Page 196 of The Right Move

It looks similar to the sign for protect, but on his dominant hand, his index and middle fingers are crossed like the letter “R”.

“Oh,” Indy squeaks out. She swallows thickly. “Yes, Ryan won his game.”

She signs back to her dad while speaking and again I see that same unknown sign, but recognize it used in place of the fingerspelling of my name.

Tim turns to me, points, then signs the word protect again with his fingers creating the letter “R” at the same time. He points at me again.

“I’m Ryan?” I ask, using his sign for my name.

He nods, smiling.

Abigale leans her head on Tim’s shoulder as she looks at me.

“Is that my sign name?” I ask him to the best of my ability.

“Yes.”

Words stick in my throat, so I simply nod, sign, and mouth, “Thank you.”

“No. Thank you.”

He doesn’t have to say anything else. I know what it means. Thank you for protecting my daughter, for loving my daughter. But later tonight, I’ll hopefully be the one saying thank you right after I ask for his blessing to marry his daughter.

It was the first question I learned to sign, so you could say I’ve been practicing it for a while.

Grabbing a Sharpie from my gym bag, I find Rio sitting on the back porch with my sister, Zanders, Kai, and his son Max.

“Okay, what am I signing?”

His head snaps to mine, green eyes sparkling with excitement. “For real?”

“You let my girl crash at your place, you took care of her, and got her out here. It’s the least I can do.”

Rio shrugs casually, attempting to play it cool as if he hasn’t been thinking about this moment since I first met him. “I don’t really have anything on me to sign.”

“No? All right, well, I tried.”

“Wait! I have two jerseys and a poster in the car. I also have an old Wheaties cereal box that you were on.” He quickly stands from his seat. “Do not put that pen away!”

The rest of us can’t help but laugh, watching his dark curls bounce with him as he sprints through the house, dodging my teammates to make it to the front door.

“That’s my teammate,” Zanders says with a weird sense of pride.

Stealing his chair, I take a seat in the circle of Kai, Zanders, and my sister, completely and utterly at peace.

“You’re happy.” Stevie smiles softly. “It looks good on you, Ry.”

I rest my head back, letting the sounds of Ethan’s kids playing in the backyard and my teammates having a good time fill my ears. “I am. This is everything I didn’t know I could have.”

Looking through the back door, I find Indy refilling more drinks and that girl could not look more excited to be hosting a get together in her very own home.

“Indy is happy too, yeah?” I don’t know why I feel the need to ask, I guess I just like to hear the confirmation.

“She’s been so excited, planning tonight for you. You should’ve seen her the last three days, Ryan.”

“And if we happen to have lost?”

“She was having a party regardless. There probably would’ve been a bit more booze involved though.”

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