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In case Evan didn’t get his belongings today Anthony quickly washed and dried Evan’s clothes from yesterday and they left to go to the closest Target superstore for basics, and then stopped at Christopher’s on the way home for his things.
Anthony should have been surprised at Christopher’s modest house, but decided it suited him. They were examining Christopher’s huge library and Christopher was fielding spoken words from Anthony, a few from Evan, and then translating his sign language as well.
“Wow,” Evan enthused picking up a book. “Gran read this.”
Christopher grinned.“My mom was crazy about books, it’s where I got it from, I suppose.”
“You need to see my collection,” Anthony agreed. “Nothing as stunning as this, but—”
He stopped as all three realized the same thing at the same exact moment, and Evan, who had his back to both of them, turned around.
For a second, they were all frozen but then Christopher started laughing silently and grinned.“Brat,”he said to Evan.“How long have you known?”
Evan bit his lip and thought the answer.“A while?”
Anthony’s gaze went from one to another, until he caught Christopher doing his best not to laugh and it set him off.
“You always knew what I was trying to say even when I was sure it was nonsense,”Evan explained. He glanced at Anthony.“I didn’t know you could do this, though.”
“That’s all Christopher,” Anthony said out loud. “But we share certain abilities only with the team. We don’t want, for example, the military knowing some of our secrets.”
“So, Anthony pretends he hasn’t seen us do certain things so he’s not forced to lie, but the rest of the team know,”Christopher explained. “Because I trust you, I’d decided to tell you when you transferred to Pete’s. I thought it was unfair of me to saddle you with that big of a secret before then.”
Evan nodded.“I would never tell.”He paused then looked right at Anthony.“How come you’ve never had any other foster kids?”
Well,crap. Couldn’t they have even gotten through one day without this conversation?
“I’m old.” Anthony shrugged, trying to laugh it off, but he had a feeling Evan completely saw through his bullshit.
“Does that mean you prefer a temporary foster agreement?”
Anthony swallowed. He was killing him. “Honestly, no. But the very worst thing you could do is make a decision for yourself just because you think that someone else likes it.”
Evan seemed to absorb that as they went to Target and bought what seemed to be the entire store. Anthony enjoyed every single second.
Anthony was convinced Evan had some sort of innate language ability. He’d missed an awful lot of school, but his foreign language skills were incredible. Anthony mentioned this to Gael and arranged for them to talk socially either at Connie’s or Talon’s. Anthony loved that Evan got to meet Liam as well, even though Evan still didn’t vocalize much. Liam seemed to get on well with him and they were close in age, although Anthony would have classed Evan as a very young seventeen, which, considering what he’d gone through, was incredible. He would have thought the experience would have aged him. Kai—being quite loud—seemed a little too energetic for Evan, but all the adults were happy to let friendships develop at their own pace.
The friendship that had stunned them all had happened between Evan and Derrick after Connie had invited them to supper to meet Gael, Jake, and Derrick so that Gael and Evan could talk. Evan was coming out of his shell and could cope with casual chats. He just reverted to sign language if he got overwhelmed. Gael, of course, could sign, and would have learned even without his enhanced ability of knowing every single language. Derrick was Gael and Jake’s adopted son, and enhanced, but due to complications with fetal alcohol syndrome, was partially deaf and blind. His method of communication was an e-tablet. To ask him questions, sign language was spelled out on his palm. There was never a guarantee that Derek would reply, but after they’d finished eating and the kids were outside, Evan walked into the kitchen where most of the adults were, carrying Derrick’s cup. “He wants lemonade,” Evan whispered.
Jake grabbed the cup. “Thanks, Evan.” He poured fresh orange juice into it and handed it back with a smile. Evan took it but glanced at Anthony.“Isn’t he allowed lemonade?”
Anthony relayed the question to Jake.
There was a moment’s silence then Gael leaned forward. “Evan, what did Derrick actually write?”
Evan gazed at Gael then looked at Christopher.“I don’t understand.”
Christopher relayed his answer and warned Evan he would let them all hear him.
Jake smiled and tried to explain. “Derrick communicates through his tablet. Whatever he wants to say appears on the screen, but he only does that with a few people.”
Evan looked confused and sidled up to Anthony. Anthony shoulder-nudged him. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“No, of course not,” Jake said. “We just wondered how you knew he wanted lemonade. He always wants juice.”
Evan nodded.“He told me.”He tapped his head.“In here, like Christopher does.”
Jake nodded like that was perfectly reasonable, poured out the juice, rinsed Derrick’s cup, then filled it with lemonade and solemnly handed it to Evan, thanking him for watching out for Derrick. Evan grinned and jogged outside.
