Page 5 of Saving You

Ridge felt a small burst of shame to admit that he didn’t leave immediately. “I stayed through the appetizer when she lost two fives because the food was brought out in six minutes instead of five and missing the side of ranch he ordered, which she brought over, like, two seconds later.”

“Jesus,” Anthony breathed.

They climbed back into the truck, and Ridge dropped his head against the window. “Anyway, I told him I had to use the bathroom and found her by the bar. I slipped her a couple twenties and told her I was sorry, then bailed on him.”

Anthony burst into laughter. “Classic.”

“I felt like an asshole. I hate ghosting, but all I could think about was how he was going to react if I tried to stand up for this poor woman. I couldn’t handle the scene he would definitely have made. But I also left her there with him. He was probably a monster to her the rest of the night.”

“I’m sure she’s had worse. He probably lied and got his shit to go so he could save face,” Anthony said. “Did he text you after?”

“Probably. I blocked him everywhere,” Ridge admitted. “I spent the night watching all the SignUp-captioned Disney flicks I could find until Ina finally dropped off.”

“I mean, not the worst night,” Anthony offered.

Ridge couldn’t disagree. Most days, he was starved for adult company and a touch that didn’t involve sticky jelly hands sinceshe was currently in her PB&J phase, but considering the way his last few dates had gone, Disney movies and popcorn were a far better option.

At the very least, they had way less secondhand embarrassment, and he didn’t feel obligated to shell out his fun money to make up for the shit-stain of a date he’d had the misfortune of matching with.

“I hope you’re not going to give up,” Anthony said after a long beat.

Ridge groaned. “It’s hard not to. Dating with a kid is bad enough. Dating with a Deaf kid makes people even weirder. I couldn’t even imagine introducing some guy like that to Ina.”

Anthony grimaced. He knew a little ASL since Ina was kind of a fixture at the station, and she went without her cochlear implants more than she chose to wear them. In fact, he was pretty sure it had been three months since he’d bothered putting batteries in them, but he was following the rule that she got to lead in that department.

If she never wanted to hear again, he would respect it. His ASL wasn’t Deaf fluent, but it was decent enough that he could hold his own, and he felt like he was doing something right with her for the first time since he’d pulled her out of that little bin at his former station.

That had been the best and worst day of his life. The best, because he was grateful someone used it instead of doing something shitty like throwing their kid in a dumpster. The best because it was the first step that led him to adopting her, and he wasn’t sure how sorry and sad his life would look right now if he didn’t have his little peanut by his side.

But it was also the worst because he recognized her instantly. The tuft of black hair on her head, and her dark, wide eyes, and the port wine stain birthmark that stretched from the middle of her dimpled right cheek all the way behind her ear.

The DCS agent assigned to Ina’s case hadn’t been able to find Ashlynn, and after her second hearing test came back with profound loss, they hadn’t been able to place her with a family.

Ridge didn’t find this out until almost four weeks later, of course, when he ran into the DCS agent at a bar. They got tipsy, she got loose-tongued, and the next thing Ridge knew, he was looking into what it took to foster.

The process had been both more simple and more complicated than he’d anticipated. And the adoption process had taken even longer. But they were eventually able to track down Ashlynn, who signed her consent for the adoption. It was closed, Ridge was able to make the name he’d given her legal—the name he’d chosen after his favorite grandmother who would have loved that little girl beyond reason—and then he was given permission to move.

Which he did. He told himself he wanted a fresh start. In reality, he was afraid the city was cursed, and he wanted to take Ina somewhere that had softer edges and easier places to land when she fell. It wasn’t ideal, but the week they moved in and Ridge started his new job, he’d become a total cliché and rescued a kitten from a tree.

It felt almost meant to be.

Now, he had Ina, Cheese, their little house, his 401K with an amazing retirement package, and better benefits than most single parents could hope for. He had a shitty rate on his mortgage but an okay one on his car, and he had friends.

No. They were more than friends. The guys had become family. He had babysitting whenever he wanted and drinking buddies where he could unload his burdens to ears that were always willing to listen. He’d acquired a new language so his daughter would never feel like she had to force herself to fit into a world that wasn’t built for her, and she even had her first Deaffriend in Rex, who was maybe starting to outgrow playing with her but would always make time for her anyway.

He’d also managed to usurp Rex’s Deaf mentor now that Rex was more active in his after-school activities, and Oz was a godsend. He was the perfect bridge between Ridge’s hearing world and Ina’s Deaf one. Ridge knew he’d always be a guest in their culture, but Oz had made him feel welcome in ways he hadn’t expected, even if he didn’t exactly seem to like Ridge as a person very much.

He didn’t know Oz well, but he was getting to know him better now that he was coming around a few times a week to take Ina into Deaf spaces.

His life was something like settled, even if he wasn’t where he wanted to be.

Ridge realized he’d totally lost himself in his thoughts when the truck took a hard turn, and he became aware he hadn’t noticed the others getting into the truck, let alone taking off down the road. Anthony was kind enough not to call him on it. Even on easy jobs like this, the ride back to the station was always quiet.

Most of the time, they contemplated all the ways it could have gone more wrong than it went right. And some nights—the really bad ones—they thought about all the mistakes they’d made that led to tragedies.

When they pulled into the bay, Ridge hopped out and felt a surge of relief when he realized it was almost time for him to clock out. “You wanna go debrief your bestie?” Anthony asked, grabbing Ridge’s arm.

He did and he didn’t. He got a lot of shit for being Adele’s close friend, but it was all in good humor now that he’d been there a while. He didn’t get special treatment, but he got called boss’s pet a lot when the guys were in a mood.

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