Page 118 of The Sound Of Us

A well-dressed woman sits at a desk off to my left. She stands, signing to Eli quickly. I catch only one word, Tea.

Eli gives her a nod and pulls me in through a set of large mahogany doors.

Pepper’s toenails tick-tick-tick across the floor. As she sniffs out the place with her tail swishing from side to side, I let go of Eli’s hand and turn a slow one-eighty.

I feel like Beauty, who’s just been shown the library. The side I’m looking at has a bookshelf that goes from floor to ceiling and, fuck me to book heaven, a whole goddam ladder.

On the other side is a smaller bookshelf, but fuck, still bigger than any bookshelf I’ve ever seen.

It’s only when my eyes return to Eli that I notice the massive oak desk in front of the window. A black leather couch is adjacent to the desk. My eyes immediately switch to the floor to ceiling bookshelf, and I make to step in that direction when I realise where I am and why I’m here.

I smooth out my coat and turn back to Eli. This place is Eli’s world. So calm, so organised. Not anything like the world I come from.

He’s smiling at me and then, after giving Pepper a treat, he takes my hand and walks over to the big bookshelf.

“This was my father’s office,” he signs. “He loved to read.”

He pulls out a book from the middle shelf—Edgar Allan Poe’s Tamelane and Other Poems. He presses it into my hand.

“A first edition?” I ask, shocked and suddenly feeling like I’ve contaminated the book simply by touching it.

Eli’s smile broadens. He nods.

Delicately, I open it, eating the words up from the page. But this is a very expensive book, so I give it back to him.

Eli sets the book on the desk behind him and pulls me back into his arms. I stay there for a long time. It’s quiet but for the gentle whirr of the air conditioning and the occasional grunt from Pepper as she finishes her treat.

“How is your mother?” I ask when he lets me go an inch.

Recovering well. It was a scare, he types on his phone.

“I’ll do my best to speak to you with my voice,” he says with his voice. “I hope I’m not too loud.”

I’m amazed at the sound of his voice. I’ve heard it only a few times before and then, I was not in a position to appreciate it. Now, the deepness of his voice and the hint of a lisp wraps me in a kind of safety I’ve never felt before.

I wrap my arms around his waist and smile up at him. “It’s beautiful. Your voice. It’s so beautiful, Eli. And I’ll get better at signing.”

He kisses my smile. A light brush of his lips over mine. We’ll meet my mother soon. She’s been looking forward to meeting you, he types.

“She knows about me?”

He nods.

I drop my eyes. I couldn’t give Eli a decent start to our relationship. I should have left Frank before starting anything with Eli. Now, he’ll be forced to explain to his own mother that the person he’s with is married.

I remember the letter in my pocket and push gently against Eli. He lets me go but keeps his hands loosely around my waist.

I dig into my pocket and hand the paper over to him. Smoothing out the creases as much as possible before letting him take it.

He looks at me curiously. “I wanted you to know everything,” I explain.

He opens the letter. I wipe my hands over the pockets of my coat.

Chapter 61

Eli

I’ve been told my whole life how grounded I am. So mature and diplomatic. Never one to panic. It’s what has made me so successful in everything I do. I’m watchful and silent in more ways than the obvious one, and that’s what keeps people in their place.

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