Her head whipped up.“I’m not freaking out.”
He cocked his head and pointed to where she straightened the stack of magazines for the third time.
“Okay, maybe a little freaking out.I want the place to look decent when they get here.Can you check the bathroom and make sure it’s cleaned up?Towels all away.No toothpaste in the sink.”
He lifted one eyebrow and signed, “None of your bras on the shower rod.Your strands of hair picked up from the floor.”
“Oh, you’re so funny.There weren’t any bras there last night, and I swept the floor of any wayward hair this morning before you woke up.”
Mercedes had gorgeous hair, all dark and curly with golden highlights she must have gotten from her blonde mother.It did have a tendency to leave a mess on the floor after she brushed it.Since he left plenty of his bits and pieces around the apartment, he didn’t have the right to complain.
“Tidy the bathroom.On it.” Her relieved expression made him laugh.It only took a few minutes to pick up the towel he’d dropped after his shower—oops—then wipe the sink and tub quickly.He backtracked into the kitchen with the wastebaskets from the bathroom and his room and dumped them into the larger kitchen one.He pointed to her room.“Does yours need emptying?”
“Yes, please.And thanks.”
After the trash was bagged and taken to the outside barrels, Evan replaced them with new bags and finally sat with his second glass of Mountain Dew.Mercedes hustled into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee.
“Can you sit long enough to drink that, or should we insert an IV you can hang around your neck?”
She examined the room, then peered into the living room beyond and sighed.“I think I can sit for a minute.”
“What’s the plan for the parents?How long are they staying?Are we doing lunch?And if so, here?Or are they taking you out?”
Her gray eyes roamed the ceiling as she frowned.“I have no idea.My mom is a kind of spur-of-the-moment person.Drives my dad crazy, because he likes everything planned to the nanosecond, but he’s gotten used to it.I guess we’ll see when they get here, which might be any minute.Traffic coming off the Cape should be fine.It’s going in the other directions that will be a nightmare.”
Evan shrugged.“If they hang out here long enough the traffic will die down.Do I look presentable or should I find something better?” He wore a pair of tan cargo shorts that weren’t too battered and a plain gray t-shirt.Since he wore work boots every day at the construction site, his sneakers were in decent shape.Of course, Mercedes wore a gauzy sundress that made her look like a princess.He didn’t own any clothes that could possibly live up to her standard of dress.
She sent him a quick glance.“You’re fine.It’s the beginning of August and your day off.I doubt they expect you to be in a suit.” Her head swiveled toward the door, and she popped up.
They must be here.He hadn’t seen the light flash for the doorbell.Unless they knocked.He wouldn’t hear that.His stomach tightened thinking about spending any time with her parents.
Mercedes was fluent in ASL, but he doubted her parents knew much, if any.Which meant he’d have to pay extra close attention and attempt to read their lips.His youngest sister, Deanna, was amazing at lip reading, but he struggled at times.It depended on the person speaking.Too many hearing people thought overexaggerating and moving their lips in all weird ways was helpful.It wasn’t.Blake had done that the first time he’d come to their parents’ house.Carli took him out of the room, and when he came back, he spoke normally.At least his lips hadn’t been all weird anymore.
Thankfully, Blake had been learning ASL and was getting good enough to make it through rudimentary conversations.Between their brother, Brian, who was hearing, and Mercedes, who hung out at the house all the time, Blake was able to get the gist of most of the conversations.
At the vibration of footsteps, he stood and moved to the doorway between the kitchen and living room.Mercedes entered, followed by her parents.Her father was an imposing man with broad shoulders and a barrel chest.He wasn’t quite as tall as Evan, but the distinguished college professor look made him nervous.
Her mother was just as lovely as Mercedes, though her skin was much lighter.Her hair lay in blonde waves to her shoulders, and she was slightly more petite than her daughter.Mercedes had definitely gotten the right mix between the two of them.
“You remember my parents, don’t you?Lisette and Pierre?”
Evan nodded.“Nice to see you again.”He watched their expressions as he spoke the words.Neither one flinched or narrowed their eyes as if they couldn’t understand him.He hated that look.It happened too often with the guys at work when he tried to verbalize something.Much of the time, he found it easier to simply send a text if he needed to give someone information on the job.
“Nice to see you again.” Lisette actually signed, and Evan smiled.She wasn’t smooth with the words, but she got big points for effort.
“Have you settled in okay?”Pierre spoke slowly, and Evan got his message.
“Still trying to make it clean enough for Mercedes.”
Mercedes mouth moved, so he knew she was repeating his words.Had he not spoken them clearly enough?Probably.Maybe he needed to get more speech therapy like his sister had done.Why couldn’t everyone learn ASL?It would make his life a whole lot easier.
Pierre laughed, then pointed to a cap he’d forgotten to put away.It had the Red Sox logo on the front.He said something, but Evan didn’t quite get it.He looked to Mercedes for translation.
“You like baseball?Who’s your favorite player?”she signed.
Baseball.He could manage that conversation.Digging his phone out of his pocket, he slid his finger across the screen.Once he showed Pierre the site with the stats of his favorite player, the man grinned and pulled out his phone, too.
For more than an hour, he and Pierre tapped away on their phones discussing and debating the merits of each player.Mercedes and her mom had toddled into the kitchen.He hadn’t even noticed until an amazing smell wafted through the open doorway back into the living room.
