When I was halfway through my sandwich, Jackson was suddenly leaning toward me waving a hello, and immediately I became suspicious.

“Can I help you?” I said once I was finished chewing my food.

“. . . sure can,” Jackson said with what I think was supposed to be a dazzling smile. “. . . was wondering . . .”

He didn’t even get the chance to finish his sentence before Beau cut in, signing so quickly I did a double take.

AGAIN? I signed. It was a reflex—I couldn’t possibly have understood him correctly.

Beau’s cheeks went from bright pink to flaming red as he repeated himself, signing what I thought he had the first time around.

YOU ASK ME IF I WANT DATE? I signed next, the words tumbling off my fingers.

Beau nodded, a look of relief flashing across his face. I felt myself giving a sigh of relief too.

GOOD, I signed. BEFORE YOU ASK IF I WANT DIVORCE.

Beau understood after I finger spelled the word for him, and I watched his eyes go wide as he quickly signed, NO! NOT THAT. I WANT . . .

I leaned across the table to take Beau’s hands in mine, prompting him to make the letter d with his fingers. When he did, I brought his two hands together, so the tips of his fingers were touching, rather than moving them apart like he’d been doing.

“That’s how you sign it,” I told him. “You come together, not break apart.”

“Okay,” he said with a timid smile.

When he slipped his hands out from mine—I suddenly didn’t want to let them go—he signed, HAVE DATE WITH ME?

I didn’t even stop to think about it before I signed, YES.

It was after we’d been smiling at each other like loons for one long moment that I remembered Nina was sitting right next to me. Nina, who knew enough sign language that I was pretty sure she knew exactly what just happened. Jackson on the other hand probably figured this was all something good by the dopey looks Beau and I were sharing.

When I looked over at Nina, kind of like a kid who just got caught with their hand in a cookie jar, she was smirking.

She just signed, FINALLY.

Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

Melissa’s chipper smile was plastered across the screen of my iPad while I sat in the middle of my bedroom floor amongst a mess of clothes.

DOESN’T MATTER, I kept signing to Melissa, throwing aside a blouse my aunt Caroline got me for my sixteenth birthday that I never wore. DOESN’T MATTER WHAT I WEAR.

Melissa was shaking her head in disagreement and signed, YES! again.

I held up a sweater in a pretty gold color for Melissa to see and she made a face, scrunching her nose up.

COLD HERE, I reminded her.

I’d already sent her a picture of the mountain of snow in our backyard.