“Are you hungry?”Derek asked.Harm indicated he was, but his gaze told Derek that he was starving for something other than food.This time when he kissed him, the heat was nearly overwhelming.“I see.”
Harm stepped back slightly.“I thought about you all day,” he signed.Derek didn’t correct his signing, because now was not the time, and he liked the idea that Harm was thinking about him.
“I did too.”He didn’t move, looking into Harm’s eyes.“If you want to go upstairs….”He waited, but Harm’s expression seemed to grow tentative.“Is something wrong?”
“No,” he signed.“But have dinner first.”His attempts at signing were a little off, but he was improving, and Derek told him so by signing back, parroting some of what Harm had said as a correction.
“Then I’ll go get things ready.”At least William hadn’t tried to mess with the house, and who knows, maybe he would leave him alone now.Derek had reiterated that he wasn’t interested yet again, and maybe William would begin to let the message sink in.Derek hadn’t given him any encouragement.He wasn’t sure if it was even possible for William to just give up on this obsession of his, but all he could do was hope that William would just leave him alone and move on with his life.
Derek took off his coat and hung it up before going to the kitchen.He got the makings for BLTs out of the refrigerator and put the bacon in the oven to cook.Then he started prepping the lettuce.Harm nudged his shoulder and cut the tomato into thin slices.“You like these?”Harm nodded vigorously.Once the fixings were ready, he got a couple of beers, handing one to Harm.“Cheers.”
They clinked bottles and got the toaster going on the bread.Harm put his bottle on the counter and signed “WILLIAM.”
“Yeah, I know.I was firm with him, and I hope he got the message.I don’t know what I’m going to do if he didn’t.Maybe a restraining order.”It was frightening having someone following him around like this all the time.“I feel like I have someone spying on my life, and what if he doesn’t like what I’m doing?Is he going to set a fire again?Maybe he’ll decide to buy a gun and kill me.I don’t know.”He set down the knife he’d been using to cut the cantaloupe he’d found at the store, which looked surprisingly good for out-of-season fruit.“I wish he would leave me alone.”
“Police?”Harm asked.
“I talked to them and told them about the fire.So it’s on the record, and they said they would stop by and look at what was left.I haven’t heard anything more from them, but I’m assuming they were here at some point.”He sighed.
“Talked to Joe and Larry.”
“What did they say?If you want, try to sign it as best you can.”He really wanted to be encouraging.
“Flying in Friday.They rent a car.”His signing was slow, but he was doing well.The classes as well as the books and videos he was using were really helping.His grammar was off, but the ideas were coming across.
“I’m looking forward to meeting them.”
Harm smiled.“I tell them about you.They happy, but worried, I think.”Derek wasn’t sure what that meant.“I think they hope for college.”
“What does being with me have to do with you and college?”Derek asked and then nodded.“Of course.You may need to move if you decide to go, and they’re afraid that you won’t go if you and I become involved.”He understood and bit his lower lip.Harm took him in his arms, shaking his head.
“I college here,” he said.“They worry.Parents.”He hugged him, and Derek returned it, a little nervous at this.The last thing he would want to do was stand in the way of Harm going to college and bettering himself, but he had just found him and hated the idea of him going away.
“I can help you with the applications and things,” he offered, and Harm held him tighter, their warmth mingling.He rested his head against Harm’s chest.“I even have a few contacts at Dickinson College that we can talk to if that is where you want to go.”The two of them stood together until the toaster popped.Then he backed away and put in some more bread.
Some of the joy had gone out of the evening, and Derek knew it was his fault.He shouldn’t be worried about Harm going to college or anywhere else.There were lots of options, and he needed to look on the happier side of things.Harm’s dads were coming to town, and that meant a great deal to him.
“What do Joe and Larry like to do?”
Harm chuckled.“HERSHEY,” he signed, letter by letter.
“So they go to Chocolate World?”He chuckled, and Harm nodded vigorously.“Let me guess.They go on the rides and then buy a ton of the special flavor chocolate.”He knew it was what he did whenever someone wanted to go.
“Yes.”He laughed, and Derek loved the sound.He hadn’t heard it before, and he liked that Harm was happy.
“I think my sister is going to come visit for the holidays.She closes her practice for two weeks and comes most every year.I can’t wait for you to meet her.She’s a lot of fun, and I know she’s going to like you.Suzanne loves a lot of the same things you do.She reads a great deal, she’s smart, and she has a great sense of humor.”
“But will I understand her?”
“You will.You are picking up ASL quickly.You have people around you to support and reinforce your learning here as well as at work.I’m willing to bet that you and Suzanne will get on like a house on fire.”He got the last pieces of toast and set them on the plates.Then he pulled out the bacon, drained it, and began building the sandwiches.
Harm got the pad he always carried.“Can I ask something?I know that they make things to help people who can’t hear, hear.I wish they made something so that I can talk again without sounding like a machine.”
“Suzanne is too old for that.As a kid, you learn language and communication, building the brain pathways for language.But those are all set by the time you’re twenty.So after that….”
Harm shrugged.
“Okay.Suzanne has never heard the spoken language in her life.She communicates through her hands and expression.So if she heard English, it would be gibberish and she would need to learn everything the way a child does.Except her brain doesn’t build pathways the way a child’s does, so she would be almost completely lost.Implants work really well for those who lose their hearing because you’re allowing them to regain what they lost.Now, if Suzanne had had an implant as a child, it might have done her some good.But I think she’s perfectly happy the way she is, and I love her for that, just like I care about you for the man you are.”
