When she walked in the door, she smelled something cooking.She’d let Evan know she’d be home later than usual.Had he made himself supper?Good.Then, she only needed to feed herself, and they could get started on his lessons earlier.
After dumping her book bag on the couch, she sauntered into the kitchen to find Evan at the stove, stirring something in a pot.She stomped her foot lightly so he heard her come in.
“Hey, I made supper tonight,” he said when he’d swiveled away from what he was doing.
“For both of us?Thanks.Is it edible?”She had to give him a hard time.They’d lived together for two months now, and he was always saying his cooking wasn’t up to par with hers.
He held up a large soup can that read Campbell’s.“Take it up with them if you don’t like it.Though the grilled cheese can be blamed on me.”
He turned the stove off and tugged a pan from inside.The crispy bread was golden and had melted cheese oozing out of the side.
“It looks perfect.Let’s see if it tastes as good.”
Tomato soup and grilled cheese was the perfect meal for the day they’d had today.When they’d finished, she said, “You’re on soup and grilled cheese duty every cold, rainy day from now on.This was great.”
“Glad you liked it and that I didn’t poison you.”
“As soon as we clean up, I’ll show you the books I got from the library.I thought we could start our first lesson tonight.”
He raised his eyes to the ceiling.“My first reading lesson.At the age of twenty-eight.I should be so proud.”
“Stop it.” She slammed the side of her hand onto the palm of her other.“You need to stop putting yourself down.Show me that cocky self-assured man I know is in there.You can do anything you put your mind to.You have to want it enough and put in the effort.”
His face fell, and he looked properly chastised.“Concentration fatigue, right?But I’ll just get that again while you’re trying to teach me.What’s the use?”
“I’ll be teaching you using ASL as well as English.There won’t be the language barrier you had while in school.Now, I’m not a certified teacher, but I love reading and want to make you love reading as well.”
“You’d be more successful trying to make pigs fly.”
Mercedes pointed her finger straight at his nose.“Attitude.Fix it.”
He gave her a sharp salute.“Yes, sir.”
Shaking her head, she grabbed the book bag she’d brought home.When she pulled out the children’s picture books, Evan scowled.“I’m not four.”
“I know.I simply want to get a feel for where your reading level is so we can go from there.”
“It’s in the toilet.That’s where it is.” He glanced at his feet, his face hard.
“Humor me, okay?I’ve never taught anyone to read before, so I may make lots of mistakes.You promised to be my guinea pig.”
He scrunched up his face in a weird fake smile.“Fine.Do you want me to readThe Three Bearsfirst.”
“Haha.I didn’t get that book.But let’s look at this one, and you sign what you can read.Word for word, not ASL.”
Another scowl crossed his face.“But I communicate in ASL.”
“I know you do.However, the world around you communicates in English.Books are written in English.If you want to read better, you need to be able to translate ASL into English and back again.”
He held out his hand for one of the books.Once he opened it, he dropped it on his lap and signed, word for word, the text on the page.“Did I pass, Miss Martineau?”
“Yes, you did fabulous, Evan.Would you like a lollipop?”she teased.
“I’d love something sweet.”His eyes gleamed, and he stared at her mouth.Was he expecting her to say something or remembering their kind of kiss?
Her cheeks heating up, she picked another book.“Obviously that book was too easy for you.Let’s give this one a try.I’ll hold it, and you sign what the text says.”
They did this with several pages over quite a few books, then after one, she stopped.“You fingerspelled a couple words.We should go back and talk about what those words mean.”
