by Leanne Davis
“It’s research,” she said as she approached him.
He shrugged and shook his head. She glanced backwards. Sunlight shone from behind her, probably blinding him. She moved so she was on the other side of him. “It’s strictly research.” She repeated with another grin. “Quit scowling at me.”
He nodded. Getting it this time. “Research?”
“I’m now the official web designer and media consultant for the Rydell River Ranch and Resort. Well, actually, I’m subbing for their foster kid camp, but honestly? I think I can redesign all of it. The ranch’s website, the resort, and especially, the horse care. They need a familiar logo and…”
“What? You know how to do all that?”
“Oh, Finn, I have talents you can’t even imagine,” she said with a cheeky grin as she wiggled her eyebrows, realizing he couldn’t hear her flirty tone. She shook her head. “I honestly forgot you were deaf and can’t hear me. Although you couldn’t tell by my tone of voice, I was totally flirting with you just then.”
His expression went from his usually dour face to puzzlement but he finally shook his head and started grinning. “You’re something else, Brianna. I’m afraid you’ll never win a politically correct contest.”
“No. But I did make you smile. Which is almost as much of a rarity as what you hear.”
“You really aren’t supposed to say stuff like that.”
“Why not? We’re friends. We can kid around. We don’t always have to be polite, right?”
“You always make friends this fast?”
“I do. But most people aren’t really my friends.”
“And you somehow think that I am?”
“I know you are,” she said with finality before realizing again, he couldn’t hear. She lifted her camera and clicked his picture up close.
He put a hand on the lens with an annoyed expression. “Not cool. Don’t take pictures of me.”
“Too late. I already have a few dozen.” Whipping around, she knew that signified the end of her conversation with him.
At least, it was when he did it, but he called after her. “Brianna, you can still hear me. I don’t like having my picture taken.”
She turned back to him. “It’s too late, I already took a bunch of candid ones. Just let me see what I can do with a website first, okay? If you hate it, I promise to take them down. Besides, maybe you’re not even photogenic and it won’t pose a problem to begin with.”
“What was that?”
“What?” she frowned, mentally reviewing her statement? “Photogenic? Oh, it means that your photos make you look as good or better than you look in person.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
He kept his mouth neutral but his gaze was on hers. “I know what it means, I just didn’t catch it. More flirting again?”
“No… well, honestly, yes.”
“You can’t help it, can you?”
“No, it’s as natural as smiling for me. But I’m being honest. You are stunningly attractive. But you either don’t care or you don’t believe me. I’m not sure which.”
He didn’t answer so she played with the strap of the camera around her neck. “So…” All at once, she grimaced, realizing he glanced down and she had her head down too so he couldn’t see her lips. She reached out and touched his arm. He immediately lifted his face towards hers. She smiled, suddenly self-conscious and unsure why. She had to quit abbreviating her words. Uh-oh. Um. All the nervous filler words in common speech probably just confused him more. She tried again. “Are you almost finished working?”
“Maybe in an hour or so.”
“I’ll wait out in front of the barn. Take some more pictures. We can hang out after. Okay?”
The perplexed look that crossed his face made her heart thump louder. He seemed so surprised and unsure of her statement. Didn’t he have any friends? She frowned, since she knew nothing about him like where he came from, or how he got there. She didn’t know what he was like at all. But an irresistible pull kept drawing her towards him like a magnet, despite how difficult it was to get past the communication barrier. “Okay?” She pressed.
“Okay.”
She nodded, smiling with smug satisfaction as she waved before spinning around to wait near the front of the barn. The unending views were everywhere so she idly indulged her shutterbug and began to take more pictures. Eventually, she sat down and scrolled through them, deleting the ones she felt sure would not be used to advertise the ranch and resort on any venue.
When she glimpsed movement, she heard the scuffle of Finn’s feet on the gravel. He stopped, glancing around, looking for her. She jumped to her feet with a huge smile and waved at him, starting to say “Hey!” when she stopped. No. No point in doing that. He found her soon enough and waited for her to come up to him.
“Want to get out of here? I could use an evening away from the ranch. Been here a few days.”
His gaze flickered off, then returned to her. “Where?”
She shrugged. “Someplace that serves food. I’m starving.”
His hands fisted and flexed. She sensed his raw nerves but wasn’t sure why. “What is it?” she pressed.
“I don’t really go out.”
“Well, then you’re way overdue.” She smiled cheekily because he couldn’t hear the flip tone of her voice. “And you aren’t going out, we are.” Again, he couldn’t hear her emphasis on “you” and “we.” Sighing, she never realized how much communication she expressed strictly through the fluctuations of her voice. Unlike her brother, who spoke in a calm monotone most of the time, she used a crescendo of inflection, from super high to super low, to match her mood or emotions, which were as a rule, exuberant. She’d been told that more than once.
“I’ve been working in the barn all day.”
“Then take a shower. I’ll wait for you. I have nowhere to be and nothing more to do today.” She lifted the camera off her chest. “I’ll download these and start selecting the pictures to use tomorrow. Where do you live?”
“I’m told it’s Ben’s old place.”
“That’s a nice apartment.” She shrugged. “I’ll wait there for you.”
She began to walk away but he didn’t follow. She turned back. “Finn?”
“You’re coming to my apartment? While I shower?”
“Yes.” She rolled her eyes. “If we’re going to be friends, we should be able to hang out together. And all my other friends and my brother have abandoned me here. There’s only you left. So you can’t tell me no. Who the hell will I talk to? Soon, I’ll be wandering down to the barn stalls and start talking to the horses? I have to talk. I have to interact with people my own age or I’ll wither up and die. Honestly.” She smiled to punctuate her point.
His lips twitched. “I doubt you’ll die from not talking.”
She shrugged. “I’m pretty social.”
His mouth twisted. “Yeah? Well, I’m not. At all. I don’t see how that makes us compatible friends. I expected by now that you’d figure out I don’t like to talk.”
She flashed a smile. “I think you don’t because you have no one to talk to. You haven’t had me to talk to until now.” She ignored his scowl as he hunched up his shoulders and his obviously taut muscles reflected the energy radiating off him. Looping her arm in his, she tugged him towards the location of his apartment. Would she have to drag Finn Alexander kicking and screaming before he would associate with her? He seemed that way with anyone. But remaining so alone and always isolated, especially now, on this totally sequestered ranch, couldn’t be good for Finn. Not at all. She was itching for more young people to interact with, and he saw no one besides Jack Rydell and the horses… Now, however, that short list included her.
Which wasn’t acceptable.
Despite his surliness, she truly liked something about him.
She tugged again until he finally fell into step with her as she kept her arm looped on his elbow. However, they couldn’t easily walk and talk together, being side-by-side and the
y both had to watch where they set their feet over the rocky, unpaved roads of the ranch. She sighed. It was definitely different hanging out with a deaf person. She shrugged it off and kept his arm in hers as she stayed in step with him. He would have had to stop and jerk his arm away from her if he really didn’t want her there, so she knew he was coming with her.
Maybe a damn cattle prod was required to motivate this guy to try and associate with others. He was way too damn isolated.
Up ahead, she spotted Cami. She grinned and yelled as loud as she could. “Cami! Cami Reed!”
Finn stopped and watched her. She flung up her opposite arm, waving at Cami, and that was how he knew she was saying something. He probably got a good view of her tonsils as she yelled as loud as she could when she called her friend. Cami heard and stopped, turning to scan the scenery until she saw Brianna. She waved at them and started towards them.
“That’s Cami. The friend I told you about.”
He nodded, furrowing his eyebrows. Brianna gathered that Finn was displeased to see Cami coming towards them.
“Cami. What are you doing? I thought you were having a family dinner tonight… Isn’t that why we couldn’t hang out?”
“Dad got called by Ian to help with a client’s horse. Something about its hoof. So I came down to see if they needed any help. What are you up to?” She glanced at Finn, who Brianna still clung tightly to, fearing he’d bolt away from her if she let go.
“Oh, this is Finn. He works in the horse rescue barn exclusively, and isn’t on the rest of the ranch very often. Oh, yeah, and he’s deaf; he can’t hear anything, as far as I know. Unless he’s looking directly at our lips, he can’t read what we’re saying.”
Cami’s gaze widened. She darted a glance Finn’s way and smiled with a shy insecurity that was so typical for Cami. She and Brianna were the opposite in their demeanor. Cami held her hand out to Finn. “Hello.”
He took her hand and shook it. “Hi.”
“So, tomorrow? Dinner and swimming. Please, Cami. I feel like the little time I have left with you is burning up and we haven’t spent it together enough.” Brianna’s throat clogged up at the thought. Tears quickly filled her eyes.
Cami smiled with sincere care and leaned forward to touch Brianna’s hand. “Yes. Tomorrow. I promise. It’ll be okay, Bri.”
She felt Finn’s gaze on her, then on Cami, whom he could see was talking. When his eyes were back on her face, she wiped her tears. “You lie, Cami. It really will never be the same.”
Cami glanced back. “Dad’s calling. So, tomorrow, both of you? I promise. See you then?”
She sniffed and sucked back the stupid tears as she glanced up at Finn. “She’s the one leaving. She’s why you get to hang out with me. She’s abandoning me here and there’s no one else. It used to be just me and her… we’re best friends. The very best. Anyway, we hung out with my brother, Jacob… remember I mentioned him?”
“The one on drugs that got kicked out?”
She smiled to know he listened and remembered. “Yes. And Charlie. Jack’s youngest son. The one who’s in Germany now. He and Cami started dating five years ago. Even then, it was always us four, all summer long. And now my brother’s gone, Charlie’s been gone pretty much all of those five years…and now Cami. I thought she’d live here forever. Right here. I never dreamed she’d leave me to do that.”
“So you’re preparing for her leaving by what? Making me your new fill-in for Jacob, Charlie and Cami? You realize I can’t begin to provide that for you? We aren’t close. I don’t know anything about you.”
“We are going to be friends. Great, fun-loving, wonderful friends. Back to getting showered…” She shook her head. “Well, shit that sounded suggestive, even to you, I’m sure… I meant, let’s get ready so we can go.”
His smile confirmed that it sounded suggestive to him too. “You really would make anyone cringe with some of the stuff you say to me.”
“Oh? Why? I thought we agreed to be friends?”
“You just decide that?”
“I did. Yes.” She tugged on his arm to keep him walking. They made it to the only barn that was part of the original barns on the ranch before the great fire flattened the property a decade ago. The apartment stairs were on the outside of it. She let Finn go first and she followed him up.
Entering, she was startled by a loud, constant noise that assaulted her eardrums the minute he opened the door. She bit her lip to keep from smiling when she realized what it was. She glanced around at the small space: white walls, a couch and a TV, and a kitchen just to the side of that. There was a small eating bar that divided the two and a door leading off to the bedroom.
But the stove fan was obnoxiously cacophonous. She walked over and clicked it off. She turned back and saw that he watched her, and his eyes darted to the fan and then her face. “It was on. Did you cook this morning?”
“Eggs and bacon. I don’t stop for lunch. I must not have clicked it off all the way.” A blush colored his cheeks. She tilted her head. That embarrassed him? She pressed her lips together. Crap. He had definite self-consciousness issues. She wasn’t too adept with those since she’d always had an undying sense of confidence and belief in herself. It wasn’t something she ever struggled with.
“Finn. It’s not a big deal. It’s just a stove fan.”
He nodded. “I’m going to shower.”
She watched him all but run away from her as he slipped through the bedroom door. She flopped down on the couch and found the TV remote and flipped it on. Closed captioning, no sound. She tried but couldn’t get the sound to come on. So she read the words. It wasn’t nearly as relaxing as vedging out with the sound prattling on. One more difference.
Finally, the door handle jiggled and she rose to her feet. He came out in fresh jeans and a plain, cotton t-shirt that was cheap, the kind people buy in bulk, but it was clean and ironed. She smiled but kept her head turned as she wondered if he ironed his jeans. Again, she noticed the sharp crease in them. It endeared him to her again.
Steely-eyed Finn didn’t miss the soundless TV. She glanced at it, then at him. “Couldn’t find the sound. It’s like reading the subtitles on foreign films, huh?”
He grabbed the remote, and his gaze left her. “Yeah, foreign, English… makes no difference to me. Just as long as they use English closed captioning.”
“That’s true…” her voice wandered off. He wasn’t looking at her, but gathering his wallet, change, and keys. “And you can’t hear me, so… I’m basically talking to myself,” She muttered as she followed behind him. Her shoes made small slaps on her heels as she scurried after him. She wore shorts and a tank top and flip-flops. That was pretty much her standard outfit around River’s End from May to September. Literally. It was so hot. If she required a sweatshirt at nightfall, it was popularly considered a cold day there.
His steps were purposeful. Was he angry? Yeah, he might have been a little peeved he had to hang out with her.
Still it would not have killed him to spend some time away from the ranch with someone his own age.
She had to stop him by touching his hand as it swung by his side. “Food? How about we go to the café across the river?”
“Okay.”
“What do you drive?”
He nodded at an old beater car. It was worn with ripped interior seats and superficially dinged and dented. With a screech and a squeal, it started, and as he shifted the car into gear, it seemed to pause and stall before the gears clunked loudly and they took off. She winced at feeling a little less shock absorption than her own luxury sedan. She’d suggest that she drive next time. No snobbery, just comfort. Hell, if given the choice, why not choose a smooth ride?’
There were about five things she started to say: idle observations, conversations starters, pithy, little snippets of conversation but she saw his jaw clamp shut and she realized he couldn’t safely look at her talking while driving, so the quiet endured. She reached over and started pulling
the knobs on what seemed to be a thirty-year-old radio. His sharp gaze caught her movement.
“There’s no radio. Sorry. Never needed it.”
She flushed. “Right.” Then she turned her head to look out as the silence again filled the cab. She wasn’t used to it. It made her uncomfortable, even if they didn’t need to talk. He couldn’t hear the silence like she could… That was an unfair thing to think about and maybe even kind of mean, but he was used to enduring the awkward silence; she didn’t know what to do. She all but vaulted out of his car when they finally parked. She went in the restaurant first.
“Hey, Rhonda. Table for two?”
Rhonda, the hostess, turned at her voice. “Brianna. Haven’t seen you in a while.” She hugged Brianna.
“How’s Lionel?” Brianna asked as she leaned back to give Rhonda her full attention.
“Growing like a weed. Almost ten pounds now.” Her little, rescued, mutt-luck puppy was also her pride and joy. Brianna often remembered little details about people and when she saw them, she always asked personal questions. Most people seemed to appreciate it.
Finn was quiet, a brooding presence looming behind her. She felt his gaze and it made her toes curl. He made her feel so different to how she usually felt with anyone. Was it owing to the deaf factor? Maybe? But not fully. There was undeniable attraction towards him. Deep-rooted attraction. He was dark and intense, which was kind of sexy and something she had to acknowledge.
Finn slipped into the booth, keeping his gaze sharply on Rhonda and then on her. He caught most of the conversation now, although he missed some of it back at the entrance. She frowned, considering how annoying that must be. Multiplied by almost all public interactions, she sighed. Was it any wonder the man didn’t like to go out much?
Rhonda left. “Is there anyone you are not friends with?”
