Page 7 of Me For You
I winked. “I know.”
She headed back to the living room, and after I noticed she turned on cartoons, I began removing things to make dinner while Marlee got settled at the counter lining one side of the kitchen.
We were able to speak freely now that Rylee was occupied.
“You staying?”
“It’s smash burgers. Hell yes.”
I grinned.
“Greedy.”
“For those, I sure am. Let’s just agree that you’re the cook in this duo.”
I began the process of seasoning the ground beef with garlic and onion powder, Italian seasoning, and smoky flavoring. Once everything was blended, I started making the patties, pausing every so often to respond to Marlee who was asking for more details about Rylee’s situation. Details I didn’t have, which led to me expressing how I planned on officially applying to foster her if this didn’t get resolved soon.
Having Rylee here was great but legally my hands were tied. If anything happened, I wouldn’t have the authority to speak on her behalf and that worried me. It was also why my mother was worried. Rylee being here could cause me legal problems because I had no right to keep her. I loved Rylee but my mother was concerned.
“What if the mystery brother is sexy and doesn’t know ASL? He’s going to need someone to help him.”
I frowned. “Or he could leave her with me because I’m the better option and he loves her enough to not disrupt her life.”
Marlee rolled her eyes. She and I had been friends since elementary school. The reason I knew how subpar public school resources were for the deaf was because unlike Rylee, my mother couldn’t afford a school like Harrington Academy. We didn’t have the benefit of someone footing the bill. I spent myformative years in public school and was luckily smart enough to garner a full ride to Bridgewater University for the Deaf and Blind. I elected to attend Hartman University instead. My mother was livid with my decision because she thought it was best for me to stay submerged in a world where I would be fully embraced for who I was, a deaf woman. I understood the majority of the world was hearing and instead chose not to close myself off, learning to be fully functional in their hearing society, because clearly it wasn’t ours.
Even if I had no interest in dating hearing men, I also wasn’t interested in sequestering myself like my mother did. Almost all of her friends were deaf or hard of hearing. She worked at a resource center that catered to the Deaf community and only dated deaf men. Deep down inside, I felt that was her way of protecting herself. I respected the decision after how my father hurt her but elected to exist in both worlds.
Marlee was my best friend and had been since we were kids. She learned to sign and used ASL as fluently as me, which was a benefit when we were out in the world. But I was fully capable of communicating regardless. I lived a fairly normal life because I refused to allow being Deaf to be considered a handicap. Although my mother elected to bury herself in a Deaf world, she fully supported my decision and raised me to know I was fine just as I was and could do anything I wanted in life.
“Did you miss the part where I mentioned he was sexy?”she signed once I had the first round of burgers in the pan and she had my attention again.
“Nope but why do I care if he’s sexy? If he’s hearing, he’s not for me.”
“You don’t have to marry the guy, Somee. Wild sex as a thank you for taking care of his sister.”
I grinned. “Why are you stuck on him being sexy? And a simple thank you would suffice.”
“You said they’re being secretive about him. Maybe he’s famous or something.”
My hands moved fast.
“Then I don’t like him, no matter how sexy he might be. If he’s famous, he can afford to give Rylee a good life yet he’s missing and she’s stuck with a parent who would rather disappear than take care of her.”
Her hands moved slowly when she responded. “Point made.”
“Thank you.”
I finished frying the burgers and asked Marlee to grab the lettuce, cheese, and condiments. She also put the fries in the air fryer so we had dinner ready fifteen minutes later. I made Rylee’s burger with two patties, two slices of cheese, lettuce, mayo, and mustard because she didn’t like ketchup, added honey mustard on her plate for her fries, and delivered it to her in the living room while Marlee and I made our plates and ate at the counter.
I opened a bottle of wine and caught up with my girl who filled me in on her week, which included the new client she was crushing on. She also showed me pictures she’d snuck of him while doing a walkthrough of his house to give an estimate of what it would cost to do the landscaping for his backyard pool area when spring hit. Marlee was so heavily booked that people wanted to lock down her services as early as possible. That meant booking in January for a spring appointment.
Marlee owned a landscaping company but she only handled yard enhancements like tropical gardens, stone walkways, koi ponds, and serenity gardens. She bypassed lawn maintenance, cutting shrubs and other stuff, but oddly enough, she was always booked. Most people hired her to build their gardens but also maintain them.
“You know it’s creepy to steal pictures of the man?”
“Maybe but he’ll never know. You see how fine he is though, right?”
“I do.”
