I saw that.
“So,” I said coyly, “you and Sofia?”
Jack had been messing around with a new project, sizing it up, when I walked downstairs the next morning and found him in the backyard.
When I walked up and spoke those four words to him, he looked up at me, and though his cheeks gave him away, he tried to look annoyed with me.
I just grinned at him until he broke. Finally, a small smile played along his lips, and he knew he couldn’t hide it.
Though, he tried to lower his head and go back to examining his new project.
The yard under my feet felt like a shag carpet, the grass soft and supple, the ground softened from the deluge we’d had.
Rustling in the wind, my hair caught the soft, cool breeze the storm had brought back to town.
The August sun overhead seemed muted by the cool earth underfoot and the breeze that had returned.
Jack swatted a hand at me.
“Are you…in looooooooove, Jack?”
He looked up at me, trying to appear angry, but he couldn’t keep that smile off of his face. The man had it bad.
“Is she your new squeeze, or what, man?” I asked.
Jack rolled his eyes and gave me what looked like a salute.
Don’t know.
He stood there for a minute, concentrating, then he brought his fist up to his chest, palm facing me, and bobbed it back and forth like a miniature head nodding. Next, he held both hands out and open, palms pointing to the sky, and raised and lowered his hands back and forth like a scale.
Yes. Probably.
I grinned at him.
His next sign was one I’d never seen before, but it was so expressive, that I got the gist of it. Apparently, he felt that I should go do something with myself that was physically impossible. He wasn’t being mean, though. He made his laughing face when he signed it, so I laughed with him.
“Fine,” I said. “I won’t talk about it.”
He signed “thank you.”
“But are you gonna ask her out on a date and get smoooooooches?” I teased. “Take her to Samuel’s for a sundae and ask her to wear your class ring?”
Jack’s head snapped up and he glowered at me.
“Okay, okay,” I waved him off. “I’m done making jokes.”
He signed “thank you” to me again.
“She understand sign language?” I asked.
Jack lifted one hand and tilted it back and forth while tilting his head back and forth. I was pretty sure that wasn’t official sign language, but it translated well enough.
“That’s good,” I said. “You have your notepad for the stuff she doesn’t understand, right?”
He nodded. I had told Jack I wouldn’t make any more jokes, so I hoped he wouldn’t take my next question as such, but I had to get it out.
“I guess your letters worked,” I mumbled quickly.
Jack tilted his head to the side and frowned at me. He signed “what?”
“Oh, come on, man,” I kicked at the ground with a smile. “The Shirlene letters. You have it bad for Sofia and the letters have been going to the post office. Also, I hear you going in and out of the house at night. You’ve been slipping letters into the post office slot, haven’t you?”
Jack looked at me like I was the craziest person he’d ever met, then slowly began shaking his head. He signed “not me.”
“Come on.”
Seriously, he signed.
“Oh.”
Jack began signing, and when he saw that I didn’t quite understand, he signed a second, then third time, then looked at me. He was indicating that he did something, ending with his two index fingers pointing up and down side by side above his head.
“Sky?”
Jack repeated the sign.
I thought about what he was trying to tell me.
“You look at the stars?” I asked.
He nodded happily.
“You come outside at night to look at the stars?” I asked, disappointment settling in my gut.
Again, he nodded.
“You don’t leave at night to send letters?”
No. Sorry. He smiled at me as he signed.
“Well, shit,” I grumbled and kicked at the ground. “I thought I’d solved one of Possibly’s unsolved mysteries.”
Jack made his laughing expression before signing “sorry” again.
Disappointment that I wouldn’t be able to give Auggie an answer to the Shirlene letters pulled at my gut.
“It’s all right,” I said. “I guess I just…well, I saw you two the other night. Then again yesterday. I guess I just assumed?”
He started to sign something, then stopped himself to dig his notepad out of his breast pocket. Apparently, whatever he had to say was too advanced in sign language that he didn’t think I’d understand. Jack jotted down a note and then held his pad out to me to read.
It was a good theory, but it was wrong.
“Yeah.”
He jotted another note.
I think the Shirlene letters are from Starbuck.
“Oh, yeah?” I grinned. “Why him?”
Jack held up a finger before jotting another, longer note on his pad, before holding it out to me to read once again.
I think he’s sweet on Levi Lee. He could practically be the boy’s father, but to each their own. Levi Lee lives with him, you know?
I gasped in shock, then laughed uproariously. Jack turned red, but he made his laughing expression, too.
“Do you really think so?” I asked.
Jack shrugged with a goofy grin.
I don’t know why, but I decided to share some gossip with Jack as well.
“You know,” I started slowly, “Levi Lee asked me if I wanted to get coffee with him yesterday…”
Jack froze and stared at me, his expression blank. After a moment, he jotted a note and held his notepad out to me.
What did you say?
I wanted to be offended that Jack had felt the need to ask, but then I realized that there was no reason to be offended.
Besides, he was only asking the logical question for someone who—though he was my stepfather—didn’t know me all that well yet.
How was he to know how I’d feel about a guy asking me on a date?
“I said ‘no.’”
Jack nodded as he wrote another note.
He’s a nice kid.
Again, I found myself saying a thing out loud that shocked even me.
“Yeah. He is. And it’s not like it wasn’t, like, a maybe at first. But…I’m not interested in Levi Lee,” I said quickly. “He’s really nice, though. He’s a good friend.”
Jack smiled. We stared at each other for a moment, unsure what to say or do next.
We had both shared more intimate information about ourselves than we had in our entire lives.
Information that, at first, felt dangerous to share.
But, like everyone in Possibly, we allowed each other to just be who we were.
It felt good. All things considered it was awkward.
But not in a bad way. It was a first real step in getting to know each other.
Is there someone you want to get coffee with? Jack held his notepad out to me again after jotting down his note.
I looked up at Jack and smiled shyly. He reached out and nudged me in the arm.
“Well, yeah,” I swatted his hand away. “But I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think I messed that all up.”
Jack examined me for a few moments, and his gaze made me so uncomfortable that I had to fill the silence with something. The truth was as good as anything.
“Auggie,” I said. “I…wouldn’t mind getting coffee. With him.”
He didn’t react; he was jotting in his notepad quickly before holding it out to me.
Auggie is a really nice kid.
When I looked up from the pad, Jack was smiling at me. And it was genuine.
“He is,” I said. “I guess I’m not always a great kid, though.”
I slumped as my brow furrowed, conveying my frustration with myself. Jack reached out and gripped my bicep. Gave it a squeeze. When I looked up at him, he was smiling at me. He didn’t sign or say anything. What was there to say when someone was throwing a pity party?
“I know,” I said. “Suck it up.”
Jack made his laughing expression again.
“I’m going to go see his art installation tonight, though,” I said. “So…we’re friends still.”
Jack nodded.
“Anyway,” I said with a shake of my head to clear my thoughts, “I’ll get out of your hair. I know you want to work and stuff.”
Chewing at the corner of his lip, Jack examined me for a few moments, then he was jotting in his notepad again. Finally, he held it up for me to read.
I think I’ll give myself a break today. Do you want to help me start a new table tomorrow?
The grin on my face was immediate and felt like it would split my face in two.
“Seriously?”
He nodded.
“Yeah, man,” I said. “I’d love to help.”
Jack gave me a grin and a wink and moved to grab his tarp to cover up the bits and pieces he had been examining when I’d found him in the yard.
Suddenly, he stopped, and waggled a hand at me to make sure he had my attention.
When it was clear I wasn’t going to rush away, he started jotting in his notepad again.
It was a quick note, so he was holding his notepad out to me within seconds.
You’re a nice kid, too.
“Thanks, man,” I said, looking anywhere but at Jack.
My cheeks were growing warm as Jack returned the notepad to his shirt pocket and signed to me once again.
I mean it.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s…let’s move on?”
Jack smiled, but relented with a nod. When he made no indication that he had anything else to say, I turned, intending to head back into the house.
Leaving Jack to cover up his project for the day so that I could go have breakfast was my goal.
However, at the sound of the plastic tarp being dragged over the wood and other supplies in the yard, I turned back to Jack.
I hadn’t intended to discuss so many serious topics with him when I’d first set out to tease him about Sofia that morning, but I’d learned one thing for certain while staying with Jack.
When he feels like talking…talk as much as you can.
“Jack?”
He looked up at me.
“Do you think I’m like everyone else in town?” I asked, chewing at my lip. “Can I be an artist? I mean…will I ever find what art I’m good at?”
Jack turned up his mouth in concentration and looked upwards, thinking over my question.
I was left to worry about what answer he would sign or write down on his notepad.
For longer than I felt necessary, especially since I was anxiously awaiting what he’d decide, Jack contemplated the question.
Finally, Jack returned his gaze to mine.
His fist came up and nodded like a tiny little head again.
“Really?” I asked.
Jack dug his notepad out of his pocket and flipped pages, but didn’t actually write anything down, before holding it out to me.
Is there someone you want to get coffee with?
“I already answered that, Jack,” I answered nervously.
He nodded, held up a finger, then went about jotting down another note to me. When he held the notepad out for me to read, my breath caught in my throat.
Start living the way you want. Because you’re starting to understand your art.
I thought this over, then raised my eyes to his.
“Life is art,” I said, nodding along as I stared at the message.
It was so obvious. I, along with everyone else in town, had said or acted out that belief a million times since I’d arrived in Possibly.
Jack shook his head with a small grin and jotted down another note. He gestured at his pad as he held it up for me to read.
No. YOU are art.