Page 20 of The Tides Between Us

I did, but he prefers to form his own opinions of people.

Nico tapped on the counter to get my attention. I lifted my gaze to his with a stupid grin on my face. “If you’re going to be hanging out with him, I want to make sure he’s not a piece of shit, G.”

“I appreciate your concern, but I don’t need you scaring him away.”

He let out a breath. “Fine, but if things get more serious, I’m going to need to meet him.”

“Okay,”I agreed with a nod.“I will keep that in mind.”

My phone vibrated again and I looked down at Declan’s message as it lit up the screen. There was no reason for Nico to meet him now. After all, it was just breakfast, right? There was no way this could possibly go any further than that, even if I did find myself drawn to him.

Declan

He’s protective of you, as he should be. I don’t mean to be forward, but I have every intention of getting to know you, Giana. If your brother wants to meet me, I will gladly do that.

My breath caught in my throat. My experience with other men had been limited. In a way, this was foreign territory to me. It felt like things were shifting quickly, but I wasn’t afraid of it. I wasn’t upset with it. Instead, I was having the opposite reaction.

I was ready to dive in deep.

CHAPTERNINE

DECLAN

Istared at my laptop screen, moving my hands along as I spoke the words aloud. The instructor who was on the opposite end of the Zoom call moved his along with me. He was going through basic questions to start a conversation. I was fairly certain I was fucking it all up, but I felt like I was slowly getting the hang of it too.

This was only my second session with Mark. I found him online two days ago and signed up for an hour of ASL lessons with him every day. The first day he taught me the alphabet and a few common signs. He sent along a PDF that had visuals of the signs and I practiced them every spare second I had in the day.

“You’re learning really quickly, Declan,” Mark said with a smile as we wrapped up our lesson. My email dinged as he sent over the document of everything we had gone over today. “If you have the time to practice the signs you learned today, that would be perfect and we can expand on them tomorrow morning.”

I folded my hands on the table on Adrian’s back deck as I watched my screen. A part of me was happy with the progress I had made, but I felt like it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t something I could learn overnight. It took time, and I found myself struggling to have any ounce of patience.

“Is there any way I can learn faster?” The frustration was evident in my voice and it was laced throughout my words.

Mark let out a laugh. “I’ve never had someone pick up on it like you have. It’s all about memorizing and muscle memory of how you move your arms, hands, and fingers.” He paused for a moment as a look of curiosity passed through his expression. “May I ask what the rush is for?”

I sucked in a deep breath before letting it out. “I’d like to be able to communicate with a friend without her having to write it down or text it to me.”

“Ah,” he said with a knowing look. He understood completely, without me having to divulge any more details. “Well, regardless of your progress—which has been amazing—I’m sure she will just be thrilled to know you are taking an interest in learning ASL.”

“I hope so,” I said softly, praying to the ocean gods that he was right.

“Has she told you about sign names at all?” Mark questioned me.

I shook my head, my eyebrows pulling together. “What’s a sign name?”

“It’s like a special sign that someone gives someone instead of having to spell out their name every time.”

I mulled over his words. “I did notice that when she says her brother’s name, she does this thing where she signs the letter N by her forehead.”

Mark nodded. “That would make a lot of sense, since he’s her brother and if his name starts with the letter N.”

“I don’t think she has one for me.”

Mark smiled. “Not yet.”

His words swirled around in my brain and I couldn’t help but think about the significance of a sign name. Maybe she did have one for me and I didn’t know.

“Tomorrow at eight again?”

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