Page 10 of The Love Duet
I grinned because I couldn’t help it.“I asked her if I could call her that, and she said yes.”
“So...?”she prompted before turning back towards the stove.
“Well, since I couldn’t really talk to her while I was driving, the ride to her house had been a bit awkward.However, once we got there, we stayed in the car and talked a little bit.”I let out a soft laugh.“Of course, that was after she had texted Pepper to let her know that she was home safe.”
“You know, texts are-”
“As soon as Roxie sent the text, Pepper had facetimed her to make sure,” I added.
Mom started laughing.“I’m liking Pepper more and more.”
“It’s awesome that Roxie has a friend like her,” I agreed.“Girls should always look out for one another, but more so when one is at risk a little more than the others.”
“So, what did you guys talk about?”she asked.While I was a teenage boy with teenage boy hormones, my parents had raised me to respect females, so my mother knew that nothing had happened in my car last night.
“I asked her if she liked the game, if she liked sports,” I told her.“Things like that.I asked her about her family, and she told me that her father is a doctor, her mother is the director at the rec center, and that she has an older brother in college.His name is Arnold, after their dad, and he’s going to college for teaching.”
Mom transferred the food from the pan to the breakfast platter before turning to face me again.“She signed you all that?And you understood it?”
I grimaced a bit.“Well, no,” I admitted.“We ended up exchanging numbers and texted a lot of the conversation.
Mom went back to arranging breakfast, and after setting everything onto the breakfast bar, she smiled at me.“Well, I bet that made things a lot easier.”
“It did, but...”I let out a heavy sigh.“I don’t want to text her, Mom.I want to talk to her.I want to communicate with her in a way that makes her feel close to me.Not in goddamn texts.”
Her face softened.“Royce, it’s only been a few months,” she pointed out.“Give it some time.It’s not easy learning ASL.”Since she was also taking classes, I knew that she was just trying to be helpful.
Just then, my father came walking into the kitchen, his hair still damp from his shower.I watched as he walked up to my mother, wrapped an arm around her, then kissed her neck like I wasn’t in the room.If there was one thing that could be said about my parents, it was that they were still very much in love with one another.My father adored my mother, and she let him.
“Do you two mind?”I joked.
“My wife, my house, my rules,” Dad chuckled.“Deal with it.”
“I have,” I snorted.“For eighteen years.”
“Well, how in the hell do you think you got to be here, son?”Dad smirked.Still, he did me the favor of getting his paws off my mother.
“Dude, I’m about to eat breakfast,” I grumbled like the offended teenager that I was.“Leave my mother alone.”Mom laughed, making me and Dad both smile.
“She was my wife before she was your mother,” he replied.
“Eat,” Mom said, putting a stop to the back and forth.“Both of you.”
“So, since you have an away game this coming week, we’re heading over to visit Quincy this weekend,” Dad announced.“Thought we’d give you a heads up.”
I nodded as I made my plate.“Okay, no problem.”While my parents weren’t the hovering type, they still liked to visit my brother whenever they could.“I miss him.”
“Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away,” Mom reminded me.“You’ll see him soon enough.”
After a few comfortable moments of eating, Dad finally asked his questions.“So, how did it go last night?She seems like a very lovely young lady.She even humored your mother with some signing after you went to the showers.”
Mom chuckled, and I smiled.“It went well, but I was just telling Mom that I wish I was more fluent in ASL,” I told him.“I don’t like how we had to text most of our conversation.I know that she can read lips, but that felt ridiculous since it was me who couldn’t understand her signing and not her that couldn’t understand me.”
“Look, I’m not an expert with things like this, but...well, why don’t you ask her if she can help teach you to sign?”he suggested.“They say that the best way to learn another language is to use it constantly.Maybe Roxanne can sign as slowly as you speak, and you both can learn from one another.”
As I thought about that, it was a rather good suggestion.“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea,” I muttered.“I’ll ask her about it on Monday.”
“Well, did you ask her out, at least?”Mom asked.“Like to be your girlfriend?”
