Carli stomped her feet as she moved through the room, and the woman at the stove whirled around, her smile as warm as her daughter’s.
My beautiful girl.
Hey, he understood that. And he agreed a hundred percent. Carli was indeed beautiful.
“Blake, this is my mom, Cheryl. Mom, this is Dr. Blake Wentworth.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” he signed and said, making sure to enunciate each word.
She signed something to Carli, who shook her head. “No, he’s hearing. I’ve been working with his family for a while. His nephew is deaf. Deanna met him the other night and thought it would be great for him to come today to see ASL in action.”
No mention of her wanting him here. Darn. Was he really in the way?
“Nice to meet you.” Cheryl held out her hand, and he shook it. Her voice was deeper than Carli’s and her words stilted, but he still got what she said. This might not be as hard as Carli indicated.
The two women spoke in ASL for a minute, and Blake gazed around the room, feeling uncomfortable. Were they talking about him? Cheryl used a sign with both hands doing the D sign and touching each other. Was it something to do with him being a doctor?
Carli shook her head and signed,No. Friend, work.
Hey, not bad that he remembered those signs. But what had her mom asked if Carli’s answer was that he was a work friend?
Her mom signed a few more things, and Carli blushed. Okay, now he was intrigued. The quicker he could learn ASL, the better.
“Let’s go into the living room. Everyone else is there.”
They walked down the hall to a room where a TV played, closed caption running along the bottom of the screen. The volume was on also. Why did they need the volume?
Deanna was the first to notice them, and she scrambled off the couch and bounced over.
“Hi, Blake. I’m glad you could come.”
“Thank you for inviting me, though Carli didn’t quite remember that you had.” Was he enunciating his words enough for her to read them? Carli had the advantage of the CIs, or at least one today. She’d said her family didn’t have them.
Deanna rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry about Carli. She’s glad you’re here, too. She just won’t admit it.”
“Deanna,” Carli said in warning, her face turning a lovely shade of pink. Was she embarrassed because what Deanna said wasn’t true or because it was?
The other men in the room now looked their way. The guy who’d been hanging all over Carli at the bar two nights ago was here. Crap. Was he that close to this family and to Carli?
“Blake, this is my dad, Mike, my oldest brother, Brian, and my brother, Evan.”
Her brother? Yes. As he nodded at the men and took turns shaking hands, he felt lighter, relieved. Couldn’t be jealousy. He and Carli weren’t even dating. Yet. The more time he spent with her, the more time he wanted to spend with her.
“Imet youthe othernight,” he tried to explain to Evan and use a few signs he knew. “At the bar.”
“You were plastered.” Carli glared at her brother. “You probably don’t remember.”
Evan made a face, then asked Blake, “You like football?” and indicated an empty chair.
Before he could sit, Carli dragged him out of the room. This time into the dining room.
“Everything okay?”
“You need to stop.” Her expression was intense.
“What am I doing?”
Her fingers rose to his lips and pressed. “Stop moving your mouth that way.”
