“I suppose my personality underwent a change, for one thing. I became a loner who had acquaintances rather than friends. My attitude to London changed completely. I was living in one of the most vibrant, bustling cities in the world, and I’d never felt so alone.” Adam drank his coffee, his brow furrowed.
In that moment, all Paul wanted to do was hug Adam, and the desire took him by surprise. He wanted to stroke his back, to speak with words that soothed the ache inside him. But he wasn’t sure of Adam’s reaction if he did.
“So you decided to come here.”
Adam nodded. “After a few weeks of locking myself away from the world in my flat, I was going crazy. I was in a cage, only able to go so far on my own, and that was my front door. There was one well-meaning but annoying neighbour who insisted on bringing me a cooked meal every night.” His brow cleared. “Now I think about it, I treated her abominably, and she really didn’t deserve it. Why she kept coming back after the way I spoke to her is beyond me.”
“Maybe she’d had experience of dealing with someone who’d lost their sight,” Paul suggested.
Adam stared at him. “You may be right. I’m sure she mentioned her father or uncle or some such relative at some point.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t paying attention at the time.”
“It might be a good idea to send her some flowers, as a thank you.”
Adam’s face relaxed into a smile. “That’s a lovely thought. Would you mind organising it?”
“Yeah, I can do that.”
He finished his coffee. “But I digress. I decided to return to the island and shut out the world. My grandfather had left me this house, and it seemed the perfect solution. There was only one snag: Caroline and Dean were living here.”
“Oh?”
“Caroline’s husband, Terry, left her about fifteen years ago. From what I can recall about my brother-in-law, this was no great loss. The man never amounted to much. He didn’t work and did little to help around the house. It was Caroline’s tea shop business that bought their home.” He sighed. “She hates that house.”
“What’s wrong with it?” Paul wondered if that was why Caroline was so keen on visiting Adam. It made sense if she didn’t like her own home.
Adam chuckled. “Where do I start?” He counted off on his fingers. “She doesn’t like the area—they live in Ryde, by the way—but then she never did. It was all she could afford at the time. It’s too tiny for her liking. Her tea shop is in Ventnor, so she has to cross the island every day.”
Paul had to smile. There it was, that Island mentality he knew so well. He’d laugh when he heard his friends complaining about having to travel ‘all the way to Newport’, a journey that had to be all of fifteen to twenty minutes at most. “How long had she lived here?”
“Ever since the divorce. She’d asked me if I minded, and of course I hadn’t: I was living in London most of the time, when I wasn’t off sailing across the Atlantic with a crew. So she rented out her house, which then became another source of income, and she and Dean moved in here.”
“And then you wanted to move back.” Paul could see anyone being pissed off about that. To go from living by the sea in a beautiful house, to life in a tiny house in crowded Ryde….
Adam nodded. “Mind you, ever since I moved here, she keeps talking about finding me assisted accommodation, in a flat with a warden living close by. Plus, she wants me to meet other people who are vision impaired. I still remember a visit from a member of the IOW Society for the Blind. She talked about theirmeetings every Thursday, where they play dominoes and drink tea.” He shuddered. “Can you see me playing dominoes? I mean, really?”
Paul couldn’t help his reaction. He burst out laughing. “God, no.”
It took Adam all of two seconds to join in with the laughter. “I know!” He sagged into his chair, smiling. “I was polite, though. I thanked her but declined.” He tilted his chin toward Paul. “Was there a purpose to your questions? Or was it just a ‘getting to know your employer better’ session?”
“I did have a purpose, yeah.” Paul’s heartbeat sped up. “I wanted to know more about your experiences since you lost your sight. I have a few ideas that might make things easier around here for you, but I’ll need to research them first.”
Adam sat up instantly, his back straight. “What do you need from me?” His voice was crisp, alert.
“Well, for one thing, I’ll need the password to use the PC in the office.”
Adam nodded. “All that information is written down somewhere. What else?”
“May I also have access to your laptop?”
Adam arched his eyebrows but nodded once more. “I’ll give you the password for that too.” He cocked his head to one side. “Anything else?”
“Yes. What type of mobile phone do you have?”
“An iPhone, not that I’ve used it much during the last month or so.”
There was an ache in Paul’s chest at the implications of Adam’s remark. “Can I have it? I’ll need that, too.”
“Sure.” A brief pause. “Will you need funds if your research pays off?”
