Birthday celebrating wasn’t really so bad. There was a bunch of laughter and stories from school being traded back and forth, with Mom and sometimes Connor in on the fun too. I was a little surprised by how much I was enjoying this and how it wasn’t awkward having my friends and my mom together in the same vicinity, which usually left the door wide open for embarrassment.

Nina got to wrapping things up later in the afternoon thanks to an evening shift she had at Target, and since she’d carpooled with Beau, he had to leave as well. I was a little sad to see them go, but I figured Beau probably had a mountain of homework to get through before Monday.

THANK YOU, I signed to Nina and Beau while I walked them outside after they said their good-byes to Mom and Connor. FUN.

SAME, Nina signed, tossing an arm around my shoulders to pull me in for a side-hug. HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Beau hung back while Nina went down the driveway to his car, keys in hand, so I signed, WHAT’S UP?

I watched him suck in some air before he finally signed, HAVE GIFT FOR YOU.

“What?” I said, frowning. “I thought the book was my present.”

“Yeah, but . . .” Beau said, then pulled out an envelope from his jacket pocket that he then thrust at me.

I felt my frown deepening as I took the envelope, turning it over in my hands. Nothing on the outside of the envelope gave any indication as to where it could’ve come from. I carefully tore open the envelope and peeked inside, confused at the sight of some papers, a brochure, and a business card.

I yanked the contents of the envelope out to give them a closer look. My hands started to shake as I rifled through the papers, hardly able to believe Beau was the one to give me all this.

The brochure slipped from my grasp and fluttered to the ground as I turned my attention to the business card for a Dr. Janet Porter at Children’s Hospital in Aurora.

“What is this?”

Even if I couldn’t hear them, the words felt sharp flying from my mouth.

Beau went from looking hopeful to taken aback in half a second, and he signed, INFORMATION FOR—

“What part of I don’t want a cochlear implant did you not understand?”

I gave Beau the moment he obviously needed to collect his thoughts, because this clearly wasn’t the response he was anticipating. When he couldn’t come up with any signs, he started talking, saying, “I was thinking about . . . job interview and college . . . how upset . . . were. I did research . . . cochlear implants . . . and . . . thought maybe . . . want . . . look . . .”

“Stop. Just stop please.”

Beau pressed his lips tightly together and nodded.

My vision got a little blurry as I reached down to grab the brochure I dropped. Hot, angry tears were threatening to escape now.