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Her eyelids flutter—she is still half-asleep—but her bottom lip sticks out in a pout. “I’m so sorry, Fox. How can I help?”
Fuck, this girl is too sweet. “You’re already helping, sugar. Just cuddle with me, okay?”
“Okay,” she says, and I snuggle into her. Her steady breathing begins again, and it soothes me into a nap of my own.
* * *
Twilight streamsthrough the half-open blinds when I wake up. Riley twitches in my arms, but it doesn’t feel the way she does when she is having a cervus twitch. Those scare the hell out of me. It’s like holding someone down who is having a seizure.
“You awake?” I ask in a cautious whisper, and she nods.
“I’m restless,” she admits, rolling over to face me. “How can I be restless and exhausted at the same time?”
“Your brain is probably tired of sleeping,” I say, tapping her forehead. “But your body still needs it.”
“Can you entertain me?”
“Well, unfortunately, due to the ankle, a strip tease is out,” I joke. “But hand me your laptop. I want to show you something.” I open up the computer and navigate to the YouTube page I’ve been studying for the past few weeks. I proudly show it to Riley.
“What is this?” she asks with a frown. I wait until the realization hits her features. “This is a sign language page.”
“Yep.” A grin spreads over my face.
“You’re learning sign language.”
“Yep.”
Her eyes fill with tears. “For me?”
I swipe a tear from under her lashes. “For you. We don’t know if your hearing will go or not, but we want to be prepared. We’ve been studying for a few weeks. I, of course, am the best at it so far.”
She chokes out a laugh. “Show me? Please?”
I hold up my broad hands. “Here’s how to spell your name.”R-I-L-E-Y, I sign. “And Fox.” F-O-X. “Or, here’s the sign for the animal fox, which I kinda like.” I make a ring with my index and thumbnail while keeping my other fingers straight, and wave it in front of my nose. She laughs again and mimics my movements until we are both hooting with laughter. It feels good to laugh. It feels good to hear Riley laugh. I haven’t heard it in weeks.
“What else?” she asks eagerly. I sign a few other words, simple ones that pertain to us. Football. Alpha. Omega. Dinner. Books. Writing. Riley mimics them all back until she has them down.
“Any others?” she asks, but the effort has already used up her meager supply of energy.
“Just one.” I sign,I love you, and press my hand to her heart.
She smiles and mimics it back, reciprocating with her hand over my heart. And right then, I know it will never matter if she loses her ability to hear or not. We will always find a way.
* * *
A week later,I’m in the kitchen, testing out different pastas Thane has made. He has one of those fancy machines that makes all the different shapes, so really, all he has to do is make the dough and the machine does the rest.
“I’m so full,” I protest when he hands me a forkful of angel hair pasta. “There isn’t even any sauce on this stuff.”
“Oh, you’re fine,” Thane says cheerily, beckoning at the fork. “Eat up.”
“But it’s all the same recipe!”
“It’s about the mouth-feel of it, too,” Thane says, guiding the fork toward my mouth as if I’m a stubborn toddler. “Open up. Here comes the airplane!” He makes an engine sound with his lips while twirling the fork around.
“This is ridiculous—” I start, but he shoves it in my mouth. I groan because the pasta does taste delicious, even if I’m ready to burst from it all.
“Can I have some?” a voice comes from behind me. I whirl around, and there’s Riley, a shaky smile on her face. Miles has his arm around her waist, steadying her, and her hands are holding on to the kitchen island, but she’s stillhere. She hasn’t left her bedroom in ages other than to take a bath in Thane’s bathroom or walk the upstairs hallway. My chest puffs up with pride for her.
