He gave me a fierce hug once he’d crossed the street. That was new. He’d never been a hugger. Maybe he’d missed me too? That thought warmed my chest.
“How’s life?” he asked.
I waited until he could see me before I answered, signing and speaking. “Busy, but good. You?”
“You’re still continuing with your ASL lessons?”
“Of course.”
He blinked. “Why?”
The one thing these three had in common was that they always felt others shouldn’t have to make an effort for them. Even Forest was the same. Why was it so hard for people to accept that loving someone meant making the effort?
Not that I loved Forest. Well, I did, but not like that. As a friend. I wanted to say a little brother, but after last night, that was a hard no.
I put a hand on his shoulder. “Because you’re worth it.”
He stared at me for a second, then snorted. “You’re quoting commercials to me now?”
I grinned. “If the proverbial shoe fits.”
We both laughed, but I didn’t miss the underlying gratitude in his eyes.
When we got to the front door, Creek had opened it already, and laughter drifted out from inside. We walked in, closing the door behind us.
“You should’ve seen his face,” Bean was saying, and I could hear the laughter in his words. “If only I’d managed to keep myself from reacting a little longer, he would’ve fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. But I couldn’t keep a straight face anymore.”
Creek was grinning from ear to ear, his eyes lighting up when he spotted Tameron and me. “Hey!”
He hugged Tameron first, then me, and it hit me all over again how much the man had changed. He’d never be Mr. Sunshine, but the heavy weight had lifted from his shoulders and the clouds had vacated his eyes.
“It’s good to see you laugh, dude,” I told him.
“Thanks. It helps that I have a lot to laugh about.”
I wrapped my arms around Bean and held him close for a moment. “What was so funny? We heard you laughing when we walked in.”
Bean’s face split open in a wide smile again. “Oh, I told Jarek yesterday that I’d made chicken liver for him since he loves it so much, damn well knowing it’s the one thing that will literally make him puke. He tried so hard to find a way out of that situation without hurting my feelings, until he realized I was messing with him. It was too funny.”
I shook my head, grinning. “That poor man. Next time, he won’t believe you when you really do forget something.”
Bean shrugged. “You gotta laugh about that kind of shit, or it will eat you alive.”
I had to give him that. Living with a traumatic brain injury like Bean’s was far from easy. Not only was his memory shit, but he also had migraines and the occasional mood swings. But Jarek worshipped the ground Bean walked on. I would’ve loved the man just for that, but he was also the nicest guy you’d ever meet. Calm, steady, and with endless patience, he was exactly who Bean needed. “I remember a lot of flamingo jokes about Creek,” I said. “Though not that many about Tameron, come to think of it.”
“Not that easy when he can’t hear them in the first place,” Creek quipped, which earned him a head slap from Tameron.
Ah, I had missed this. I settled on the couch next to Bean, who looked a little paler than I liked. Maybe he was having trouble sleeping again? I made a mental note to check with him or maybe with Jarek if Bean couldn’t remember himself.
Creek asked what I wanted to drink with a wordless gesture of his hand toward my options, and I signaled for a beer. If I wasgonna have to sit here with this heavy guilt, I needed something to cope.
“How’s the job?” I asked Tameron. He’d started working with Dax, Dayton’s brother, who owned a garage. Since Dax was also Deaf, it was the perfect environment for Tameron.
“I’m loving it. More than I had expected, actually. Dax is happy too, since I still have enough residual hearing with my hearing aids in to communicate with customers who aren’t fluent in ASL.”
“I bet it’s done wonders for your own ASL fluency too,” Bean said.
Tameron nodded. “I’m still learning every day, both from Dayton and from Dax and the others.” He chuckled, wiggling his eyebrows. “Including some of the…dirtier signs.”
