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“If that’s too personal or nosy, I’m sorry,” he blurted. “I’m an idiot. You’re not one of my clients.”
“It’s not too personal. Fortunately, I can afford top of the line prosthetics so it fits very well. I don’t have residual limb pain or anything. I’m very lucky for that, and you’re right about the knee. It makes a big difference in my stability and balance.”
I reached down to show him how advanced the carbon leg was and explain how it was different from a more common lower leg prosthesis. After telling him about the technology of the lighter-weight device and answering his questions, I noticed a family had stopped to look also. I smiled encouragingly at the young son.
“You can come check it out. It’s really cool. This part is made out of carbon fiber which means it’s very lightweight. It also acts as kind of a spring which makes it easier to run fast. Do you run fast at school?”
The little kid nodded and looked back to his parents as if to ask permission to approach. They nodded and the father stepped forward behind the little boy.
“Are you Joshua Lede?”
I nodded and smiled at him while the little boy reached out a tentative finger to touch the smooth surface of the prosthesis.
“I didn’t know you were missing a leg,” the father continued, frowning as if somehow that changed the man’s opinion of me. I felt Cam stiffen next to me and reached out to hold his hand to reassure him I was used to the question.
“It just happened,” I said. “Boating accident on the Potomac over Fourth of July weekend.”
Cam’s hand twitched in mine, and I squeezed it.
“Dear god,” the wife gasped, throwing a hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry, how awful.”
I shrugged and winked at the little boy. “I should have been wearing my life jacket. Do you wear your life jacket when you go boating?”
The little boy looked up at me with wide eyes. “I’ve never been on a boat.”
“We do,” the father rushed to assure me. “I mean we will. From now on, we definitely will.”
The little boy saw someone several yards away with a frisbee and ran off to check it out. I looked back at the parents still standing with their mouths open. I couldn’t help it. I kept talking.
“Great. You guys have a nice day.”
“Couldn’t they…” the woman continued, still looking at me with horrified pity. “I don’t know, find it and reattach it somehow?”
“Hm,” I mused. “You know, I never thought of that. Please excuse us. We’re going to head down to the river to see if we can’t find my l—”
Cam threw his hand over my mouth. “Lunch! We’re going to see if we can’t find something to eat. Have a great day.”
When we reached the reflecting pool, Cam burst out laughing. “You weren’t really going to say leg were you?”
“Serves them right for interrupting my date with an interesting and kind man who’s into monogamy and ice cream,” I said, pulling him into my arms again. I couldn’t keep my hands off him, especially when he was happy and full of laughter. “You are stunning. I want to take you home and kiss your face for the next twelve hours.”
Cam’s laughter died off and he blinked at me. “I think that can be arranged.”
3
CAM
We agreed to continue with our original plan of visiting the cemetery first since we were both rule followers and the club’s blind date raffle had stipulated the location. Plus, I thought we were both of the opinion that the anticipation of being alone together later made being in public together now even more exciting.
As we continued to walk along the reflecting pool between the National Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, the sun was warm on our faces. Our fingers were intertwined and the flirting between us ratcheted up several notches.
“How did you get into investigative journalism?” I asked.
Josh told me about his time in college and grad school. We discovered that while I’d been at Boston College, he’d been finishing his graduate degree at Harvard.
“Fuck,” I said. “I knew you were smart, but I had no idea you were a snob too.”
He laughed and punched me lightly in the shoulder. “Shut up. You’d be surprised how poor you feel when you show up and discover your BMW is two years older than everyone else’s.”
