Chapter 41

After school the next afternoon, Victor was waiting in the Lamborghini by the gate. As he helped me into the car, I noticed a small white bag on the car’s dashboard.

“That bag is for you,” Victor told me as he climbed behind the steering wheel. “Findlay picked them up from Dr. Martin’s office this afternoon.”

“Is that my contact lenses?” I felt pangs of both anxiety and excitement as I picked up the bag and peeked inside.

The bag held two plastic cases, each with two round wells that unscrewed and a squirt bottle of contact solution.

I knew from an instructional video that the solution was for cleaning and storage of my contacts, but I was surprised to see that there were two pairs of contacts in the bag.

“Why two pairs?” I asked.

“Because contact lenses have a way of getting dropped and lost,” Victor replied. “You should always have spares.”

I opened one of the round wells and briefly peeked inside at a contact lens.

The round transparent plastic contact floating in a solution didn’t seem that scary. I watched a video on how to wear and care for them and thought I could do it.

But my hands shook slightly when I thought about placing them on my corneas.

“What if I can’t get them in my eyes?” I asked Victor and screwed the contact case lid shut.

“Lots of people wear contacts,” Victor replied. “You’ll be able to wear them too. You just need to get used to them.”

“I hope so.” I sighed and put the case back into the bag, and clutched it in my hand. I wanted to try them more than I was scared.

Jennifer wore them. She told me how much better than glasses they were. She said she could see better with them and felt like a person with normal vision when she had them in.

“You can put them in before we start our dance lesson,” Victor said. “I called Benson and told him to tell Jennifer you would need her when we arrived.”

By the time we got to the mansion, I was buzzing with excitement. I ran upstairs to my room and took the bag into my bathroom. Jennifer was waiting in my room to coach me through it.

“It’s only hard to get them in your eyes the first time,” Jennifer assured me. “You’re going to love them, and you’ll be used to handling them in no time.”

She opened the bag and put everything on the shelf next to the sink.

“Always wash your hands well before handling your contacts,” Jennifer reminded me.

It took me over ten minutes of trying, but I finally got a contact lens floating on each cornea. They didn’t hurt, but I couldn’t stop blinking at first.

“There now,” Jennifer said with a smile. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“It was okay,” I agreed as I stared at myself in the mirror. It was the first time I had seen my face clearly without glasses.

I looked so different.

“You look lovely,” Jennifer said. “I’ll need to touch up your eyebrows later. Mr. Klein is waiting for you in the ballroom.”

“Thanks,” I told Jennifer and ran downstairs.

When I walked in the ballroom door, Victor grinned.

“You look fantastic,” he said. “How do they feel?”

“It's a little weird when I blink. And I can’t stop blinking,” I replied.

“You’ll get used to them,” Victor assured me. “Your mind is fixated on them. You need to think about something else.”

“Like what?” I asked.

Victor started the music and took my hand. “Like learning a new dance. But first, we will warm up with a Waltz.”

Victor took me in his arms, and we began to dance.

I looked him in the eyes and asked, “Really, how do look?”

Victor studied my face for a long time and replied, “Familiar.”

What does familiar mean? Familiar to who or what?

I stared back as his eyes remained locked on my face.

“You look beautiful,” Victor said and looked away momentarily.

“Thank you,” I said. And we continued to dance.

Victor was right. As I danced, I forgot about the contacts, and they didn’t bother me at all. But whenever I remembered them, I’d start blinking again, and my eyes would feel dry.

But it was wonderful to be able to see well to the very edges of my vision. Plus, I didn’t have to worry about my glasses sliding down and didn’t need to keep pushing them higher on my nose.

I felt freer with the contacts in, and Victor and I had an excellent practice session. We moved in unison, our eyes locked on each other’s faces.

I don’t know if it was my contacts, but I felt more aware of him and the way he looked at me than I had before.

After we were finished, we went to the drawing room, and Benson brought us bottles of water.

“Your father isn’t feeling well,” Benson said. “Would you mind choosing a style for the ball invitations, Miss Wilson?”

“Sure. That sounds like fun,” I replied.

Benson motioned us over to a table and produced an envelope. He pulled six invitation samples from inside it and spread them on the table.

“What do you think of these?” Benson asked.

Victor and I looked the samples over. They were all nice, but I spotted my favorite instantly.

“Ooh! I love the one with the daisies around the border,” I told him.

“They’re pretty, and the daisies suit you,” Victor agreed.

“Mr. Klein thought you would like that one,” Benson said. “He had it designed for you.”

“It’s scary how well you’re getting to know me,” I told Victor.

Victor picked up a couple of the blank daisy-covered invitations.

“You should fill this out in your own handwriting for William and his family,” Victor suggested. “It’s more personal for the people you know the best.”

“You’ll have to help me with the wording,” I said. I’ve never invited people to a ball before. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say.

So Victor told me word by word what to write on the invitation. When I was finished, I handed it to him and asked, “What do you think?”

Victor grinned.

“Well, what do you think?” I demanded as Victor studied the invitation I’d written for the Jameses.

“I think I want you to write one out for me, too,” Victor replied.

“Why do I have to invite you? You know you’re invited.”

“It would be a nice way to thank me for everything I have done for you so far.”

“If that’s what you want,” I said with a chuckle.

I picked up a blank invitation and a pen and went to work.

“Daisy Wilson requests the honor of Victor Kline’s presence at a ball celebrating her eighteenth birthday at her father's estate next Saturday evening.”

“Without Mr. Klein’s patience and hard work, Daisy Wilson would be stepping all over everyone’s feet and knocking her partners to the floor and breaking their bones on the dance floor.”

“Miss Wilson appreciates everything Mr. Klein has done for her.”

And then I drew a small picture of a man lying on the floor, holding his broken arm at the bottom.

As I handed it to him, I couldn’t hold in my laughter.

Victor saw the picture first and immediately burst into laughter, too. But then he read the rest of the invitation and smiled.

I laughed again and held out my hand to take the joke invitation.

Instead of giving it back to me, Victor folded it neatly and put it into his pocket.