Blind, Thick-Headed and Handsome – 2

The route to CJ's house from the office was well memorized – he had traveled it many times over the years. He knew there were at least a dozen eateries on the way, so perhaps a pizza with all the trimmings was in order? With the traffic unusually congested at this time of night, he chose the Italian eatery with the easiest access to the road. Maybe the traffic would lighten up by the time he returned to his car with the food.

Ah, but no luck. Traffic was practically at a standstill except for an occasional inch or two gained when the driver in front of him would put his eyes back on the road.

He turned on the car radio. All he found was some talk radio program.

He knew he was in the middle of some relationship advice show - the caller was a woman complaining about breakup after breakup with men - comparing them to her first husband who she stilled referred to as her best friend.

"Well, it almost sounds likes you had a pretty good thing going with him. Why did you two split up in the first place?"

"Well, I had this one-night stand with this other guy, and …"

"Oh, I see."

Matt chuckled. This caller seemed like such a loser. The traffic was inching ever so slowly and his taste buds were over-stimulating as the Italian food's aroma filled his car.

"So were you pretty happy in your marriage before that?"

"Yeah, I guess I was."

"So why did you cheat on your husband?"

"I'm not sure."

"Sara, do you think you deserve to be happy?"

"I guess."

"You guess?"

Matt rolled his eyes. She was such a flake.

"Well, I think until you figure this out for certain, you're going to keep having relationship issues. There's some underlying reason why you keep running from happiness."

The traffic started to move and the breeze around him became too noisy to listen to any silly radio show. He clicked off the power button and was glad he was moving faster. He couldn't wait to get to CJ's house.


CJ poured herself some wine waiting for his arrival. As she took a sip, she tuned into the local radio station looking for the weather report but found a talk show instead. Her interest piqued when she heard the caller complain about a man in her life who had no idea that she was interested in him romantically.

"What is your friend's name?" the host asked.

"Michael."

"Does Michael ever listen to our show?"

"I wish he did."

"Yes, that would certainly makes things easier. Can you tell me a little bit about Michael?"

"Well, he's blind, thick-headed and handsome."

CJ just about spit out her wine and burst out laughing. She could relate.

"So can you give me a little advice on how to take care of this myself, please?"

"Well, it's not easy. Usually a woman needs to figure how to get a man to chase her."

"Believe me I've tried that."

"Have you tried honesty?"

"You mean letting him know in plain truth exactly how I feel?"

"Yes …"

"The thought of that terrifies me. What if I ruin the friendship and the chance for a romantic relationship?"

"Well, you're probably in constant misery anyway. How long do you think you can be his friend and be so unhappy? It's not fair to either one of you if you're not being honest."

This all sounded logical to CJ.

"I don't know …"

"Oh just go for it!"

Suddenly she heard his car pull up out front. She clicked off the radio and went to the door. She almost couldn't wait to hear the first words out of his mouth.

She took a look at his outfit and laughed to herself. If someone could see them now, dressed similar in sweatshirts and jeans - they looked like twins. They had probably even the same type of garments on underneath for CJ had done without a bra. After all, she had a bulky sweatshirt on, she was at home, it was late, and this was her buddy Matt, not some over-amorous emergency room doctor, whose advances, by the way, amused her.

He carried a large pizza box with a paper bag on top, filled with even more food.

"What's in the bag?" she asked as she let him in the door.

"Salad, breadsticks, and cannolis."

"Ooh! My favorite!"

But, he didn't share in her smile. And, with all that food she knew her instincts were right. It was going to be a long night.

"Uh oh … you really loved her, didn't you?"

He followed her into the kitchen without answering, setting the food on the counter.

She put her hand on his arm. "Wanna talk about it?"

Without speaking he shook his head, then stretched out his arms and let her embrace him. He rested his head next to hers, holding her a little longer than one of his usual hugs.

When he released his arms CJ saw what looked like to be a tear or two in his eyes.

She was about to say something when he beat her to it.

"Let's eat, huh?"

No, that wasn't what she was thinking but she'll go along with it.

"Okay, I'll get the plates."

After serving the contents of the pizza box they carried their food into the living room and promptly sat down to watch some TV where she tried her best to interest him in a ball game.

"The Astros are at Dodger stadium this week…"

He nodded.

"They're trying to continue their seven-game winning streak…"

He attempted to smile, but his mind was elsewhere. She knew he'd feel better if he talked about it.

"Houston, I'm real sorry about Elizabeth."

She was trying to be a good friend, but he was in rare form and looked at her sideways.

"Are you really?"

Almost as soon as those words left his mouth, he knew by the expression on her face that he shouldn't have said them.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"It's okay."

They turned their attention back to the ball game for a few minutes, snapping their fingers as the final Astro of the inning struck out with a man in scoring position.

"Why didn't you like her?"

Her heart skipped a beat trying to think of what to say. She didn't want to be totally honest.

"I never said I didn't like her, Houston. I just didn't think she was right for you."

This statement surprised the blind man.

"You didn't?"

"No. So don't beat yourself up too much, pal. There's plenty of fish in the sea. The right one will come along. You'll see."

It sounded like something he had said to her on more than one occasion.

The game came back from commercial and they sat watching without speaking for a few minutes, but he found he just couldn't concentrate.

"Why didn't you think she was right for me?"

Oh, brother. He was really making her work.

"Well, she didn't really compliment your lifestyle. I mean, she couldn't deal with what you loved to do."

"I thought I was right about her. The part of me that always had trouble expressing my feelings to a woman … well, it felt easy around her. I was so attracted to her."

She sighed to herself again. Soon she was going to run out of answers for his questions.

"Look pal, attraction's only one part of the equation. You have to have similar backgrounds so that you're compatible in other ways besides the bedroom. And you really should appreciate and respect each others' passions."

"I sometimes think that my passion hurts the people in my life. I thought the only way I'd ever be happy is if I gave it all up."

"Houston, you love what you do and you're good at it. It's what makes you the person you are."

He nodded, agreeing somewhat.

"You did the right thing in calling things off. You would have been miserable married to someone who wanted to change who you are."

"Yeah, maybe you're right," he said reflectively.

"And you're better off for figuring that out now. For some people it takes a lifetime."

It might take Matt Houston a lifetime to figure out how much he loved the woman sitting next to him.

"I guess it's gonna take a real special gal to put up with my lifestyle."

She didn't disagree.

She hoped that was the end of the hard questions. Just in case, she came up with a diversion.

"You want seconds?"

"Sure."

She jumped up from her seat, grabbed the two plates along the way and bounded over to the kitchen for more slices. Just as she was ready to return, though, the power went out and Matt heard a loud thud and the sound of glass breaking.

"CJ?"

She didn't answer.

"CJ!"

She was in too much pain to reply.