Chapter 3
Chapter Three
T he lights flicking off and on woke Evan from his slumber. Prying his eyes open, he saw Mercedes standing in the doorway, her face scrunched up.
What? was all he could sign in his half-awake phase.
“I’m sorry. I hate waking you up on your day off.”
Especially since he’d been out with friends last night and hadn’t gotten in until almost two. “Then why are you?”
“My parents just called. They’re on their way up for a visit.”
Glancing at his phone for the time, he groaned. It was barely nine. “Do I need to get out of here?”
“No.” Her gorgeous curls bounced around her shoulders as she shook her head. “I told them how you’d moved in, and they were hoping to visit with both of us.”
Evan flopped back on the bed and closed his eyes. “They’re an hour away. I can take five more minutes.”
The floor shook, and he pried one eye open again. “They left a half hour ago. You only have thirty minutes, if you’re lucky. Sorry.”
“Is there a reason they want to see me, too?” He’d met her parents when he was younger but hadn’t seen them in years.
Her mom was gorgeous, obviously where Mercedes got her looks from.
Her father was a college professor. Enough said.
Doubtful he’d want to sit around and chat about highway construction.
“You’re my roommate now. They want to get to know you better.”
Evan rubbed his hands over his eyes and pushed into a sitting position. “You didn’t tell them we were dating like you did with Tasha, the gum chewer, did you?”
“God, no. They know you’ve always hung out here and are like a brother to me. I haven’t seen them in a while, and Mom wanted to get out for a drive.”
“So you’re simply an extension of Carli, huh?” He’d never let her know that was the last thing he saw her as. The crush he’d had on her as a kid had only gotten bigger and bigger the more he’d gotten to know her. Too bad she’d never look at a guy like him in a romantic way.
“Fine, I’m getting up. You might want to turn your back, unless you want an up close and personal with my anatomy. Pretty sure I dropped into bed commando last night.” He tentatively lifted the covers and nodded. “Yup. Like the day I was born.”
Mercedes rolled her eyes, did an about face, and shut the door. Evan chuckled and flopped back on his pillow. He knew he couldn’t stay long.
Five minutes later, he’d managed to drag on a pair of sweats to get to the bathroom and throw himself in the shower.
Once clean, he attempted to tidy his room.
Normally, he didn’t care what it looked like, but he didn’t want Mercedes embarrassed if her parents got a look—or heaven forbid, a whiff—of his disaster area.
With his clothes in the hamper, his boots in the closet, and a liberal dose of air freshener, it was almost presentable. Almost.
In the kitchen, Mercedes hustled about wiping down surfaces.
“Can I get some caffeine, or am I destined to being a zombie all day?”
“You know where the Mountain Dew is. Make sure to wipe up any spills you make.”
He gave a smart salute. “Yes, sir.”
She threw the dish towel at him and stomped into the living room to fluff pillows. Really? Did she think her parents would up and leave if the pillows weren’t at the maximum puffiness?
Once he’d inhaled his soda and the caffeine had hit his bloodstream, he followed Mercedes to the living room.
“What can I do to stop you from freaking out?”
Her head whipped up. “I’m not freaking out.”
He cocked his head and pointed to where she straightened the stack of magazines for the third time.
“Okay, maybe a little freaking out. I want the place to look decent when they get here. Can you check the bathroom and make sure it’s cleaned up? Towels all away. No toothpaste in the sink.”
He lifted one eyebrow and signed, “None of your bras on the shower rod. Your strands of hair picked up from the floor.”
“Oh, you’re so funny. There weren’t any bras there last night, and I swept the floor of any wayward hair this morning before you woke up.”
Mercedes had gorgeous hair, all dark and curly with golden highlights she must have gotten from her blonde mother. It did have a tendency to leave a mess on the floor after she brushed it. Since he left plenty of his bits and pieces around the apartment, he didn’t have the right to complain.
“Tidy the bathroom. On it.” Her relieved expression made him laugh.
It only took a few minutes to pick up the towel he’d dropped after his shower—oops—then wipe the sink and tub quickly.
He backtracked into the kitchen with the wastebaskets from the bathroom and his room and dumped them into the larger kitchen one.
He pointed to her room. “Does yours need emptying?”
“Yes, please. And thanks.”
After the trash was bagged and taken to the outside barrels, Evan replaced them with new bags and finally sat with his second glass of Mountain Dew. Mercedes hustled into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee.
“Can you sit long enough to drink that, or should we insert an IV you can hang around your neck?”
She examined the room, then peered into the living room beyond and sighed. “I think I can sit for a minute.”
“What’s the plan for the parents? How long are they staying? Are we doing lunch? And if so, here? Or are they taking you out?”
Her gray eyes roamed the ceiling as she frowned.
“I have no idea. My mom is a kind of spur-of-the-moment person. Drives my dad crazy, because he likes everything planned to the nanosecond, but he’s gotten used to it.
I guess we’ll see when they get here, which might be any minute.
Traffic coming off the Cape should be fine.
It’s going in the other directions that will be a nightmare. ”
Evan shrugged. “If they hang out here long enough the traffic will die down. Do I look presentable or should I find something better?” He wore a pair of tan cargo shorts that weren’t too battered and a plain gray t-shirt.
Since he wore work boots every day at the construction site, his sneakers were in decent shape.
Of course, Mercedes wore a gauzy sundress that made her look like a princess.
He didn’t own any clothes that could possibly live up to her standard of dress.
She sent him a quick glance. “You’re fine. It’s the beginning of August and your day off. I doubt they expect you to be in a suit.” Her head swiveled toward the door, and she popped up.
They must be here. He hadn’t seen the light flash for the doorbell. Unless they knocked. He wouldn’t hear that. His stomach tightened thinking about spending any time with her parents.
Mercedes was fluent in ASL, but he doubted her parents knew much, if any.
Which meant he’d have to pay extra close attention and attempt to read their lips.
His youngest sister, Deanna, was amazing at lip reading, but he struggled at times.
It depended on the person speaking. Too many hearing people thought overexaggerating and moving their lips in all weird ways was helpful.
It wasn’t. Blake had done that the first time he’d come to their parents’ house.
Carli took him out of the room, and when he came back, he spoke normally.
At least his lips hadn’t been all weird anymore.
Thankfully, Blake had been learning ASL and was getting good enough to make it through rudimentary conversations. Between their brother, Brian, who was hearing, and Mercedes, who hung out at the house all the time, Blake was able to get the gist of most of the conversations.
At the vibration of footsteps, he stood and moved to the doorway between the kitchen and living room.
Mercedes entered, followed by her parents.
Her father was an imposing man with broad shoulders and a barrel chest. He wasn’t quite as tall as Evan, but the distinguished college professor look made him nervous.
Her mother was just as lovely as Mercedes, though her skin was much lighter. Her hair lay in blonde waves to her shoulders, and she was slightly more petite than her daughter. Mercedes had definitely gotten the right mix between the two of them.
“You remember my parents, don’t you? Lisette and Pierre?”
Evan nodded. “Nice to see you again.” He watched their expressions as he spoke the words.
Neither one flinched or narrowed their eyes as if they couldn’t understand him.
He hated that look. It happened too often with the guys at work when he tried to verbalize something.
Much of the time, he found it easier to simply send a text if he needed to give someone information on the job.
“Nice to see you again.” Lisette actually signed, and Evan smiled. She wasn’t smooth with the words, but she got big points for effort.
“Have you settled in okay?” Pierre spoke slowly, and Evan got his message.
“Still trying to make it clean enough for Mercedes.”
Mercedes mouth moved, so he knew she was repeating his words. Had he not spoken them clearly enough? Probably. Maybe he needed to get more speech therapy like his sister had done. Why couldn’t everyone learn ASL? It would make his life a whole lot easier.
Pierre laughed, then pointed to a cap he’d forgotten to put away. It had the Red Sox logo on the front. He said something, but Evan didn’t quite get it. He looked to Mercedes for translation.
“You like baseball? Who’s your favorite player?” she signed.
Baseball. He could manage that conversation. Digging his phone out of his pocket, he slid his finger across the screen. Once he showed Pierre the site with the stats of his favorite player, the man grinned and pulled out his phone, too.
For more than an hour, he and Pierre tapped away on their phones discussing and debating the merits of each player. Mercedes and her mom had toddled into the kitchen. He hadn’t even noticed until an amazing smell wafted through the open doorway back into the living room.
“Is that lunch?” he yelled to his roommate.
“Maybe. If you two are finished gushing about over-paid spoiled athletes.” Mercedes planted her hands on her hips once she’d signed.
“I wouldn’t mind that kind of pay,” he said.
“Then you should have played baseball.”
“I do play. My league starts next week. You can come be my cheerleading squad if you want.”
One eyebrow rose on her pretty face. “Do I need to get pompoms and a short skirt?”
He laughed. “If you do, the guys on the team will love having you there.” Heck, the guys would love having her there in anything she wore.
Mercedes waved for him and Pierre to come eat. They washed their hands and sat at the small kitchen table.
This is excellent! Evan signed because his mouth was still full of the scrumptious chicken dish. He hadn’t even realized they had ingredients for it. Unless that’s what was in the large canvas bag Lisette carried in.
“Mom is the best.” Mercedes grinned, then winked at her mother.
The meal was mostly silent—well, meals were always silent for Evan—but at least when he was with friends or family, there was lots of conversation through signing.
A few times, Mercedes’ parents looked up and spoke. He appreciated that she took the time to interpret what was being said, both their questions and her answers. Most people didn’t bother. He’d gotten used to it, but often he still felt unworthy of people’s words or their time.
When they finished up the meal, Pierre stood and waved at Evan, then pointed to the dishes. He faced Mercedes and asked something. A pretty smile grew on her face and she signed, “Our turn” to her dad.
Pierre then repeated the sign to him. He might not be fluent in ASL but at least he made attempts to communicate with him to some degree.
Mercedes and Lisette settled on the couch in the living room while he and her dad rinsed and stacked the dishes in the dishwasher. When they were done, Pierre dug his phone from his pocket, tapped on his notes app, then showed it to Evan.
—I sometimes get tickets to the Red Sox games. Would you want to go with me next time?—
Evan nodded at the nice gesture and shook his hand. “Thank you.”
Pierre tapped his wrist where a watch might be, then pointed to the door. He said something to his wife and she nodded, then stood.
“Thank you so much for coming up and making us a great meal.” Mercedes gave her parents each a hug and kiss as they headed to the door.
Lisette gave Evan a hug and a peck on the cheek. The gesture was endearing and made him think about how Mercedes and his own mom hugged every time they saw each other.
Once her parents had left and driven off down the road, he and Mercedes plopped onto the couch.
He was exhausted from attempting to follow the conversations back and forth for the past few hours.
It was almost as bad as being back in school.
Eating a meal with non-deaf people was tiring, and he could use a nap. He had to stop being so lazy.
“Your dad has great taste in baseball players, and your mom is super sweet. Kids must have loved coming to your house to play when you were younger.”
Her eyes darkened. “Lots of kids weren’t allowed to come to my house when I was growing up.”
“What? Why not?”
“Because my parents aren’t the same color.”
He scowled. “You mean skin color? What the heck does the color of your skin have to do with anything? It’s not like you can choose it. Like being deaf. Hardly my fault. And it doesn’t change who I am as a person.” Though it may have colored how he saw things in life.
Mercedes snuggled into his arm and smiled up at him. Man, that expression could make him do almost anything. “That’s why I love your family so much. They always accepted me for me and didn’t care who my parents were or what they looked like.”
“Because it’s a stupid reason. You cut me off in traffic, and I’m all about judging you. But hair, eyes, skin? Geez, that’s ridiculous.”
He felt her chest rise and fall as she sagged against him.
He shouldn’t let her stay there, because he’d want it more and more.
She could become an addiction, and he didn’t have any way to break the habit.
Yet at some point, she’d find some guy who was as smart as she was, and they’d go off and read encyclopedias together. It wasn’t something he could do.
But masochist that he was, he didn’t move. He allowed her to relax against him and rest. She’d done a ton of interpreting today, and it was probably as tiring as reading lips. That was a great excuse anyway. The truth was he enjoyed having her close a little too much.