daughter. Katie has turned her attention back to Emily. Not to me. Not to her father. To a stranger.
Katie curls her fingers around her throat and nods once.
My brows pinch to the point my entire face creases.
“Someone stole your voice?” Emily questions softly, keeping her eyes on Katie’s.
I hate this woman who looks from my child to me.
“What is she saying, Jess?” Her eyes are soft while the words are hard.
I have no idea, I want to scream.
But I hear Emily loud and clear.
Without another word to her, I swipe up the sign language book which has miraculously made its way up the staircase and onto this table. I don’t look at Emily as I tell Katie it’s time to leave.
This time I need to be the one walking away from a woman, and I can’t seem to get away fast enough.
Rule 7
Rain has its own language.
[Emily]
“It was the strangest thing,” I say to Grace that night, trying to explain what happened with Katie in the library. “It’s as if she admitted something happened.” Like a spell was put on her, which is almost too unbelievable to say aloud.
“Something definitely happened,” Grace states. “I’m no detective, but I think the mother said something to her. Threatened her somehow.”
Grace and I both remain quiet, each of us lost in our own thoughts, and I realize how much I miss my sister. It’s been at least a year since I’ve seen her, and now, she’s having another baby. I need to get to Georgia. If anything, my time with Nana has taught me not to let time slip away.
“How old was she when she stopped talking?” Grace interrupts my musings.
I check my memory, trying to recall if Jess said specifically. “Somewhere close to four.”
“I’d definitely find the mother guilty,” Grace states in her best judge voice even though she never earned that law degree like she’d wanted.
“Do you think he’ll follow through with the sign language?” I ask.
“I think you’ve made a strong impression on him.” She’s teasing, but she doesn’t understand the impression he’s left on me. The imprint of his lips still tingles on mine. The flavor of cinnamon sits on my tongue. I can’t forget the way he felt against me—hard and hot and eager.
“He kissed me.”
“He what?” Grace shrieks followed by laughter.
“We were fighting over the book, playing tug-of-war with it, and the next thing I know, his lips were on me.” With delicious lips, commanding and rugged, he took out his frustration on me, and I was more than willing to accept it.
“Wow.”
“Yeah.” I sigh, not knowing how else to explain what happened or why. My head falls back on the outdoor couch cushion, and I stare up at the ceiling fan. Crickets chirp softly behind me.
“He likes you.”
“He does not,” I say, sounding once again like a whiny teenager as my head snaps forward. “He was frustrated.”
Grace snorts. “I’ll say. I bet you have him all tied up inside. He didn’t expect you, and now every time he turns around, there you are.”
“Me?” I gasp. “He’s everywhere I go.”
“Right? Who purposely went to the library?” I shouldn’t have told Grace about my run. Or how I found myself at Sound Advice, claiming I wanted an update on Nana’s radio. Or how Tom let it slip Jess and Katie were at the library. Or how my feet just sort of took me there.
I shake my head although my sister can’t see me. “I have to go.”
Grace chuckles again before giving me her love and disconnecting the line.
+ + +
The next day, I’m walking home from the grocery store when the sky opens and rain pours. I was already ambitious in thinking I could walk a mile to the Bear’s Den for exercise and then carry my supplies back to Nana’s. As I struggle with the four bags, two in each hand, a pickup truck pulls up before me and stops. The hazards blink, and I recognize the vehicle.
Jess.
He slips out of the driver side and rushes to me, reaching for the bags.
“What are you doing out in this?” he yells over the hammering rain.
“Oh, I just thought it’d be fun to get caught in a downpour with groceries and a mile still to go.”
He smirks at my sarcasm, and for the millionth time, I wonder what he would look like if he truly smiled. He’d probably stop traffic.
Without asking me to get in, he takes giant steps to the passenger side and tosses my bags into his