Michael smiled. He was happy she had listened. They sat for a second or two, looking at each other. She suddenly bounced slightly from her seat and reached into her purse.
“Here, I got this for you.”
She handed him a box – a French Audio Learning System on CD.
“I saw it and I thought of you.”
“Thank you.” He opened the top panel of the box to further investigate its contents. Eight hours of learning on eight CDs. He was rendered speechless by her actions; that she had thought of him and his family.
“You shouldn’t have—”
“Well, it was just fifteen dollars; it was on sale. No big deal.”
He smiled at her. He loved this part of her, always lending a hand.
She leaned in closer.
“See...on CD 1, you have Alphabets and Sounds, on CD 2, you have Greeting and then all the basic stuff.” She pointed. “It’s just a great introduction, I think.”
“But I’m sure you’re very busy,” she added. “You probably don’t have the time—”
“I do. I just didn’t think about it. It seems like such a giant task; learning a new language.”
“I’ve done it. This is how I learned Spanish,” she told him.
“You speak Spanish too?” he said, surprised.
“Si. Un poquito. A little bit.”
“Wow, you’re trilingual. That’s impressive.”
“I haven’t spoken it too much. Just on a few trips to Mexico. Not so much with the tourists; they’re all from the U.S. or Canada, but the staff at the resorts didn’t mind indulging me.”
“That’s great.”
“After you do this program, you could get into some conversation classes like I did...” she told him, excited. “...or I guess, you could hire a tutor as well.”
“I could. Or maybe talk with you a little,” he joked.
“Absolument. Absolutely.” She would definitely be up for that. It would be for a good cause after all.
“Well, thank you, Angela,” he offered, genuinely.
“No problem.”
She took her purse and was just getting up when he stopped her, putting his hand on her shoulder.
“There was something else I wanted to run by you,” he told her. She took her seat again, curious. “I don’t want to butt my head in your life again...”
She waited patiently.
“It’s just that, a good friend of mine is one of the Chapter leaders for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. It’s one of the foundations I’m involved in.”
She listened intently.
“Are you familiar with the foundation?”
“Yes. I’m familiar with the condition.” She was curious.
