Page 213 of The Right Sign

After an embarrassing beat, I sign, “I don’t know if Talia’s here or not… and I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Not talking to you and dad about everything.”

She pats my back the way Deej did at the café. “We’re on your side.” She pushes the car door open. “But from the fleeting glimpse I got of Dare and what Talia said about him, I liked him. So if you’re doing all this just because he’s hearing, I might swap teams.”

* * *

Mom follows me into the giant building where there’s a doorman who takes our ID cards and hands us lanyards. It’s my first time actually beinginsideDare’s building and my hands are sweating as we ride the elevator.

“You knock on the door,” I sign to mom, chickening out at the last minute.

She gives me a royal side eye and presses the doorbell.

I roll and unroll my fingers.Hello, Dare. I know I should have texted first, but I need to talk to you face to face. You were right. We were a temporary arrangement and I was with you because of the contract, but things started changing for me. I went with Henry that day because he was my best friend but now you’re my best friend and I don’t like having this misunderstanding.

The door swings open and my heart almost skitters out of my body.

But it’s not Dare facing us.

My hopeful expression falls as Lucy leans against the door with her arms folded. She doesn’t look happy to see me.

Thankfully, Talia comes streaming into the hallway. The little girl more than makes up for Lucy’s chilly welcome by throwing herself at my mother, who hugs her back like they’re long-lost sisters reunited after war.

Talia grabs mom’s hand and drags her inside the condo, chattering a mile a minute.

Now it’s just me and Lucy in the hallway. She makes a reluctant ‘do you want to come in’ gesture that tells me she had no plans on allowing us to step a foot inside.

I walk in anyway.

Dare’s place ishugewith tons of windows letting in all the sunshine. I’m stunned when I see boxes all over the place.

Lucy waggles her fingers in the space between us and makes a talking gesture.How do we communicate?

Hiking out my phone, I type in my notes.

Is Dare moving?

Lucy eases closer to my phone and reads the message. She looks up at me, down at the phone, and then taps beneath my line.

You didn’t know?

My heart starts beating fast.

Know what?

Before Lucy can type an answer, Talia gallops over. She signs ‘nice to meet you’, which seems a little out of place given our history, but I muster up a smile of encouragement. She’s learning more ASL from Niko and her confidence in the language is growing.

Taking my hand, Talia leads me to the couch and points to one of the boxes. She says something to me, realizes my head is not in a space to lip read and faces my mother.

Mom interprets, “Her teacher gave her an award for good behavior yesterday.”

“That’s great!” I sign, unleashing a more genuine smile.

Talia shows us the award. It has a giant, flourishing signature along with five gold stars. I think of Miss Abbot and imagine how relieved she must be now that Talia’s settled down.

Mom and Talia return to voicing and I turn back to Lucy.

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