Instead of having to spell out Olivia each time I need to use her name, she would have a name sign, which is something unique about her.
“I do.”Her open hand brushes down her chin and then closes.
“I love that you’re sweet.”
“Do you have one?”she asks, and I nod.
“My deaf student gave me it.”I make the sign where I trace the sun and the sky before opening my hand like the rays are hitting my face.
Olivia smiles.“Sunshine?”
I nod.“Apparently, I am bright and fun. Does your dad have one?”
Olivia makes the sign which is a mix between hero and strong. Her hand almost looks like a claw as she touches her shoulder, pulls her hand back into a fist.“Asher.”
“Did you give it to him?”
She nods.“He’s very lucky because I think he should’ve had something like grumpy.”
She laughs, and Asher sighs heavily.“Go get dressed and ready for school. I’ll deal with this bright light.”
I wave to her as she walks off, leaving Mr. Grumpy Cop alone with me. “Your ASL is really good,” he notes.
“I’m going to school to be an audiologist, I would hope it would be.”
“That was a compliment.”
“Then thank you,” I say with a grin and follow him into the kitchen. “You weren’t kidding about the binder.”
“Sara is thorough, and Olivia means the world to us, so we work hard to make sure the transitions between our homes is easy for her, which means sharing information.”
Smart. “Do you have a binder she gets?”
He laughs. “Hell no. I’m not doing that crap. I tell her what I remember, and she writes it down.”
I scoff. “Typical man.”
“Anyway, I have to leave in a few minutes. There is a detailed page about school days and the order she’s supposed to do things, ignore it. Just make sure she has what she needs. Mrs. Arrowood will be outside the school to get her from you. I already sent her an email to let her know you are authorized to drop Olivia off and pick her up.”
“That was very forward thinking of you.”
He winks. “It’s on page twenty-two of the binder.”
I laugh. “And your shift today is until?”
“It’s a twelve today and tomorrow, but I am on call for the county twenty-four seven for the next month.”
Yeah, this on-call thing is going to be an issue. I am all for helping, but I really don’t want to live here. “Here’s the deal, I’ll stay here when you have a shift the next day or overnights, but on your days off, there’s no reason for me to stay the night. If you get a call and need me, I’ll come back over.”
Asher shakes his head. “No.”
“No?”
“No. If I’m on call, I have minutes. I don’t have time to wait for you to get here.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “I live literally eleven minutes down the road. I could run here in fifteen. That’s the maximum amount of time it would take me to reach you. If you’re in bed, you’ll need to get up, get dressed, take a piss, probably shoo out whatever girl is in your bed . . . it’ll be fine.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you’re still annoying?”