His shoulders rose. “Yeah, sorry about that. I meant to apologize earlier, but…I get distracted with things at times.”
Like she was getting distracted with his long fingers gripping the steering wheel or the pull of the material across his muscled thighs.Eyes up. On his mouth, not his body.Oh, um…. Maybe not. Those lips were full and incredibly kissable, but she needed to make sure she got everything he was saying. Great excuse.Now, pay attention to what those lips are saying. In words. No interpretation allowed, even if they are begging for your lips to come and play.
“Were you born deaf?”
“Yes, everyone in my family is Deaf, except my oldest brother, Brian. Both my parents, my other older brother and my little sister.”
“Do all of them have implants?”
“No.” And they never let her forget she was the only traitor.
“What made you decide to get the implants?”
The million-dollar question she’d been asked too many times. “I used to go visit my grandmother down in Falmouth a lot. There was this girl who lived next door, Mercedes.”
“Your roommate?”
Nodding, she continued. “Yes. I wanted to be like her so much. She was great and learned sign language, but I know she couldn’t always understand my speech. Made me work even harder with my speech therapist.”
“The implants were so she could understand you more?”
“Yes and no. I was sixteen, and at that age when you’re very self-conscious of what you look like and how you appear to others. I thought if I could hear, then no one would ever make fun of me for using sign language or speaking funny again.”
“And even though your parents didn’t have CIs, they were okay with you getting them? I’ve read they can be controversial in some families with hearing loss.”
“Families in the Deaf community. Deaf with a capital D. And no, my parents weren’t thrilled for me to get them, and our insurance wasn’t great. My grandmother offered to pay, and my parents finally agreed.” After she’d hounded them forever.
The sun was low in the sky, and shadows flickered through the car. Would he think she was weird if she wanted him to put the inside light on? Probably. Not to mention it could be dangerous in this traffic, but she wanted to make sure she got every word he said. What did he think of her confession?
“Were they everything you thought they’d be?” He seemed especially interested in this answer. Because of Parker?
“Yes and no.”
Chuckling, he said, “You already used that answer. You’ll need to find another one.”
“They definitely helped me improve my speech, and I think I’ve gotten a better job because of the fact I can communicate easier than typical deaf people. But it hasn’t all been fun and games.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Did she really want to get into the complete nightmare she’d gone through with the implants? Months of mapping and the confusion and pain, not to mention the backlash from her friends and family in the Deaf community? Since she’d only known Blake a few days, it wasn’t something she was ready to share yet.
“This is the exit.” She pointed just as the GPS instructed them to take the next right. Maybe she could keep him occupied with finding the place and avoid getting back on that topic.
Luckily, he was focused on maneuvering through the city and finding a place to park. Annie had parked nearby, so Blake offered to carry the infant seat with Parker in it.
“Is Harrison coming after work?” he asked as they settled inside the community center with the other parents and babies.
“Oh, um,” Annie looked around and mumbled something Carli didn’t catch. Blake didn’t seem happy with her response. The instructor walked to the front of the room at that point and started class, mostly an introduction of what they would be learning and why it was important for children to be surrounded by language. All kinds of language. After a while, they were encouraged to let the babies crawl around on the carpet and have each of the adults show them some signs that were meaningful to them.
Blake mostly sat back and allowed Annie to work with her son, while Carli helped a few of the parents with squirming infants or toddlers. One was especially fussy, and the mom kept trying to get her to interact. It wasn’t working.
“I don’t mean to intrude, but I’m wondering if she could be sick.” Blake introduced himself as a doctor. “Do you mind if I take a look?”
“Yes, please. She hasn’t been herself all day. I thought she was just teething.”
Blake sat on the floor, and his lips moved as he made faces at the child. Carli couldn’t hear what he was saying, but she assumed it was something soothing. He touched the child’s face and neck with the back of his hand and then pulled out a pen from his pocket.
“Get her attention, so I can look in her ears.” His pen had a light on the end. He tugged gently on the child’s ear and tilted his head as he peered inside.
