mother happy, too."
"That's nice," I said dryly, still not appreciating
why his mother was so against his tutoring a deaf
child, since that was his life's work.
"You okay? You want to put on the lights?" "No, this is fine," I said. Actually, it made me
feel better to be more in the darkness than the light
when it came to being with him like this.
"Destiny eyed me coming in," he said. I could
see his smile. "But I told her I had your permission
and she relaxed."
"Right," I said. laughing.
He patted the bed. "You okay with this? Being
in here?" he asked when I hesitated.
"Yes. It's fine," I said, and sat.
"I thought about you a lot today," he said. "Did
you?"
"Yes. Actually. I couldn't get you out of my
mind and couldn't wait to get here."
"Where did you tell your mother You were
going tonight?"
"Just out, Don't worry about it," he said sharply. I wanted to ask him if he didn't think he was a
little old to be sneaking around his mother. but I didn't
want to ruin the moment or get him angry.
"Echo's so upset about her mother," I told him.
"It's heartbreaking to see.'
"We'll help her later." he said. "Let's not think about all that now." He reached out for my hand and to tarn me more toward him. "Let's just think about this." He brought his lips to mine and we kissed. It was a long, lingering kiss, almost too long. I had to
take a deep breath.
"Sorry." he said. "I'm a little overanxious." "It's okay."
He kissed me again, softer, and then he held me
for a moment, brushing his lips over my cheek and