Sam shook his head. “It’s out of love, dearie.”
“Fuck you,” Derek said cheerfully. “I uh…I sold Kevin.” He hated himself for using James’ stupid name for the octopus, but it meant Sam knew exactly what he was talking about.
“Seriously?”
Derek sighed internally. “Seriously. I think the guy from the bank thing last night bought it.”
Sam sat up straighter, almost slipping before he caught himself. “You’re shitting me. Dude, that’s like…”
“If you say rom-com, I will punch you. I don’t care if you’re naked and in the bath,” Derek warned him without any real heat. “I think he might work in that flower shop we passed by today. The owner had hearing aids in, and she knew sign language, and she…she looked like him. A lot like him.”
Sam was grinning and Derek hated himself for confessing it all, though he couldn’t help but admit having the weight off felt good. “Did you go in?”
“Nah. The girls were getting restless and we didn’t have a lot of time to screw around. But I was…the thing is…Mat pointed out that I might want to hand-deliver it since throwing it in the mail would be such a waste. It probably won’t mean anything but…yeah.”
Sam’s grin softened a little, and he leaned over the edge of the tub, putting his hand on Derek’s shoulder. “Maybe it won’t mean anything at all, and maybe it will. But it can’t hurt to try, can it?”
Derek worried his bottom lip between his teeth. “I guess not. I’m just such a mess still, I don’t know someone like him would want to put up with all this shit. It’s a lot.”
“It is,” Sam told him bluntly, “and it might be a little exhausting, but if he feels the same way about you, he’ll think it’s worth it.”
Derek shrugged. “I don’t even speak his language.”
“Well clearly there’s not an easy fix for that,” Sam snarked at him. “I mean, it’s not like Kat and Tony haven’t been up our asses about starting ASL or anything.”
Derek flushed, knowing he was right, and knowing heought to do it for Jasmine no matter what happened between him and Basil. “Yeah. I…I guess.”
“I get being afraid,” Sam told him. “You can’t guarantee happiness forever.”
Derek was half-sure Sam was talking about Ted now, and there was a moment of slightly awkward silence between them. “I know that. And I feel like I owe it to myself to at least try. I think maybe I’ll adhere the sketch to a canvas and throw some varnish on it, then I can walk it over.”
“Maybe write him a love note and tuck it in the back so he finds it years later when you two are married with five kids,” Sam said, waggling his brows.
Derek stood up. “That’s it. I’m leaving you to drown.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Basil jumped, startled when a hand fell down on the desk in front of him. Under Ama’s flat palm was a bright orange post-it with sharpie scribbled on the front. A name—Jay—and a number. He stared at it for a minute, then looked up at his sister’s smirk.
‘What is this?’
‘A phone number.’
Rolling his eyes, he pushed his chair back away from the desk. ‘Thank you, I had no idea. Seriously, what is this?’
‘You’ll hate all the Deaf events they have going on in Denver this month. It’s all stuff for young kids—bowling, coffee house meet-ups, I think there’s like a D and D game in a card shop?’
Basil pulled a face. ‘Sounds like my nightmare.’
‘I know,’ Ama told him with a grin. ‘But one of the event coordinators and I were emailing, and I asked him if he had any LGBT events planned? Something for actual gay grown-ups. He said they tried to do that a few months ago but the turn-out was really small. Then he said maybe the two of you could get together and get a drink. And talk. He thought you were hot.’
Basil blinked at her. ‘When did he see me?’
‘My profile picture is us on the trip to San Francisco,’ she reminded him, though he was fairly sure she was lying and had probably let the guy Facebook stalk him. Which, whatever, considering he hadn’t used it in two and a half years. ‘But I think you’d like him. He has an MBA, he works for a tech company, he’s kind of boring, doesn’t have any feelings about sports or boats,’ she signed that with a grin only because she knew how much Chad loved both, ‘and he has Deaf parents.’
Basil’s eyes narrowed. ‘But is he…’
‘No,’ she said, her fingers interrupting his own. ‘He’s CODA, though, and he’s cute and kind of uptight. Just the way you like them.’
