“Not well.I can barely read kids’ books.I can’t understand half of what this book is saying, and I have to get through it if I want to advance at my job at all.Otherwise, I’m stuck on the same equipment forever.”
Mercedes motioned for him to hand her the book.She flipped through the pages and nodded here and there.“Okay, it’s definitely very technical.If you want, I could help you.”
Like he was a baby.“I’m not a pet project, and I don’t need your pity.”
She stiffened at his tone, which was harsher than he’d meant to make it.He grabbed her hand and squeezed it for a second.“I’m sorry.This is a very touchy subject for me.I hate how stupid I am.”
“Stop!Right this minute.You are not stupid.Many Deaf people speak with a different structure to their sentences than English, it doesn’t make it wrong.Why did you never tell me about this?”
He clenched his teeth.“I’ve asked you for help before.I figured you knew.”
Before he could say anything more, she lunged into his arms and hugged him.Her grip was tight and felt amazing.Slowly, he eased his arms around her and squeezed back.It was like all the tension of the day was being sucked out of him.
How long they stayed that way he wasn’t sure, but it was long enough that all the bottled up emotion inside him had drained away.Most of it, anyway.Holding Mercedes in his arms held its own kind of tension.
When they finally parted, he kept his eyes on the book lying next to him.He didn’t want to see what was in her eyes.
He should’ve known she wouldn’t allow him to stay in his little avoidance world.
“I think we need to talk about this.If you really don’t want to, I understand.But it seems like you need to get some stuff off your chest before it crushes you.”
He nodded and she got comfortable, moving their books to the coffee table.Making sure she had his attention, she smiled.“I don’t understand how you got through school if your reading level was as low as you say.”
“Brian is hearing and went to the public school.When it was time for me to go, they talked my parents into sending me as well.Said they could provide me with exactly what I needed.”
“That didn’t happen?”
“Oh, I had an educational interpreter from the time I started, but that was probably worse.My speech wasn’t great, still isn’t, but back then no one understood me.The assistant thought I was stupid or slow or maybe assumed this was how all deaf people are.She did most of the work for me or helped me to the point I didn’t have to do much at all.I never had to take the same tests as the others, or if I did, I had help.”
“So you just slid by with no one knowing you hadn’t learned the curriculum.”Her sad face was more than he could bear.
“My parents aren’t great readers either, though they’re both far better than me.Carli and Deanna love to read, and Brian had the advantage of hearing.”
Mercedes tilted her head and pursed her lips.“How did Carli and Deanna become such good readers?”
“They both went to the North Shore School for the Deaf.My parents didn’t like that there were no other Deaf children to play with at the public school, so they sent them to a Deaf school.They did much better because they were surrounded by people like them.”
“They didn’t think to change your school once they saw Carli and Deanna doing better?”
“They asked me if I wanted to, but I’d already been there for a few years.I’d developed lazy habits and didn’t want to leave the friends that I’d made there.Guys can get together and play sports and roughhouse and still be okay.They don’t need to do as much talking as women.” He threw her a cocky grin.
She laughed.“Are you saying that women blabber too much?”
He held up his hand in defense.“I didn’t say that.You did.”
Thankfully, she always knew what to say to get him in a better mood.
The traffic to Cape Cod was awful, and Mercedes wished they’d thought to get off work a few hours early.They’d first had to get through the rush hour Boston traffic, then cruise along at fifteen miles an hour down Route 3.The worst part was she couldn’t even chat with Evan.With the road congestion, he needed to pay attention to what the other cars were doing.The last thing she wanted was to get in an accident because she was signing to him.
Every now and then, when they came to a full stop, he’d glance over and say something.On the plus side, she could stare at his handsome profile for over an hour.Once they’d gone over the Sagamore Bridge, the traffic split into those staying on the highway to the Upper Cape and those staying near the bridge, lucky enough to know the back roads.Which they did because she’d grown up here.Evan had also visited his grandparents often.
When they finally pulled down the dead-end street where her parents still lived, next door to his grandparents, he let out a big breath of relief.When they got out of the car, he glared at her.
“Whose idea was it to have a party on the Cape on a Saturday in the summer?”
She made a face at him.“First, it’s the second week in September, not really summer.And second, I didn’t tell my parents when to get married.They did that before I was even born.You have to blame them.”
He made the same face back at her.“I’d rather blame you.Your parents are too nice.”
