Page 11 of The Love Duet
“I’m going to do that on Monday,” I told her.“I wanted to give her some time to think about my interest in her.”I let out a sad laugh.“Honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“Oh, that has nothing to do with her being deaf, son,” Dad chuckled.“That’s men with all women.”
“Watch it, Bram,” Mom teasingly warned.
“Always, honey,” Dad easily replied, and I just smiled at the two of them.
~
Roxanne~
It was Saturday morning, and I was pretty sure that I hadn’t stopped smiling since Royce had driven me home last night.Royce had been the perfect gentleman, but I wasn’t sure if some of that had been in part to Pepper threatening him.
Still, last night had been perfect.
“Okay, I can’t stand it anymore,” my mom signed as she walked into the living room.We’d just finished cleaning up after breakfast, and Dad had gone to take an emergency phone call.
Both my parents worked Monday through Friday, so the weekends were usually ours.However, if there was an emergency, my father was more than willing to handle it.He wasn’t one of those doctors who were in it just for the money.He genuinely cared about people, and it showed in the way that he dealt with his patients.
As for Mom, she also had scheduled hours, but if the center was doing something big, or if it was the holidays, then she put in more hours than was required of her.While she hadn’t been raised in poverty or by a single parent, my mother had something special about her that made it easy for her to connect with the struggling youth.So, between her and my father, I learned early on what it meant to treat people right.
“What?”I signed.
She arched a brow as she took a seat in one of the armchairs.“You’ve been smiling like you have the sun on your face ever since you got back from the game last night,” she signed, a teasing smirk on her face.“What gives?”
I let out an embarrassed sigh before signing her the truth.“A boy.”
Her smirk turned into a smile.“Okay, I want to hear all about it.”
“All about what?”Dad signed as he walked into the room.
“Is everything okay?”My parents were very involved with each other’s lives, so I wasn’t surprised that my mom asked him about the phone call.
“Everything’s fine,” he signed.“There was an issue with a transfer.”
Mom nodded, then spilled the beans.“Roxie’s met a boy.”
My dad’s brows shot upward.“Is that why you went to the game last night?”
Again, this town was a sports town, so most citizens knew what was going on with the local high school, even if they didn’t have any kids that age, and my parents were no different.Plus, my mother loved sports, so she was always in the know, even if I didn’t play any.
I nodded.“Royce Cameron,” I voiced, feeling giddy enough to speak.No matter how strange I might sound, I always felt safe with my parents.
“Yosemite’s varsity quarterback?”Mom asked, switching to speaking since I’d chosen to speak.My parents were awesome like that.They always let me set the pace of our communication.
I nodded.“Pepper had wanted to go anyway, but Royce had asked me to go when we ran into each other in the hallway yesterday.”
“So, tell us about this young man,” Dad spoke, his words precise.
“He invited us to sit in the players’ section, then after the game, he introduced us to his parents,” I told them.“His father’s a lawyer, and his mom’s a stay-at-home-mom.”
“Meeting the parents, huh?”Mom teased.“That’s pretty serious.”
My dad just eyed me, being the protective father that he was.“And then what happened?”
“He asked if he could drive me home from the game, and after Pepper gave him permission, he drove me home,” I answered.
“He asked Pepper for permission?”Dad asked, a little smirk on his face.
