16. Somee #2
“Or so you think.” I eased around Ryland and walked to the table for Taste of Nigeria. The woman greeted me and Ryland interpreted for us when she held up a plate, offering a sample. After our first stop, he asked if I wanted him to interpret for me.
I appreciated that he asked instead of assuming and taking over. That was another thing that made being around him easy. He moved with my flow, following my lead for what I needed. I didn’t have to feel like I was incapable or inadequate in his space.
After learning that the sample was jollof rice and suya, I thanked her, accepted the plate, and maneuvered the fork she offered into the rice, groaning in pleasure from my first bite. It was so damn good.
Ryland watched me, amused. I didn’t even care that I was tearing the plate down with a full audience there to witness. When I finished, I lifted one of the card-sized menus with their top rated dishes and restaurant information printed on both sides and placed it in my crossbody.
“That your first time having Nigerian food?”
“Yes and I’m sold,” I signed with a grin.
“Don’t send that shit to Joy, trying to get her to make it. I peeped you taking pictures of your food this morning. She can’t fuck with Morningside.”
I smiled big as hell. “She can try.”
“It won’t be the same. Whenever you want it, I’ll order it for you.”
“Just whatever I want, huh?”
“Happy wife, happy life.”
My eyes rolled. “Yeah, you need to get your head checked for concussions.”
“Ain’t shit wrong with my head. I’m speaking things into existence. I’m manifesting you with my last name and being the mother of all my kids.”
“Who says I want kids?”
“If you don’t, that’s cool, but I know you want a little mini me with my face and my style.”
“How is it my mini me with your face?”
“I’m not selfish, so I’m willing to share the spotlight.
” He flashed a smile. “She can match my fly and have your face, but the point is, I have you thinking about it.” He grinned and I wanted to argue but I was thinking about it.
For a split second my mother was in my head, telling me a hearing man could never love me the way I deserved, but just as quickly as the thought surfaced, her voice was replaced with Marlee’s.
That’s her life. Don’t let it be yours, friend…
“Your delusion and ambition should be studied,” I signed to Ryland.
We spent the next couple hours moving from spot to spot with very little communication between the two of us other than when interacting with the vendors. It felt nice. I enjoyed being alone with Ryland.
The energy, the vibe. The feeling of knowing I didn’t need to try. I spent the time in my head, thinking about how good it felt to have a man at my side. One who led with intention. One who made me believe I could trust him with me and that was rare.
I was letting myself do this. Falling for a man my mother would love as a person because Ryland was an amazing human but hate for me because he was hearing. I was officially considering the possibility of starting something new somewhere new and it was scary as hell but also tempting.
The next month was pretty much the same.
We would take Rylee to school and spend the day together.
Sometimes at the house and others exploring the city.
When it was time to pick Rylee up from school, we did so together, basically functioning like our own little makeshift family.
I loved how things just fell into place.
At night, he thoroughly pleased my body in his bed and we got cozy in mine with him exploring my mind. I got to know him and he got to know me.
We talked for hours, then he went back to his room, leaving me to think about a life with the man whose scent lingered on my pillows and in my sheets. I wanted that life, I wanted Ryland.
With each day that passed, the idea of leaving got pushed further and further to the back of my mind. Maybe I was the one who needed my head checked because all this felt so real and so mine.
Even now, watching Rylee run around with her new friends while I chatted with one of their parents, my role in her and Ryland’s lives seemed so natural.
“Thank you for allowing her to come. I know it was last minute but Areena really wanted Rylee here,” Toya Davies signed, sitting across from me.
“It’s no problem at all. Rylee was really excited to come,” I signed back.
Ryland and I met Toya two days ago when she was waiting in the car pickup line with her daughter Areena.
She waited until we arrived to ask if Rylee could come to Areena’s birthday party.
Apparently Rylee and Areena were in the same class and had quickly become friends.
The party had been planned for months, but with Rylee being new to the school, she received a late invite which she was ecstatic about.
Like her mother, Areena was deaf but had partial hearing when she wore hearing aids.
Toya and her husband Daren elected to send their daughter to Chandler Academy so she would have friends who spoke her language.
Her father Daren was hearing and supported the decision, wanting their daughter to have the best advantage.
They also made sure Areena was enrolled in classes with hearing students as well for extracurricular activities like swimming, basketball, and soccer, which had me making a mental note to check in with Rylee to see if she was interested in doing the same.
We were at Gravity Zone for Areena’s birthday and it warmed my heart knowing Rylee was making friends.
It further proved that she was finding her footing and being here with Ryland was the best decision for them both.
Giving Rylee the love he wanted but never received until being adopted by Orlando and Miranda healed his inner child.
It was beautiful to experience. They both needed this.
And so did I…
Toya glanced at Ryland, who was engaged in a conversation with her husband, before her curious eyes were on me. “Rylee said that you’re her teacher?”
Ryland and I hadn’t discussed what to tell people about us, so I wasn’t quite sure how to navigate discussions about what we were. Ultimately, sharing my information about how Rylee and I knew each other would lead to more details about my connection to her brother.
“I was. I teach at Harrington Academy in Chicago.”
“Right, that’s where she transferred from. You’re in the middle of a school year…” She arched a brow, leaving the end open for me to fill in. My eyes darted to Ryland unintentionally. Toya grinned.
“If it’s none of my business, girl, tell me.
I promise. No hard feelings, but you two can’t hide that there’s something there.
I’m being nosy because Ryland Parks as a single dad is the talk of the school.
” She flashed a smile before she added, “And I know Ryland is Rylee’s brother but that’s all semantics.
He’s basically the hottest, eligible, single dad at Harrington and those H-O-E-S are talking. ”
Of course they are.
“He’s single, so…” I signed casually and a smug grin eased onto her face.
“Is he?”
I frowned and her hands were moving again. “Based on the way he’s been tracking your every move since we got here and how you keep not so subtly glancing in his direction, I’d say he’s not all that single. And again, none of my business, but I will gladly tell those thirsty H-O-E-S to fall back.”
I smirked at the way her look expressed exactly how she felt about whoever those thirsty hoes were. “We’re something. I don’t exactly know what.”
Her face lit up as she began to sign. “Key word, something. That’s enough for me to tell them to find something safe to do because Ryland isn’t it.”
If she wanted to be on a mission to shut down women throwing themselves at Ryland, who was I to stop her fun?
I did a quick check in to make sure Rylee was good.
All the other parents basically threw their kids at Toya and Daren, leaving before there was a Gravity Zone party guest band around their child’s wrist.
Rylee was thrilled about the party, however, we didn’t know Areena’s parents and weren’t comfortable leaving.
Toya assured us it was perfectly fine to stay and actually encouraged Ryland and me to do so.
That might have been so she could get the tea, but either way, I was glad we decided to stay. Toya and her husband were cool people.
“Are you guys from here?” I was curious to know their story but thought I should ease into the subject instead of hitting her with, so you’re deaf and your husband is hearing.
How does that work? I think I’m falling for a hearing man but my mother has convinced me that merging the two worlds is disastrous.
“Daren is. I’m a transplant. Originally from Tennessee.”
“Tennessee to Crescent Falls. How did that happen?”
She smiled brightly. “I worked for an ad agency trying to lock down a deal with Maddox Tech. The owner, A-Z-I-A-N, wasn’t trying to give us a chance because we were based in Tennessee, so they sent me out to see if I could convince him that we were more than qualified to handle marketing for Maddox Tech. ”
“You got the contract?”
“I got the contract, but not for my company.”
My brows lifted and she grinned before signing, “They only sent me because they wanted to fire me. I was the best at the firm and they hated that I was so good at my job.”
“Wait, so they thought you would fail?”
“Oh girl, they just knew I would, but what they didn’t know was the power of a determined Black woman. As much as they wanted the account, they wanted a reason to fire me even more. Giving me the Maddox pitch was their way of setting me up to fail.”
“But you got the account.”