“Are you hungry?” Annie signed to Parker, then looked up at her. “How about lunch?”
Nodding, Carli followed Annie and Parker into the kitchen. “Your signing is getting quite good.”
After strapping Parker into his highchair, Annie pulled some sandwich fixings out of the refrigerator and put them on the counter. “I’m hardly fluent, but I have been practicing and doing online work. We also finally finished the Baby Sign class.”
“We?”
“Yes, Harrison started going with me. Not only that. He’s got us signed up for a regular ASL class starting next week. He wants to be able to use sign at home even between the two of us. He figures it’ll be good for Parker to see us using it, even if he doesn’t understand everything we say.”
Biting her lip, Carli couldn’t do much more than smile and nod. Tears pricked at the back of her eyes, but she blinked them away. No more crying.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Annie poured some iced tea for both of them and placed a small bowl in front of Parker with bite-sized pieces of vegetables. “We’re having cake and ice cream for Parker’s first birthday a week from today. We’d love you to come. You’ve been so instrumental in getting us headed in the right direction where Parker’s needs are concerned.”
A party. One Blake would probably be at. Seeing him again would simply pour salt in the wound. It had been three weeks since the fundraiser night and she’d broken things off with him. Not nearly long enough to forget the heartache she was feeling.
“I’m not sure—”
“Please, you’ve got to come. Parker loves seeing you. It’s only a small thing, and if you want, you can come early—like, noon—then leave. I know things are weird with this family, but Harrison’s parents aren’t coming until a little later, and I’m not sure what Blake will do. He’s been working tons of hours lately, and Harrison said something about him being on call that day. I didn’t want to push the party off for him, because he’s always got some emergency taking him away. Please, say you’ll come.”
Parker banged on his tray and babbled as he picked up a green bean. This little boy had become special to her, and it was only right she celebrate with him. But only because of Parker and Annie.
“Okay, I’ll stop in and give you a hand getting things set up. But I’m not staying long. I can’t.”
Chapter twenty-six
How had she let Annie talk her into coming here when the possibility of seeing Blake, or worse, his parents, was high? Hefting the present she’d gotten for Parker higher in her arms, she knocked on the back door to the kitchen. In seconds, it opened, and Harrison ushered her in.
“Thanks for coming. Parker will be thrilled.”
He took the gift from her and placed it on the kitchen counter, then turned to her. “I wanted to say how much we appreciate all you’ve done for us with regard to Parker. We didn’t end up going the implant route, but helping us get him set up with his therapies and interventions went above and beyond the typical advocate duties.”
“Happy to do it.” No mention of his brother. That was good, right? Going on four weeks since she’d said goodbye to Blake, and she could now make it almost ten minutes at times without thinking about him. Probably not here, though, where she’d spent so much time with him and his family. Another reason to say quick well wishes then scram.
“Parker’s in the family room,” Harrison said. Carli followed him in there.
The little boy toddled across the floor, babbling and humming loudly, then laughing each time.
“I swear he can hear himself speaking and gets such a kick out of it.” Annie chuckled, too, listening to her son.
Carli smiled. “It’s possible, especially since he has the hearing aids in, but he’s making nasal sounds, so he can probably feel the vibration in his throat. I remember my speech therapist making me touch my neck while attempting to say Ms and Ns. It felt cool.”
When Harrison put his hand to his throat and started humming, his eyes popped open in astonishment. “That is cool. I never realized.”
“A good SLP will show you little tricks for helping Parker with his speech.”
“That would be lovely. You’ll have to make sure to show us, too, Harrison, when you learn them.” Audrey Wentworth crossed the room, and Carli inwardly winced. His parents were supposed to arrive later.
“We’ll make sure we do,” Annie said, throwing Carli an apologetic look.
“Carli, dear, how do you say Happy Birthday? I want to make sure I get it right.”
Audrey was asking her how to sign? Had the world come to an end? “Happy. Birthday.“ She repeated it a few times until Audrey got it correct.
“Thank you. It’s so nice of you to come celebrate Parker’s first birthday with us. I’m sure you had other things you could have been doing.”
Smiling her response, she didn’t know what to make of this. Audrey was being pleasant to her? Unless she had some other meaning behind her words. Perhaps now that she and Blake weren’t dating anymore, there wasn’t a problem. The woman had only disliked her as a potential daughter-in-law?
“Annie, do you need any help with anything?” Could they move to the kitchen to get away from Blake’s brother and mother? Being with them was harder than she thought. There was just enough resemblance to keep reminding her of all she and Blake had done together. Memories she’d rather hide in a deep hole somewhere, so the pain didn’t overwhelm her.
