on each side of her face and pressed my lips against hers. I broke our kiss and held her face in my hands while I gazed into her beautiful green eyes.
“Why am I just hearing your voice now?”
“Because I need to feel comfortable with someone before I let them hear me speak,” she said. “And I feel comfortable with you.”
I swallowed hard as I pulled her into me and held her head against my chest. Hearing her speak and say my name was surreal. I didn’t think she could be any more perfect than she already was.
“You better go,” she spoke in my ear.
Closing my eyes, I tightened my grip around her before letting her go.
“Thank you,” I signed as I gave her a smile. “You have a beautiful voice.”
She reached up and kissed my cheek as she placed her hand on my chest.
“Go, Henry. Before I make you stay.” She smiled.
“I’ll text you,” I signed.
I climbed in the back of a cab and let out a deep breath. I knew exactly what I had to do. I couldn’t marry Kirsten, and she and my parents would have to understand that. Shit was about to hit the fan, and I didn’t care.
Chapter 9
Henry
I arrived at my parents’ house around one o’clock because I wanted to spend some time with Addison before everyone else came over. When I walked into the house, she was coming down the stairs.
“Henry!” She smiled as she ran to me.
“There she is.” I hugged her tight. “How are you?”
“I’m good. How’s my big brother?”
“I’m good.” I hooked my arm around her, and we walked into the kitchen where my mother was.
“Look who’s here,” Addison said.
“Hello, darling.”
“Hello, mother.” I kissed her cheek and grabbed a piece of watermelon she was cutting up. “Where’s Dad?”
“He’s upstairs. He’ll be down in a minute. Addison, can you go outside and tell that man to move the table over to the left more?”
“Sure, Mom.”
“So, how was your evening last night?” she asked.
“It was good.”
“Did you have fun with your friends?”
“Yeah.” I furrowed my brows at her because I noticed a disapproval in the tone of her voice.
She set the knife down on the counter and gripped the edge of the marble top as she looked directly at me.
“Who is the woman you were with last night, Henry?”
My heart started pounding as I stared at her.
“Ron and Linda Gables were walking past Pepito’s last night and saw you through the window with a blonde-haired woman. Linda said the two of you were using sign language.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I let out a sigh.
“Her name is Ellie Scott. We were communicating via sign language because she’s deaf.”
“No shit, Henry. What were you doing with her?”
“We were just having dinner, mother.”
“You’re cheating on your fiancée?”
“No. She’s a friend. She’s a freelance website designer and I took her to meet Frankie because he’s looking for someone to design his site for the gallery. That’s all.”
We could hear my father coming down the stairs.
“I haven’t told your father about this yet, but we will finish this discussion later.”
“There’s nothing to discuss.”
I walked out of the kitchen and into the living room where I poured myself a scotch.
“Hello, son.” My dad smiled as he walked over and placed his hand on my shoulder.
“Hey, Dad. Scotch?”
“Of course. It’s five o’clock somewhere, right?”
“I investigated that company, and I think it’ll be a good investment. I ran all the projections and there’s definitely a lot of profit to be made with some restructuring.”
“Excellent. That’s what I thought as well, but I wanted your opinion. Get the ball rolling on that as soon as possible.” He patted my back. “It’s too bad Kirsten couldn’t be here with us today. When is she coming back?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“Good. Good. The four of us will have to get together next week.”
Addison entered the living room and my father walked over and kissed her cheek.
“Don’t forget you start work at the office on Monday.”
“I know, Dad.”
When he walked out of the room, she threw herself on the couch and sighed.
“What’s going on, little sister?” I asked as I took a seat on the couch and hooked my arm around her.
“Mom and Dad told me last night they invited someone over for lunch tomorrow they want me to meet, and that I better be here.”
“Who?” I asked as I narrowed my eye.
“I don’t know. Some guy named Carter Colson.”
“Ah. Good ole Carter Colson.”
“You know him?” She laid her head on my shoulder.
“Yep. He’s a big douchebag in the making.”
She