He didn’t know how to say that Derek did too, but he hoped his smile would do.Derek waited for him to lead the way back down, and then on the sidewalk, Derek took the lead.“It’s only a block or two.The weatherman said that we might get a little snow tonight.”Harm looked upward and nodded.It was cloudy, and it felt cold enough.
They arrived at the restaurant with Derek talking the entire time about nothing.At the door, Derek pulled it open and held it for him.Harm went inside and took off his coat.“Billy,” Derek said to the man behind the desk.“Can you find a place for the two of us?This is Harm.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Billy said with a polite nod.“Come with me.I have a nice table because a reservation canceled half an hour ago.Otherwise I’d be full.”He showed them the table and wished them a nice meal before returning to the front.
“I really like it here.The food is really good, and so is the service.”
There were so many questions Harm wanted to ask.He pulled out a small pad and a pen from the pocket of his coat before hanging it on the back of his chair.“Do you eat here often?”he wrote and showed it to Derek.For now, this was the best way for him to communicate.
“Maybe once every few months.I really like it.But it’s hard to get a table, and it’s a little pricey.But so worth it.”Their server brought menus, and Harm looked it over.
“How do you know Billy?”Harm wrote.
Derek grinned.“Billy and I met at the library.He has two younger brothers, and when I first started working at the library, Billy brought them in for some of the reading programs.They still come in sometimes, but they’re teenagers now.It seems like they grew up so fast.”
Harm could only nod to that.Time marched on no matter what, and it seemed that lately Harm felt like it was running away with him.
Chapter 5
DEREK WASdoing all the talking, and he hoped Harm didn’t think him strange.Yes, Harm wasn’t able, but he communicated in other ways.His hands were very expressive, and those eyes.Harm could tell stories with them.In fact, he probably was, but Derek didn’t understand them… at least not yet.He hoped to, sometime.
“Tell me about your sister.What is she like?”
Their server came to the table to take their orders.Harm pointed to what he wanted.The server asked questions and didn’t seem at all fazed that Harm nodded or shook his head to answer.One thing was for sure, they trained their staff very well.Once he left, Harm tapped his note.
“Suzanne….Let me see.She’s a real pain in the butt, and I love her for it.She used to get us both in trouble, and every time she’d sign and act confused to get us out of it.Worked every damned time too.Never did for just me, though.”Derek smiled and got one in return.He could get lost in one of Harm’s smiles.“I told you that she’s deaf and lives in Rochester because there’s a large community there.She’s a dentist with quite a few friends, and patients who love her.At the moment she’s dating a guy who can hear.”He made a scandalized face.
“I don’t get it,” Harm wrote.“I’m having dinner with a guy who can talk.”
“Suzanne explained it to me.There are deaf people, and then there are Deaf people with a capital D.The capital D people think that if Suzanne marries a hearing person, then she’s giving up part of deaf culture.Part of her deafness.There is a specific culture and community within the deaf, and there are those who want to protect that.I don’t blame them, and they have the right to their opinion.But Suzanne feels that it’s her life and she’ll do what she wants to make herself happy.And apparently this hearing boyfriend might be the person.She says he treats her well and is taking signing classes so he can better communicate with her.”
“Is she older?”
“By two years, and she never lets me forget it.Though there are times when I worry for her.I want her to be happy and I miss her, and I don’t want someone to hurt her.”He growled, and Harm chuckled.He loved that sound.
“And you?”
Derek rolled his eyes.“I’m boring compared to Suzanne.She’s fearless when it comes to just about anything.She’s jumped out of planes, bungee jumped off bridges.You name it, she’s done it.Nothing scares her.Now me, I’m the one who plays it safe.I’m a librarian, after all.”
“You weren’t afraid of me when everyone else was,” Harm wrote, and Derek felt his cheeks color.
“I hate that you were treated that way.I had a talk with the staff about how we all acted based on looks.It was a tough conversation, but we have a lot of different people come through our doors, and I reminded everyone that we were expected to be professional and courteous to everyone, and that meant we didn’t hide in the back room.”
Harm put his head down as he wrote.“What if I had been as bad as they feared?”
Derek knew that answer.“Then it’s up to me to take the appropriate action.If you were a real threat, then I’d call for help.And it’s happened before.I had a patron last year who became infatuated, you might say.He got so that he knew my schedule and would come in every time I worked.William, William Lassater, that was his last name.He started putting flowers on the desk and talking to me for hours.I wasn’t getting my work done and I needed a way to get him to leave me alone, but he refused to take any sort of hint.”
Harm’s eyes were huge.“What did you do?”Derek didn’t need for him to write that down.
“I told him that I wasn’t interested, and the next flowers he brought were returned.I was too busy to speak to him when he came in.Sometimes Connie ran interference, but in the end I told him that I wasn’t interested and asked him to leave me alone.He didn’t for a while, but now he pretty much stays away.I see him in town sometimes, and he always gives me the creeps.He doesn’t come into the library anymore.But sometimes when I go out for dinner, he’ll be at the same restaurant again.I never speak to him, but….”
“Do you think he watches you?”Harm asked, his handwriting becoming rougher.
“I think he has to, which freaks me out.But not all the time.Like if I see him at the grocery store, then I’ll see him around for a while, but then he goes away again.I’m not sure what his deal is, but I wish he would just leave me alone.”Not that he wanted to be talking about his mini-stalker as he and Harm were having dinner.“What about you?Did you like being in the Army?”
Harm hesitated and got a new page and began to write.Once he was done, he handed it Derek.“I did, actually.I had wonderful foster parents, who are still in my life, but I had to make my own way after high school, and the service was the one way I knew where I could fit in.I talk to Joe and Larry all the time.”
“That’s good.You hear horror stories about how some people are treated.”
