Chapter 2

The next morning, Carol and Anna were at breakfast trying to decide what they wanted to do that day.

“I’d like to do some shopping. I want to hit some of those cute little shops I’ve seen online and as we drove to the hotel,” Anna said.

“Well, I think I’m just going to go downstairs and maybe sit by the pool and get some sun. Being inside as much as I am anymore, I’m sure I’m as pale as a ghost!” Carol chuckled.

“Aww c’mon, Carol ... come shopping with me!” Anna whined.

“I’ll tell you what, you go out this morning and do some shopping while I see if I can get some color back in me. And this afternoon we’ll both go shopping together, okay?”

“All right, but I’m going to hold you to that promise!” Anna said. The two girls finished their breakfast in the hotel’s little ground-floor restaurant. Then they went back up to their room so Anna could get ready to go.

Carol also changed, but into her one-piece bathing suit. Once they were dressed and ready to go, Anna and Carol went downstairs and Anna helped Carol to the patio. She got Carol settled into one of the hotel chaise lounges.

“Okay, now the edge of the pool is to your left about 5 feet away so if you have to get up, get up on your right side.” Anna said tapping her on the right shoulder, “Now do you need anything else, hon?”

“No, I’ll be okay. You go have fun,” Carol said.

“Okay then, I’ll be back in a couple hours or so. I’ll come by here first and if you aren’t here, then I’ll see you in the room,” Anna said, kissing Carol on the forehead. Carol smiled and settled back in her chair. As Anna left, she pulled one of the hotel staff aside and told the young man about Carol and had him keep an eye on her.

Carol relaxed there on the patio, soaking up the sun and listening to the various conversations going on around her. There was a young newlywed couple telling each other how much they loved the other. At another table a guy was arguing with the airline about a lost bag. Another hotel staff member was warning one man that he might be getting too much sun. Fortunately, the hotel they were staying at was an “adults only” resort, so there were no little kids running around.

“Excuse me miss, but can I get you something to drink?” a man’s voice asked.

Carol, thinking it was a hotel staff member, said “Sure I’d like a glass of tea please.” The man left and returned a couple minutes later.

“Here you go, one glass of tea. Mind if I sit and chat for a bit?” That’s when Carol realized it wasn’t a hotel staff member.

“Um ... sure I guess so,” she said, fidgeting a bit. She wasn’t sure about this, but she knew she was surrounded by people so if any trouble came she could get help.

“Hi, My name is Mark. Mark Lundquist,” he said, holding out his hand.

“I’m Carol Hendricks,” she said. Mark noticed she didn’t take his hand and then he put it all together.

“Oh crap, you are blind aren’t you! Oh I’m sorry, you must have thought I was a staff member here when I asked if you wanted a drink!” Mark said, quite apologetically.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. I accidently left my blind sign in my room,” she said, laughing at the joke.

“With those sunglasses, I thought you were just another tourist down here to get some sun.”

“Well, I am that too. We don’t get a lot of this kind of weather where I’m from. So me and my girlfriend have come down here to warm our bones,” Carol said.

Mark and Carol got to talking about where they were from, what they did for a living, and the regular introductory ramblings. Carol found out he was single, never married, he lived in Alabama, and he was a free-lance photographer. Carol told him she used to be a commercial loan officer at a bank in her hometown, that she too was single and never married, and that she now got by on her disability and a settlement from the trucking company.

Then came the inevitable question ... the question that Carol had answered so many times before it was almost routine. “How did you lose your sight?” he asked.

Carol paused for a second. “He asked how I lost my sight, not how did I become blind!” she thought to herself. She liked the way he phrased this tiresome question.

“Well, like I said, I was a commercial loan agent for one of the local banks before I lost my sight. I was out of town looking at a property that a customer wanted to buy. On my way back to town, a truck driver who obviously had more driving than sleep crossed the centerline of the highway and hit me in the driver’s side door. The police said that if he had crossed over a second earlier and hit me head-on, my little Toyota would have disintegrated and I would have been killed right on the spot.

“As it was, the impact broke just about everything on my left side. My leg, my hip, three ribs, my upper arm, my collarbone, and my jaw were all broken and I got a fractured skull. I was in a coma for six and a half days they tell me. I don’t remember anything about the accident ... the last thing I remember is driving home. Then I woke up in the hospital.

“But the worst part though, was when I woke up. The doctor said the impact to my head messed up something in my eyes. He tried to describe it, but all I heard though was “blind”. I didn’t worry about the broken bones ... I was sore, but I knew they would heal. But to know that I would never see again, that was horrible. I went into a very dark place – no pun intended. I didn’t know how I would get on with life as a blind person and frankly, I wasn’t interested in getting on with life.

“If it wasn’t for Anna, I would have finished what the truck driver started. She was with me when I woke up. She had stayed with me the whole time I was in the hospital. She helped get me out of the depression I was in once I learned about my eyes, and she has been my rock and my salvation ever since.

“The disability people have helped me learn to do the things I need to do – they gave me this talking watch.”

“The time is 11:25 pm.” the watch said when Carol pushed the button.

“And they have taught me how to do housecleaning chores and laundry, how to cook, how to walk with my cane, how to get around the neighborhood, and other things. But Anna is my real hero.” Carol said.

The pair continue to talk some more and then Carol decided she’d had enough sun for now.

“Mark, can I ask you to walk me up to my hotel room? This tropical sun is getting to me – I’m not used to it being so warm out,” Carol asked.

“Sure no problem. Let’s go then, I don’t want you to get overheated,” he said.

“Well not yet at least,” Carol giggled, taking his arm. He began leading her to the elevator and up to her room. They arrived at her room and she took out the card key to open the door.

“So this is your room is it? That’s convenient ... I’m on this same floor just down the other end of the hallway and around the corner a few doors!” Mark said.

“Oh, that is nice ... you can come by and visit us since you have to walk right past our door when you head for the elevator!” Carol smiled.

“That sounds good to me! Nothing like having a beautiful lady to share good conversation with!” he said.

“My, you are a sweet-talker aren’t you!” Carol blushed a bit.

“Just telling it like it is, Carol. You are a beautiful lady, even behind the shades,” he said, taking her hand as he did. “Well, it has been a great day, but I guess I should be going. Thank you for the company today.”

“Mark ... do you have to go? I mean ... I don’t get much chance to talk, except to Anna, and it’s nice to have someone to visit with,” Carol said.

“Well, no I don’t have to leave, I suppose. But what about Anna? When will she be back?” he asked.

Carol checked her watch. “Oh, she won’t be back for a little while. Please, stay with me until she comes. I’m not used to being alone in a strange place. At home I’m okay, but this is all very new and very strange,” Carol said.

“I’d be happy to stay with you until Anna comes back,” Mark said.

“Thank you, Mark. Would you like something to drink?” Carol said.

“Sure, that sounds good,” Mark said.

“Um ... can you get them – I can’t tell what is what in there!” Carol said sheepishly.

“Oh crap!” Mark said, slapping himself on the forehead, “Of course, Carol. I should have thought of that myself!” He got up and went to the mini-bar. “We have Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Smirnoff vodka, Seagrams vodka, Bacardi rum, Tangueray, and of course Jose Cuervo tequila.”

“Well as they say, when in Rome ... I’ll have a tequila shot and a Coke,” Carol said. Mark got her drink and got something for himself. He brought them over to the table where she was sitting and he poured her tequila shot and opened her can of Coke.

“Thank you, Mark. Thank you for staying and keeping me company,” Carol said.

“My pleasure, Carol. Really, I would just be sitting in my room watching some dumb show on the TV anyway. And there’s nothing on that I am too interested in. So I welcome the conversation too,” Mark said.

The two of them sat and talked for awhile longer as they drank thier drinks. Carol was always a fan of tequila and so she finished her first one and asked Mark to pour her another shot as they talked. But that second tequila shot hit her harder than she expected.

“Oh my, Mark ... I don’t know what it is – either I got too much sun or I’ve become a real lightweight in drinking because I am feeling it! I’d better lay down for a bit,” Carol said, as she moved over to the bed.

“Should I leave then and let you just rest here?” Mark asked.

“No, please! Mark ... would you come lay with me?” Carol asked. The tequila had broken down her inhibitions and the loneliness she had felt for so long drove her to be more forward than she normally would be.

“Are you sure about this, Carol?” Mark asked, “I don’t want to take advantage...”

“Please, Mark ... it’s been ... it’s been such a long time. Ever since the accident, I haven’t...” Carol confessed, a tear running down her cheek.

Mark moved over to the bed next to Carol. He didn’t feel sorry for her, he didn’t see her as a poor blind girl who wanted love. Instead he saw her as a woman who had a need and wanted him to fill that need. He wasn’t going to let this beautiful woman go empty and unsatisfied.

He moved his hand up to stroke her cheek and she nuzzled into it. He went to take off her glasses and she pulled back suddenly.

“No Mark, please,” she said.

“Carol, it’s okay. Trust me,” he said calmly.

“But my eyes ... they’re ugly.”

“I just want to see them. The rest of you is so beautiful, I can’t believe your eyes aren’t as well,” Mark said, reassuringly.

Carol reluctantly let him take her glasses off but she kept her eyes closed, not wanting him to see something there that would ruin everything. She felt him put his hands on either side of her face so gently. “Open your eyes Carol ... please?” he said in a soft voice. Carol slowly opened her eyes and he then saw something only her doctor had seen until now.

“Why Carol, you have beautiful eyes! I don’t know why you thought they were ugly!” Mark said, surprised.

“But they don’t move ... I can’t see you, so they don’t follow. They just stare straight ahead,” she said.

“That doesn’t matter, Carol. They are beautiful anyway. You are beautiful,” Mark said.

Carol reached out and grabbed him and pulled him to her and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a long, deep, passionate kiss. She parted her lips when she felt Mark’s tongue and welcomed it into her mouth as their tongues danced and played together.

As they kissed, Mark reached up and slid Carol’s swimsuit off her shoulders and pulled it down her arms, freeing her pendulous tits. As the cool air-conditioned room air hit her newly exposed nipples, they hardened into small, hard points. Mark broke the kiss and pulled back a bit so he could look at the woman in front of him. Carol sat there, unsure what he was doing and waiting to see what happens next.

He quickly showed her as he leaned in to take one of her ripe full tits into his mouth, licking and toying with the nipple with his tongue. Carol threw her head back as he began chewing on the hard nub, running her fingers through his collar-length dark brown hair.

“Yesss...” Carol hissed. Mark began working her nipple with his tongue, licking it and biting it gently with his teeth. Carol was enjoying his attentions thoroughly, moaning and whimpering her encouragement.

Mark pulled her swimsuit down further, kissing her where he had just uncovered her, working his way south to the treasures he knew awaited him. Carol arched her back, helping him to rid her of her suit, allowing him to undress her as his kisses fueled her fires even more.