4. Sign

Orion’s pov

Izzy sounded like she had cried but came down to eat a few minutes later looking fine—well, still bruised, but fine. Better than fine, actually beautiful.

It was hard to take my eyes off her. With her red hair and green eyes, there was something almost fairylike about her. I don’t think she even realized how good she looked, which was sad. Did someone make her believe she was less? Is that who hurt her? A part of me wanted to find out who hurt her and go there and kill them, but I pushed it down, knowing these thoughts were dangerous.

Ezra tapped on the table in front of me. [Orion, you have to actually look at me to see what I’m saying.] He signed with a wink. [I get that this woman is much more attractive than I am.]

I stopped Ezra. [Sorry. What were you saying?]

Ezra smiled, [How was your day? But I have a feeling I already know the answer.]

[Don’t start. She’s just a guest.]

"Boys, it’s not polite to sign in front of people who can’t understand you." Erin said and signed at the same time. She turned to Izzy, "I’m sorry, Izzy, my son Ezra is deaf and has been teaching Orion sign language from a young age. But I’ll translate as much as I can."

Ezra raised an eyebrow. [Do you want to translate what we were talking about before too?]

I tapped my first two fingers towards my thumb, signing "no." Was he trying to embarrass me?

"Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone use sign language. I come from a small community that has no people with hearing issues. Is it wrong to say it looks cool? I love learning languages, and I regret not trying to learn sign language now."

Wow, she wasn’t just beautiful; she was adorable too.  

Erin smiled, "not it’s not wrong to say. I wish more people thought it was cool, because it would make life a lot easier. Sometimes Ezra has to write or type to talk to people, or they start talking very loudly. He can read lips, but you have to face him and articulate clearly. Talking loud doesn’t suddenly make his ears work."

Izzy nodded and turned to Ezra; she waved her hand. "Hi, I’m Izzy. It’s nice to meet you, Ezra."

Ezra signed back. [It’s nice to meet you too.] and Izzy immediately began to copy the movements.

"I’ll teach you some things, or Orion can," Erin offered. "I don’t know how long you’re staying."

Izzy looked down at the table, "not long probably. I need to find a job and a place to live."

"I can get you a job. Well, not me personally, but my ex-husband runs a diner and needs someone during lunch and breakfast time." Erin suggested, "you’ll learn on the job and can use this experience once you do move on to the next place."

[With a face like yours, you’ll get plenty of tips.] Ezra signed, while Erin translated.

Izzy blushed, and a low growl escaped my mouth. Ezra seemed oblivious to the growl, but Erin immediately looked at me.

[Have you been taking your medication?] Erin signed, trying not to spook Izzy.

[What did he do?] Ezra asked.

[He growled like a wolf.] Erin said, trying to pretend everything was fine while smiling at Izzy. The funny thing is that everyone was freaking out about my growl—me the most—and Izzy didn’t even seem fazed.

"Thank you for the offer; that would be perfect." Izzy responded as if nothing had happened. Didn’t she hear the growl? Erin sure did. Everyone always looked at me like I was crazy and like someone who would snap if you said or did the wrong thing.

But I didn’t just snap. There was a reason I lost control. Everyone tried to hide it because my foster dad had an image to uphold. They gave me less prison time if I kept my mouth shut. But I didn’t really care about that; I just wanted to make sure he would never be able to foster another child, and he agreed to my terms.

It wasn’t like he was able to take care of someone anyway, not after what I had done.

"So Orion isn’t your son, but he grew up here?" Izzy asked Erin.

"You want to tell her?" Erin offered, but I shook my head. I didn’t really like talking about myself, and certainly not about that part of my life.

"Adriana moved here when she was pregnant with Orion, and we became friends. She stayed here and helped out at the motel until Orion was eight. After that, circumstances made Orion move away. I tried to foster him myself, but, well, it doesn’t matter anymore. He’s back where he belongs now." Erin said, and my eyes widened at her words.

"You tried to foster me?"

She nodded her head. "Didn’t they tell you? They wouldn’t let me because I was going through a divorce, the motel wasn’t doing so well, and I already had a kid that they considered disabled. So it was too much in their eyes for me to take you in."

I didn’t know that. I always thought Erin didn’t want me back then and just left me behind, like my mother.

Ezra tried to lighten the mood, while Erin translated Ezra’s signing for Izzy. [He was a real teddy bear back then. Such a sweet boy.]

"He’s still sweet." Erin added, grabbing my hand and giving it a squeeze.

I wasn’t. Being sweet had been dangerous enough at home with my foster family, but it was extremely dangerous to be sweet in prison and at the mental institution. I needed everyone to think I was as scary as I looked. I needed them to understand that I could kill them with ease if they crossed me.

Pretending not to be kind or sweet for so long made me wonder if I still had that side of me. Was it still an act that I was dangerous? I tried really hard these past months to be a good person, but what if it was too late?

"Don’t mind him," Erin said, seeing me deep in thought. "He’s a thinker. It takes a while for Orion to talk freely."

I sighed. While it was nice of Erin to help me, I didn’t like her speaking for me. She wasn’t my mother. I still held on to some resentment towards her for not taking me in back then, but learning now that she actually tried made me wonder what else I didn’t know about that time.

But enough thinking. I didn’t want Izzy to think I was just a quiet giant sitting there ignoring her.

"Do you have any experience working at a dinner?" I asked. It wasn’t like I could ask about her life or why she left, because she probably didn’t want to talk about that right now. It was clear, though, that she didn’t leave for nothing. She seemed scared and sad.

Izzy shook her head, "I wasn’t allowed to have a job. I was too busy studying."

"Studying what?"

"To be someone they thought I should be. I don’t want to talk about it." Izzy replied, looking awkward.

I mentally kicked myself. I was trying to show interest in Izzy, but instead I made her shut down. Erin raised her eyebrows at me, trying to make me ask more questions, but I guess she was right; it did take time for me to talk freely, and I was all out of questions.

"You said you like languages, so what languages do you speak?" Erin asked instead.

Izzy smiled, "well English, French, Spanish, some Japanese, and some Mandarin. I am not perfect, though, but I seem to pick up languages pretty fast."

I chuckled and said, "I had the exact opposite problem in high school. I hated learning languages and have seemed to forget all the languages except for Portuguese and a bit of Spanish."

Erin giggled, "his mother is Brazilian, so she taught him Portugese, but I think Orion learned most of his Spanish from TV shows like Diego and Dora."

Ezra began to laugh. [Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum! Delicioso!] which Erin translated.

Izzy joined them laughing, "We did it!"

At least I got her to laugh, even if it was more at me than with me. God, she had a beautiful laugh, and I stared at her until her eyes caught mine. She looked away and then back again, as if she were wondering why I was still looking at her. But I couldn't look away from this beautiful woman. Yum, yum, delicioso indeed.