked around him, but he seemed to be doing so idly w
hile observing her do the same. She didn’t think he meant her any harm, as he had never approached her. Perhaps he was just enjoying the park like her, and she was in his field of view, but there was something about him that seemed familiar. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. It just seemed like she had seen him somewhere before.

  She finished feeding the small creatures that surrounded her feet and left the bench to take a stroll around the park before heading home. The sun was still bright in the sky and beaming directly into her eyes even though she tried to avert them as much as possible. She made a mental note to begin wearing a cap to shield her eyes from the brightness. Potential damage to her new sight was always a great concern of hers, and she was lost in this thought when she found herself suddenly being unexpectedly pushed off the sidewalk and onto the soft embankment.

  The protective arms folded around her let go as she steadied herself on the grass. Looking bewildered, she found herself staring into the face of the man from the bench. A bike had stopped nearby, and the owner was pushing it back toward her with a look of concern on his face. Everything had happened so fast that she wasn’t sure what was going on, but now she could see that the man had pushed her out of the way of the bike she apparently had not seen as the sun bore down into her eyes. This time, she was sure she had seen him before, but she couldn’t remember where.

  “Oh, God, are you okay?” the man with the bike asked. “By the time I realized you weren’t moving over, I couldn’t stop. I am so sorry. Are you all right?” He was a young guy, tall and athletic. His face reflected his expressed concern that he had almost run her down with his bike.

  “She would be better if you had been watching for pedestrians instead of zipping down the sideway like a maniac! You could have done some severe harm here. More harm than you know,” the other man responded, causing the biker to look even more upset.

  “No, no. It’s my fault. The sun was in my eyes. I should have been out of your way long before you got close to me. I’m the one who should apologize,” she offered, dusting the debris from the grassy area from her clothes. Other than being a bit disheveled, she was relatively unscathed.

  “I’m just glad you are okay. I’m going to let the two of you get back to what you were doing and get out of here. I’m a little late for work. Once again, I’m sorry,” the biker said as he climbed on his bike and headed in the opposite direction. Susan couldn’t help but note that he had assumed she and the man who had moved her from harm’s way were together. He must have been very near to her. She wondered again if he was following her.

  “Thank you for saving me,” she told him, studying his steel blue eyes. He was a bit older than her, maybe thirty or so, but he was quite handsome. There was just a hint of gray that feathered through his jet-black hair, and she was guessing that the indentions near his mouth turned into glorious dimples when he smiled. Of course, she was also guessing that smiling wasn’t something he did much of from the scowl on his face. His athletic frame towered over her, causing an unexpected flutter with him so near to her.

  “These fools on their bikes, they never watch where they are going. Even if you didn’t see him, he should have seen you and moved away.”

  He scowled. His anger seemed to branch out not only to the bike, but also to her, though he said nothing to indicate that. Still, she could see that he seemed to be annoyed about the whole incident and having had to rescue her. Even more than that, he seemed familiar to her. His smell was familiar, as was his voice. Perhaps it was just because she had been near him in the park before she could see him. She wasn’t sure if the thought should unnerve her, as he was not the only person she had experienced this feeling with since regaining her sight.

  “I’m fine. Worse things have happened to me,” she remarked with a smile. It was a bittersweet statement that brought up a tinge of melancholy as she said it, but she brushed it away. He, however, seemed to take it to heart. His entire expression changed, as if he understood even without explanation. She could only assume that he had known his own pain and was empathetic to her unspoken past tragedy.

  “I’m sorry. I was just frightened that you had been harmed,” he told her.

  “Listen, my family owns a little coffee shop nearby. I don’t know if you have heard of it, it is called Central Perk, and I’d love for you to stop by sometime. It’s on the house, my way of showing my appreciation for your help,” she told him.

  She wasn’t sure why she was inviting a stranger to the shop, but she was drawn to him somehow, and he had kept her from being run down. If she really wanted to admit it, it probably had a lot to do with the fact that he was incredibly attractive and she was drawn to him in a way she couldn’t explain.

  “I…don’t know. Maybe. Thanks for the offer. I may take you up on it,” he said slowly, seeming very put off by the offer for some reason.

  She was feeling a little offended, but then he smiled at her and, just as she expected, the little creases on his face turned into the most brilliant set of dimples. Their eyes met, and she smiled back. The flutter she had felt earlier increased exponentially, as if a flock of butterflies had suddenly joined the single one that was already flitting about. There was no doubt that she was smitten, even if he was too old for her.

  Chapter 4

  After the encounter in the park, several weeks went by during which Susan didn’t see the man again. She had taken over the coffee shop within the week of her discussion about it with her parents and had been busy there with them learning the things she didn’t already know. When she had been blind, she had often worked there, learning to cook without sight, with some help from her mom in locating where everything was on the shelves and such. After a while, her mother had made sure things were consistently stored so that Susan didn’t require help to work and they remained that way even today.

  In fact, she loved to cook and did a beautiful job with the pastries served from the glass display case at the front counter. She also knew where all the coffee components were and could make anything the other employees could without spilling a drop or missing an ingredient. Even now, she often found herself preparing items with her eyes closed, as it felt simpler to her to move in a certain rotation to where things were stored than it did to look for them.

  It was late afternoon, and the shop was relatively empty. Most of their business came in from early morning to late lunch time. After that, there were people here and there, but it was much less populated. She was playing with some new recipes for lattes that she wanted to sell when she heard a voice speaking quietly to her from across the counter.

  “Wow, you can do that with your eyes closed? Impressive,” he said.

  Susan opened her eyes to find herself looking at the man from the park. If she had found him attractive in his casual wear at the park, it was nothing compared to the effect he had on her standing there in an expensive Italian suit. Her knees weakened, just a little. She suddenly realized that she didn’t know his name and that she hadn’t given him hers. She had been so caught off-guard by the whole event and then so drawn to him that her sense of decorum had gone completely out the window apparently.

  “I can,” she said simply, smiling broadly back at him. “You know, I just realized that I didn’t get your name the other day in the park. I’m Susan Holmes.”

  “Paul Brennan,” he replied.

  “Well, it is very nice to see you again, Mr. Brennan. I am glad that you finally made it by the shop. What can I get for you?” she asked.

  “Please, it’s Paul. What is that you just made?” he asked her, eyeing the hot mocha concoction in her hands.

  “This…is an experiment,” she replied. “It has espresso, steamed milk, hazelnut, Belgian chocolate, and a hint of vanilla bean.”

  “It sounds decadent. I’ll take it,” he smiled, his dimples flashing.

  “Would you like a pastry to go with it?” she asked.

  “No, not today, but since it seems quiet in here maybe you could join me for a cup,” h
e offered.

  “Sounds like a much-needed break,” she responded, pouring the hot liquid from its metal steamer pot into two cups and handing him one. A sliver of electricity passed through her at the thought of sitting with this handsome, older stranger.

  They sat down at a nearby table so that she was near the register if someone came in. There was only one other employee this time of day, and she had him in the back, unpacking some stock that had arrived this afternoon.

  “Do you always wear dark glasses inside?” he asked, studying her face as if he was trying to see through the tinted lenses.

  “Well, yes…at least for now. I was blind for a while. I lost my sight in a car accident during my senior year of high school and just recently had transplant surgery to repair them. I’m still a tiny bit light sensitive and haven’t had the stitches removed yet. Once my doctor does that, I hope they will have healed enough that I can ditch the Blues Brothers look.”

  “That’s rough,” he said.

  His tone was emotionless, and his face seemed to take on a blank look that told her that perhaps he wasn’t interested in her tragic history. Rather than elaborate any further, she just left her explanation at that. She knew that not everyone knew how to react to her sob story, which is why she rarely told it to anyone. There had just been something about him that made her want to share, and apparently, that had been a mistake. The conversation seemed to lull a bit after that, and Susan finally decided it was time to part ways to avoid the awkwardness that seemed to have settled between them.

  “Well, I am glad you stopped by, but I need to get back to work. Stay and enjoy your latte. It’s on the house,” she said, slipping away from the table and walking behind the nearby counter. She busied herself cleaning up from her little experiment as he sat there quietly for a moment.

  “I guess I had better get going. The latte is great, by the way. I really like it,” he told her.