I am surprised to find both my sister Finny and her fiancé getting tattoos from the Reeds. I shake my head and smile at them.
“Are you done?” Finny asks.
“That’s all we can do today,” I tell her. I smile over my shoulder at Ryan. He really does beautiful work and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.
“So, what’s Ryan like?” Finny whispers at me. She’s not signing and he’s not looking in her direction, but it doesn’t feel right to talk about him, regardless.
“Don’t talk about him like he’s not here,” I sign and say at the same time.
Finny makes a face at me.
“And he’s very nice.”
He grins at me as he reads my hands.
I take a minute to look at both Finny and Tag’s tattoos. They are so freaking much in love. They’re getting tattoos in the same damn place and they’re about one another. I never thought Finny would ever settle down, but apparently she has. And now she’s raising a kid. God, it’s crazy.
My stomach protests loudly with a growl. I lay my hand over my belly and wince. I was too nervous to eat this morning.
“You better get some food,” Paul Reed says. He motions toward Finny and Tag. “They can’t leave yet.”
I hesitate for a second, but then say to Ryan, “You want to join me for lunch?”
He shrugs. “Why not?”
“You should wait for Mark to get here so he can go with you,” Finny says, her brow furrowing. Mark is my personal security officer.
“We’ll just be next door.” I brush off her concern.
Ryan holds the door open for me and we step out into the street. Suddenly a bike messenger blasts past me, and Ryan grabs me and pulls me against him. He holds me there until I’m steady, and I can feel his heart pounding.
After a moment, he sets me back. He asks me if I’m okay, with an arch to his brow. I nod. He opens the door to the deli next door and motions for me to precede him. We sit down at a table and suddenly he flinches.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
He points to the corner where a girl is locking lips with a guy. “My ex is here,” he says.
I look at them. “How long has she been an ex?”
“Since two weeks ago.”
Okay, that’s…recent. “You don’t look heartbroken.”
He shakes his head. “Nope. Happy.”
“Should we leave? I mean…is this too awkward?”
He draws his piercing into his mouth and then signs, “If she comes over here, just pretend you don’t speak sign language.”
“But I do.”
“But you can hear. She won’t understand why I’m with you.”
“I don’t understand either.”
His brow furrows like he’s thinking. “Deaf people think deaf. It’s different for hearing people who learn sign language. Culturally, we’re not the same.”
“So she wouldn’t like me because I can hear?”
“She wouldn’t dislike you. But she would definitely question the relationship.”
“Interesting.”
He smiles and shrugs.
“So…you’ve never dated a girl who can hear?”
He shakes his head, and then looks down at the menu the waitress leaves.
I tap the table in front of him. I’m annoyed and I’m trying to bite it back. I don’t say what I was about to say, because it wasn’t terribly kind.
“What?” he asks. He must see the look on my face.
“Nothing.”
“It’s something.”
“No, it’s not.” This time, it’s me who stares down at the menu. He pulls it out of my hand.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
“I don’t understand why you can’t have hearing friends.”
His mouth falls open in mock shock. “I have plenty of hearing friends.”
“But you couldn’t take a hearing girl home to meet your mother.” I watch him closely, looking for subtle clues about how my prying makes him feel.
“It would be a challenge.”
“Why?”
“Hearing people sometimes look down on deaf people.”
“I’m not looking down on you.”
He nods and holds up a finger to stop my tirade. “You might not be, but some hearing people do.”
“So, you’re judging a whole group of people by the actions of a few? Are you serious?”