Chapter One

 

“A whiskey and coke, please.” Owen Hallam turned and scanned the room for his friends after placing his order with the harried-looking barman. 

He spotted them clustered together in a corner booth, and took his drink over to sit beside them once he’d paid. 

“Owen!” The three girls in the group, Linda, Rosie and Penny, greeted him cheerfully, and shuffled up on their bench-seat so that he could squeeze on the end. 

He smiled wearily and gulped half of his rather strong drink in one burning mouthful. 

“Sorry I’m late,” he said, reaching across the table to shake hands with Malcolm and Colin. 

Usually numbering six, their group of friends had known each other since secondary school, but tonight another man was sat quietly in the corner of the booth, sipping a half-pint of lager. 

Owen was about to ask for the man’s name, when something wet and tickly brushed against his ankle. 

He yelped and jerked his foot back, before leaning down to peer beneath the table. 

“Why is there a dog beneath the table?” He asked, sitting up again. 

“He’s mine,” the new man said stiffly. 

“I didn’t think they let dogs in here.” 

“He’s a guide dog,” the man said coolly. 

“Oh…” Owen flushed. “I didn’t see his visibility tabard.” 

“Owen, this is Nathan, my brother,” Penny said, squeezing her brother’s hand reassuringly. “Nate just moved here, a couple of weeks ago.” 

“It’s nice to meet you,” Owen said politely, wondering whether he should shake the man’s hand. 

His dilemma was solved when the man replied, “You too,” and extended his hand. 

Owen shook hands, and sat quietly for a few minutes, still a little embarrassed. 

“So, why were you late?” Rosie asked when Malcolm and Colin started a discussion about the new manager of the local football team. 

Not at all interested in football, Owen took up her invitation for conversation eagerly. 

“There was an accident on the motorway. Seven cars ended up on the crash barriers, and the fire brigade only managed to get the last of the passengers out a couple of hours ago. I was there for hours.” 

“Was anyone hurt?” As a coroner, Linda liked to keep track of the traffic accidents Owen attended, in case any of the people he attended to at the scene later died and were sent to her for autopsy, if the crash were suspicious. 

“Two dead, one with quite severe internal bleeding, and three with broken limbs. The rest got away with scratches and bruises, mostly.” 

“What is it you do?” Nathan Weaver asked suddenly, speaking for the first time since they were introduced. “Are you a fireman?” 

“No, a paramedic.” 

Owen waited a moment for more questions, but none came. 

“What do you do?” He asked finally. “Nathan.” He added, so that the blind man knew he was being spoken to. 

“I’m a teacher,” Nate said. “Well, I used to be. I don’t know if I’ll get another teaching job here.” 

“Why not? Did you not enjoy it?” 

“No, I did. But the school was always awkward about… Well, I had difficulty marking the essays, sometimes, and I missed a few too many deadlines.” 

“How did you mark the work?” Owen asked curiously. “Did your students write everything in Braille?” 

“No,” Nate smiled faintly. “I have a good piece of software that reads the words aloud to me. A Braille keyboard cover lets me write comments at the bottom of the page.” 

“That’s clever,” Owen said. 

Penny caught his eye and smiled broadly, her gaze flicking between Nate and himself. 

Owen frowned, wondering what she was trying to tell him, before realising, and blushing. 

No, he mouthed, shaking his head. 

Why not? She mouthed back. She pointed to her eyes and frowned. 

Owen shook his head, and glanced away quickly. 

He downed the rest of his drink, and rose to refill everyone’s glasses. Penny stood as well, and went to the bar with him. 

“Is it because he’s blind?” She demanded as soon as they were out of ear-shot of the group. 

“Do you really think I’m that shallow?” Owen asked, hurt. 

“Not really, no. But why aren’t you interested?” 

“Well, I… I’ve been busy at work recently. My shift patterns have been changed around a lot, and I’m working longer hours than ever. I wouldn’t want to be forced to cancel dates or something, and have him think I wasn’t interested because of…” 

“Because he’s blind?” Penny smiled. “You can say it, Owen.” 

“Well, I’ve not met many blind people before,” he said defensively. “All of the ones I’ve met have been injured in some way, and I just put on my ‘paramedic-head’ and help them.” 

“Nate’s the same as us,” Penny said. “He just lives in a dark world, instead of a light one.” 

“So, what’s he like?” Owen asked, trying to steer the conversation away from Nate’s eyesight. 

“Well, he’s shy. I mean, really shy.” Penny smiled affectionately over at her brother, who was still sat silently in the corner of the booth. “It was a real effort getting him to come out with me tonight.” 

“He doesn’t like people?” 

“I don’t think it’s that,” said Penny. “I think he loves the companionship. It’s just…” She paused. “When Nate was fourteen, and realised he was gay, our parents threw him out. He went to live with our grandma. It was… a shock for him. He hasn’t spoken to mum and dad since. He went to live with our grandmother, and on the way to her house, he… Well, there was an accident. He hit his head really hard, and his sight was lost. It made Nate retreat into himself for a long time. He was really quiet, even before the accident, although he loved to sit and listen to people talk for hours. I think the crash was just a… catalyst.” 

“What happened?” Owed asked. “Was he badly hurt, aside from losing his sight?” 

“A van drove straight through a red light and hit him as he was crossing the road. It threw him thirty yards. He was in a coma for almost a week.” 

Owen winced, and looked over at the blind man. 

Nathan would probably be about six feet tall when standing. He had thick, wavy, dark brown hair, a slim build, a smiling mouth and the most beautiful eyes Owen had ever seen. They were chocolate brown, and very expressive. They seemed to twinkle constantly. 

“I’ve told you before not to talk to strangers about me.” 

Nate’s soft, musical voice made Owen start, and he realised he’d been so absorbed in watching Nate, he hadn’t realised the other man had moved from the booth to come and stand with Penny. 

He could detect the anger in the man’s voice, and blushed again. 

A gorgeous golden retriever was stood by Nate’s side, wearing the customary ‘Guide Dog at Work’ tabard. 

“He’s not a stranger. He’s Owen. I’ve known him for years,” said Penny. 

“He’s a stranger to me.” Nate snapped. “I’ve never met him.” 

“Fine,” said Penny impatiently, standing up. “I’ll go back to the others. You two stay here and talk.” 

She gathered the tray of drinks and leant to whisper something to Nate, before returning to their table. 

Nate rolled his eyes as she walked away. 

Owen waited until Penny was gone, before he turned to Nate. 

“I’m sorry,” he said apologetically. “I just wanted to know what you were like.” 

“It’s okay,” Nate said after a short pause. “So, what did she tell you?” 

“Just that you were very shy.” 

Nate raised his eyebrows. 

“She said your parents threw you out and you were in an accident on your way to your grandma’s.” 

Nate paused. 

“Did she tell you why my parents kicked me out?” 

“Yeah.” 

Nate flushed and turned away. 

“Does that… matter to you?” He asked. “Penny wants me to become friends with all of you, and I don’t want to feel like you’re… judging me.” 

Owen smiled to himself. 

“No. It’s not a problem at all,” he said gently. “You see, I’m gay too.” 

“You are?” Nate blinked in surprise. “Oh… okay.” 

Nate was quiet for a moment. He shifted uneasily on his feet, and sighed wearily. 

“This was a set-up, was it?” He asked wearily. 

“What?” 

Nate groaned in annoyance. 

“Penny has been going on for a while now about finding me a boyfriend and getting me settled down. She didn’t… She hasn’t told that I’m… looking, has she?” 

“No,” said Owen. “Why, aren’t you looking?” 

Nate shook his head. 

“How come?” 

Nate shrugged. 

“I just… Sometimes I want a boyfriend. But other times, I think…” He shook his head. “I want someone who wants me, for me.” 

“So, go find that,” said Owen. 

“Yeah, because it’s that easy.” Nate sighed. “People see Shadow and… they don’t want the hassle.” He patted his guide dog sadly. 

“That’s shallow.” 

“That’s life,” said Nate bitterly. “They don’t want the baggage I come with.” 

Owen squeezed his hand gently. 

Nate looked surprised at the contact. After a second, he withdrew his hand and laid it instead on Shadow’s head. 

“Why are you so interested in me anyway?” 

Owen shrugged. 

“You seem like a nice guy,” he said. “It’s not fair that people should judge you the minute they see you.” 

Nate smiled to himself. 

“So, you didn’t judge me?” He asked. “When you saw Shadow?” 

“No,” said Owen truthfully. 

Nate snorted derisively. 

“I don’t believe you.” 

“I don’t care,” said Owen firmly. “I was a little surprised, yes, but I my immediate thought wasn’t, ‘this guy’s blind, so he’s disabled’. It was more, ‘oh, God, I’ve just put my foot in it’.” Owen chuckled embarrassedly. “I hadn’t noticed Shadow was a guide dog. I didn’t mean to-” 

“It’s alright.” Nate finally smiled; a proper, full-on smile. 

Owen realised Nate was absolutely beautiful when he smiled. He felt himself growing tight across the front of his jeans, and cleared his throat awkwardly.