Chapter One

"Okay, first on our run is Mrs. Esther."

Blue looked at her aunt and wondered what she had gotten herself into. Since this was her second to last summer before she graduated and her parents had gone on vacation, she had decided to do a bit of traveling herself and go live with her aunt in Colorado. Her aunt was a nurse and offered Blue a job helping her care for some of the house patients. Having nothing better to do, she accepted the offer. Today was her first day.

"All I need you to do when we get there is to go introduce yourself while I go ready my belongings." Her aunt shut off the car and stepped into the cold snow.

Blue quickly followed her Aunt Bell outside to the front step. Her aunt pulled out a key, knocked, and went inside. "Come on."

Stepping into that house was horrible. The house stank like death and everything was covered in plastic. "Go on, wash your hands." Moving towards where her aunt had pointed, she followed the carpeted floor to linoleum and found the sink. It was rusty. Yuck.

"Oh, Anna, it's nice to see you."

"I brought my niece with me. She's going to be helping me this summer." Blue stepped into the bedroom and smiled to the elderly lady in the bed. "She's my helper. Mrs. Esther, this is Blue. Blue, Mrs. Esther."

"Blue? What a horrible name! Who would name their child Blue?"

So that was how the whole day went. Every house they visited the older people would be grouchy and discuss how her name wasn't likable or appropriate. 'Such names are rebellious and dumb. People are always trying to be stupid.' All her life Blue had gotten comments about her name, but today she had too many in one day. One lady even had the nerve to call her mother a hussy!

Blue walked out to the car at the end of the day.

"Oh, don't look like that, only one to go."

It did little to her mood. She felt mentally beaten as well as physically. They pulled up to a cute housing development, then into the driveway of an equally nice cape cod style home.

"I don't think you can help me too much here so you may stay in the car if you want. I warn you though, I'll be awhile."

"I might as well come in, it's cold out here."

"It would be for you."

Blue had come from Texas where it never got close to this kind of cold. She owned one jacket incase of a rare rain shower. Otherwise, it was strictly hot sun and warm nights. Only when she visited her Aunt Bell, which was only twice before now, did she ever see snow. It was the middle of summer and it was freezing!

"I know you're tired, but try to be nice and happy."

She wanted to ask why this one was so different.

Her aunt read her mind. "This is Mathew Davens. Early this spring he was playing with some of his co-workers at the ski resort he worked at and crashed his snow mobile. He is lucky to be living. Anyway, he is blind now and has a very hard time moving. He is very sensitive about his accident and the fact he can't take care of himself. His mother tried but she couldn't do it, it was too much." She looked at the house. "Okay, let's go."

Aunt Bell walked up to the front of the house and rang the doorbell. An older woman answered the door smiling.

"Come in, Come in."

Blue followed her aunt inside.

"This is, my niece, Blue. Blue, this is Mrs. Davens."

"He's in bed, but I warn you, he isn't in the best of moods."

"What happened?"

"Well, lets' just say he's having a bad day."

Aunt Bell led the way down the hall to what once could have been a living room. It had a couch and a dresser and a hospital bed. Her aunt moved to the bed and looked own to the person in it, raising the bed so he was in a sitting position.

"Good evening, sleepy head. Aren't you supposed to be working with your arm weights?"

He grumbled something and Bell laughed. She turned and motioned for Blue to come over.

"Matt, this is, my niece, Blue. She's helping me this summer. Be nice, she's shy."

Blue burst out into a blush so bright she wanted to die. Thankfully he was blind.

"Sweety, don't blush, it was only a fact."

She was also thankful her aunt was standing in the way so she couldn't see him. That would have made it twice as hard.

"I have to go ask his mother something, so why don't you help him sit up so we can begin our walking stages."

Aunt Bell left and Blue almost fell down in shock at the most gorgeous man she had ever seen sitting right in front of her. He was only a few years older than herself with sandy blond hair and piercing blue eyes. The sheets were pulled down to his waist and he was wearing a sweater that hugged his nice body.

She remembered what she was to do and jumped over to the side of the bed. She fumbled with her hands for a little bit, knowing she was drawing attention to herself but what was she supposed to do? She couldn't just handle him like one of the old people!

"What's wrong?" He sounded more angry than just curious.

"Nothing, I, uh," she scratched her head, "I've just started today and this is the first thing I've had to do alone."

He raised the bed some more and stared in her direction. "Here," he slowly moved his legs to the edge of the bed and sighed, "put one hand in mine and one hand behind my back. Try to help me top the edge of the bed."

She slipped a hand around him and cautiously put her other in his.

"You've got cold hands."

"It's freezing out here." She pulled on him.

"Not really."

When he was sitting at the edge of the bed she smiled. "It is when your from Texas."

"Texas?" he laughed, "How'd you get here?"

"My parents are on vacation."

"Ahh, I get it."

Aunt Bell came back in the room. "Alright, come on. Let's try to the other side of the bed." She helped him to his feet and he wrapped his arms around her for balance. "No, use the bed and your cane."

He grumbled and Blue could see the mental struggle this gave him. He took the cane from Bells hand and gripped the bed rail. Placing one unsteady foot in front of the other it took him fifteen minutes to make it to the other side of the bed. When he finally sat back down he was panting and worn out.

"Oh, come on, we still have to work with your arm weights."

That was the first time she realized how much he didn't use his arms. When he was in bed he didn't use his arms. He didn't move them as much as he should have and didn't move grab on to objects properly. Even when he was holding on to his cane and the bed, Aunt Bell had had a firm grip on his waist.

"Is he going to fully recover?" she asked when the y got back to the car.

"Of course. It's going to be a long, hard battle for him, but in the end he'll be fine."

"Tell me again how he got this way."

"Well, he works at a local ski resort as one of the patrolmen. He rides around on his snowmobile and helps anyone who needs it. Well, one day after his shift he and a few of his friends went playing on the mobiles up in the mountains and he fell five hundred feet into a tree. He should be dead. His friends were able to get him in time."

"That's horrible."

"Yes, it is."

When they got home her aunt decided to teach her how to ski. She took her up into the mountains and onto the bunny slopes.

"Here, hold yourself up like this," Bell bent her knees, "and move like this for left, and right, and stop."

Blue tumbled over into a snow bank. She was laughing so hard she didn't feel the snap in her wrist or the unnatural twist of her hand, and when she did she felt like crying it hurt so bad.

"You are the only one I know who breaks their wrist on a bunny slope."

She laughed despite the mobile cast and stated she would never ski ever again for the rest of her life.

"Maybe you should just start on flat surfaces."

"That's not funny."

They walked out of the hospital and began heading down Main Street. All the shops were typical Mom and Pop country shops with neat little trinkets. It was a very cute town.

"I can't believe you bad luck. Maybe your father and I should come home. We've seen all we need to see of Hawaii."

"No, Mom, I'll be fine. Just stay."

That night her mother had called and was dead set about coming home but even though Blue was having a rough time, she was enjoying herself.

"It's fine. You and Dad just stay there and enjoy yourselves. Aunt Bell is taking good care of me."

"I can hear that."

"Mom, I'm serious. Everything is fine."

"Alright, but try to stay in one piece."

"I will."

She hung up the phone and stared around the guest bedroom she was staying in. It was cozy, reminding her of home. She pulled out one of her photo albums and sat on the bed. The first pictures she found were of some of the local rodeos. She smiled at the dust shooting up and her best friend being bucked. In the background she could see the clowns jumping up and down, waiting for him to hit the ground. He won that match. Mmmh. Wonder what he was doing?

"Hello?" a groggy voice answered.

"You sound like you were in bed."

"Blue?"

"Oh, I forgot, your bedmates make you go to bed early. Should I call you tomorrow?"

She heard him fumble in the bed and flip on a light. "No, what's up?"

"Not much. I was just looking through my pictures and the first one I saw was one of you on Killer."

He laughed. "So, you woke me up to reminisce? Tell me something good."

"I broke my wrist."

"What, going down the wrong slope?"

"Not exactly."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I did it on the bunny slopes."

"Aren't those the little ones?"

"Yeah."

"Oh man, you must suck."

"Thanks."

Benny Macht had been her best friend all her life. They had been neighbors ever since they were born. Instead of telling gossip to girls, Benny had gotten it and in return he would hound her and tease her and be there when someone would put gum in her hair. He was her opposite.. She loved comedies, he loved actions; she ilked make-up, he liked J.I. Joes; she liked peanut butter, he liked jam; but no matter what they stuck together. When he had become popular and a star rodeo and lacrosse player, and she hadn't, he still treated her with the same kindness he always had. They were best friends.

"So, come on, tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"Everything! What is the snow like? What's it like being an assistant nursey person? How much are you getting paid? Any hot chicks?"

Blue could picture him sitting up in his bed, his back against the headboard, his hair a mess, and he probably looked irresistible. Yes, even though they were best friends she still hew how cute he was. She was always told how lucky she was to be his friend and to be cherished like that. She thought they were all crazy, but she still felt that pang when he went out with all the pretty cheerleaders that she'd never be.

"Okay, first things first. Snow is a hateful thing. It is cold!"

He laughed.

"As for being a nurse? The old people hate me and tell me my name is terrible."

"But you've gotten that all your life."

"So? Anyway, I get paid twenty dollars a day and I am not looking at any hot chicks."

"Then who are you bringing home for me?"

"Funny, real funny. You've probably been a bad boy. You don't deserve anything. I bet there is a girl next to you right now."

There was a pause. "What's your point?"

She smiled and shook her head. "Nothing, nothing at all. Good night, Benny."

"Leaving already?"

"Night, Benny."

"Night."

She hung up the phone and climbed under the covers. What would tomorrow bring?