“It is, and we are,” he told her. “But we’ve purposely made the buildings and the grounds look as if we aren’t doing that well . . . to keep ourselves safe from anyone who might think we’d be an easy target for a robbery or other shenanigans.”
Taylor was definitely intrigued now. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Shenanigans? Who says that?” she teased, and was relieved to hear Eagle chuckle.
“I do, apparently. And . . . there’s another reason.”
When he didn’t continue, Taylor asked, “What?”
“I want to prove to you that your condition doesn’t bother me. That I don’t care if you don’t recognize me when you see me. I’ll use our code word, and we’ll continue on as we have over the last two weeks. Nothing changes, Taylor. I don’t see you as less, and I don’t pity you. Understand?”
Taylor wanted to agree. Wanted to believe him. But she’d been told that many times before, and ultimately, it always mattered. No one liked being looked at as if they were a stranger. Most guys’ egos couldn’t handle it.
“I understand,” he continued when she didn’t respond. “I’ll just have to prove it to you. And I can’t do that if we don’t see each other. Five o’clock tomorrow, I’ll be at your door.”
“You don’t know where I live,” she protested.
Eagle chuckled. “You’re cute.”
“You do know where I live?” she asked.
“Yup.”
“Do I want to know how you found that out?”
“I’ll tell you tomorrow. Now . . . tell me what you did today. Did you get out of your apartment?”
Taylor wanted to know now how he could so easily have found her address, but even after just two weeks, she knew Eagle wouldn’t tell her anything until he was damn good and ready. He was stubborn like that. “I did,” she told him. “I had to go to the post office. I have a PO box for my business stuff because it’s more secure than the boxes here at my apartment complex, and I had to both send and pick up projects. I don’t have too many clients who prefer me to mark up paper copies of their work, but when I do, I have to mail them back. So I got to take care of both with one trip, which I liked.”
“How’d it go?” Eagle asked.
“Good, actually. I got into a chat with a guy while we were waiting in line. His mom needed stamps, and since she was handicapped and didn’t want to order them online, he was there to help her out.”
“Nice of him.”
“It was. Of course, then the guy behind the counter asked me how I was doing and if I had any new cool clients. It was awkward because I had no idea what I’d already told him. I mean, I know that I’ve had discussions about what I do with several of the post office employees, but I didn’t know what I’d told him. So I was vague, as usual, and luckily was done pretty fast.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah. Then I got some gas. Grabbed a fast-food burger on my way home, then spent five hours reading a book about an alien with a mail-order bride.”
“I’m afraid to ask . . . was that a romance book or a sci-fi fantasy?” Eagle asked.
Taylor laughed. “Romance.”
“Whew. I take it she wasn’t eaten by the alien, then?”
“Welllll . . . ,” Taylor drawled.
Eagle burst out laughing. When he could control himself, he said, “Wow, I walked right into that innuendo, didn’t I?”
“Yup.”
“It sounds as if you had a good day.”
“Yeah. How about you? What’d you do?”
“I had a meeting with my friends in the morning, and then I went on a couple of runs.”
“Anything interesting?” Taylor asked.
“A wreck, a tow because someone was driving on a suspended license, and two disabled vehicles,” Eagle told her.
“I find it fascinating that someone who used to be in the Special Forces and obviously enjoys a good adrenaline rush can be satisfied with talking about the ins and outs of running a business and the arguably boring job of driving around,” Taylor noted.
When Eagle didn’t respond, she was afraid she’d offended him. “Eagle?”
“Yeah, I’m here. It’s about balance,” he told her mysteriously.
Taylor reminded herself that she didn’t know the man as well as she sometimes felt she did, so she dropped the subject. “Well, since we’ve been talking, I’ve tried to become less of a recluse. I actually leave my apartment at least once a day now, just to get some fresh air. It’s not bungee jumping or skydiving, but it’s as much excitement as I want in my life.”
Again, she got a weird vibe from Eagle’s long pause, before he said, “I’m glad. Just because you have prosopagnosia doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get out and enjoy all life has to offer.”
“I know.”
“Good. I’m going to let you go. But I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon around five.”
“Okay. Thanks for calling.”
“Thanks for answering,” Eagle countered.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Yes, you will,” Eagle told her.
Taylor clicked off the phone and remained on the couch, staring off into space for a long minute. Some days she thought she knew who Eagle was, and other days, like today, she had a feeling she didn’t know the first thing about him.
She supposed she should be worried that their friendship was moving so fast. But he hadn’t asked her for anything. Hadn’t done anything that made her nervous to talk to him. He hadn’t pushed to see her before now, and he’d never done or said anything out of line. Other than the unintentional innuendo tonight, he hadn’t hinted at anything sexual either.
And because things had been so good over the phone, she was reluctant to change the nature of their friendship. Over the years, she’d stopped trying to get close to others, simply because it hurt too much when her so-called friends decided it was too difficult to maintain the relationship.
And Taylor had completely written off romantic relationships after her last boyfriend had told her it was exhausting and depressing to have to tell her who he was every time he saw her.
Then, one morning, she’d woken up confused and disoriented because she’d legit forgotten he’d stayed over (which said something about how unmemorable sex with him had been) and momentarily freaked out when she’d seen a stranger in bed, which had been the last straw.
She’d tried to reassure him that she did remember him, remembered what they’d done in bed the night before (even if it hadn’t been that good). But he couldn’t get over the fact that she hadn’t known who he was.
She really hoped Eagle was as thick skinned as he claimed.
Taylor also wished she had a girlfriend to talk to about Eagle, about how she already felt closer to him than just about anyone in her life. But she didn’t. She could post on the prosopagnosia discussion board she belonged to, but she’d found over the years that it was more depressing than uplifting to read the posts on there.
Sighing, she reached for the remote control and clicked on the television. She didn’t watch a lot of drama shows because she couldn’t keep the characters straight, especially when they changed clothes throughout the episode. She turned on a cooking show instead and relaxed back into her cushions.