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Malakai
May I see you tonight?
Winter
I’m meeting Giana for dinner at 5:30. Did you want me to let you know when I’m leaving and you can meet me back at my house?
Three bubbles popped up instantly as he wasted no time in responding.
Malakai
Yes, please. Let me know when you’re ready for me and I will be there.
A smile was still situated on my lips and I read over his message again. It was hard to pick up on a tone when you read a text message from anyone, but Kai was even harder. He was hard to read in person and his text messages always came across even more emotionless.
There was something behind his random text that had me wondering if something happened to spark this. It wasn’t urgent that he needed to see me immediately, but we just went out for dinner last night. He said he wanted to take things slow, so it seemed a little contradictory that he wanted to see me again tonight.
However, I was not going to question it.
We had a lot of time we needed to make up.
Winter
I will let you know.
Malakai
I look forward to hearing from you.
Part of me wanted to roll my eyes at how formal he was, but I knew to expect that with Kai. He was just wired a little differently than most people. It was hard for him to show weakness and vulnerability, and he most definitely wasn’t going to do that through text messages.
Locking the screen of my phone, I set it back down and opened my laptop again. I wasn’t sure where I was going with this story. I wasn’t sure where my own story was even going, but it was time I figured it all out.
* * *
Donovan’s Kitchen was a small yet popular restaurant in town. It was a farm-to-table one and they always had the best dishes. They changed their menus with the season and since it was summer, they were known for having some of the best fish. Giana was able to get us a reservation online and she was already seated at the table waiting for me with a glass of wine.
She smiled at me in greeting as I took a seat across from her. There was a glass of white wine sitting by my spot and I lifted the glass and took a sip as Giana raised hers and did the same.
“How was the rest of your day?”she signed to me after sitting her glass back down.“You don’t have to sign if you don’t want to. I do appreciate it, but I can read your lips too.”
“It was good,” I told her, keeping my voice quiet. That was one thing I had noticed a lot of people did when they tried to talk to her. As soon as they found out she was deaf, they would raise their voices like it made a difference. And they would talk slowly like she was stupid. It was insulting and I would never ever do that to my friend.
I enjoyed signing because that was the way she communicated. I was also thankful she told me just to talk because that was always easier for me too.
“It wasn’t very busy, so the day kind of dragged on but then it was suddenly over. It was weird.”
Giana nodded.“My day was about the same. I was on my lunch break when I stopped by and when I got back to the rehabilitation center, there wasn’t much to do out of the ordinary.”
"What rescue are you working at?” I asked her. “What are you doing there?”
“I work at Orchid City Marine Research and Rehabilitation Center. We work with various different marine animals and work on rehabilitation. I got a degree in marine biology and after interning at a rehabilitation clinic in Tampa, I knew that was what I wanted to do.”
Giana had a smile on her face the entire time she signed back to me. It was clear this was her passion, but I always knew that about her. She volunteered all the time when we were in high school. She used to go out when they organized events to help turtle hatchlings get to the ocean. And she always had one of the kindest souls I’d ever encountered.
“That sounds amazing and like such a rewarding job,” I told her as my smile matched hers. “It’s perfect for you and something you’ve always wanted to do.”
She nodded. We paused our conversation as we gave our server our order, then Giana directed her attention back to me.“What about you? I know you’re working as a librarian and books have always been your life.”
