Chapter 1
As Kirsten packed up her car to drive cross country for a new job, she had no idea what opportunities it would bring or how it would change her.
When she lost her last job in radio due to cutbacks she thought her life was over. She sat in her shoebox apartment, the one she had found right out of college and had made into her home, and sulked for a good week, binging on Real Housewives and takeout. Until she finally snapped out of it and realized feeling bad for herself wasn’t gonna pay the bills. After a few days of job searching, she found something that would be absolutely perfect.
Well, almost perfect.
But she got an offer she couldn’t refuse. A job. What exactly was her problem? His name was Matt Murdock. The host of the men’s dating advice show had a reputation that reached across the country. He was a womanizer, a misogynist, entitled, she could go on and on. It was going to be difficult to work with someone like that.
The thing about Kirsten is that the idea of having sex scared her shitless. It was her dark little secret. It’s not that she had a problem getting dates. She knew she wasn’t ugly. But it was that she waited so long that it became harder and harder to take the plunge. Part of her just wants to get it over with. She had spent her teen and early adult years so focused on her career and now that she had it, she didn’t know how to go about it. She felt like she was too old for some messy or sentimental ordeal.
The last thing she wanted is to be a target for Murdock. She had this maybe paranoia fueled idea that he would be able to smell it on her. But she would keep her head down and focus on work, the same way she had been doing before.
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On her first day she spent most of the allotted time she had to get ready in the morning on deciding which outfit she would wear. She stared at the two options she had set out the night before on the love seat parallel to her bed and paced, picking up one of the two tops and putting it up to her chest in the mirror before sighing and dropping it back down. She had never been so unsure of herself entering a new job before and it was messing with her head.
What is wrong with you? You are a confident, intelligent, go getter. And you would look great in either outfit. Just put something on!
After some self soothing and positive affirmations, she decided on the off white blouse and dark gray pencil skirt combo. A tried and true in her old life. Maybe it would give her some comfort and familiarity, which is something she was desperate for.
She made it to the building quickly, purposefully finding an apartment in the same neighborhood, and was given a badge by the receptionist on the first floor. As she entered the elevator and pressed the button for the fourth floor, the door was closing when a hand reached out from the ether and stopped it. She quickly found and pressed the ‘door open’ button and as it slowly pried itself open the hand was met with a white cane tapping the floor below it. She stepped back, making sure the person stepping on had plenty of room to navigate and wondered if she should ask him if he needed help but he quickly found the right button and pressed the already lit up 4.
The man looked very put together and professional in a navy colored suit and black dress shoes. He didn’t look like someone who would be on air - after all there's a reason people do radio specifically - he was almost too handsome and put together for this profession.
As the slow elevator doors closed again and started moving at a snail pace she thought she should say something, after all they might be going to the same place.
“Hi. I’m Kirsten. I’m new.”
The man turns around and smiles and she didn’t realize until just then that the man was beautiful and now she was really hoping they would be going to the same place.
“I’m Matt.”
Oh shit.
His smile never faltered as the dumb one on her face plummeted into heels like a dead weight. He stuck out his hand but just as she was deciding whether or not she should take it in hers the elevator doors opened and he dropped his.
“This is me. Nice to meet you.”
She was stunned but as the doors started to close in on her again she remembered it was her floor too. She slid through the gap and followed him.
She never knew he was… I mean he never said anything about being blind. But then again he never shared much about himself at all. The only accounts of him I got were second or third or fourth accounts of his conquests. None of them ever mentioned the fact that he was blind. She tried to shake it out of her mind, it’s not like it made any difference, it’s not something to focus on. It’s not like she could ever hold ableist ideas or think all blind people had to be sweet and innocent, not womanizer radio personalities. No, she definitely knew better. But as she navigated the space that she would now be spending most of her time at she couldn't help but follow him with her eyes. She watched as he went to the small breakroom, which isn't a room at all but an open space on the back wall with a small kitchenette. Watched him as he was greeted by coworkers, faces she would have to memorize. He seemed so nice?
She brought her focus back to what she needed to do, which was to find her new boss’s office and figure out what she would actually be doing for this new chapter of her life.