Caroline searched in the near distance, finding the strip of lights and then moving further south. “Yeah,” she said when she found it.
“That’s the turn to Seven Sons Ranch,” he said. “Hidden Hills is another twenty minutes past that.”
“Can we see my house from here?” she asked, suddenly scanning the pricks of light in the town. “I need a picture of this. It’s incredible.” She whipped out her phone and took a few shots of the town while Dawson told her that her house sat to the west, and no, they couldn’t see it.
“If we eat at Cagney’s,” he said. “The Teppanyaki place next door, we probably can.” He took his seat at the table, and Caroline joined him on the adjacent side. The square table had been situated so that the point of it reached the wall, with a slanted seat along each side. No chairs waited for a party of four, as this was obviously a booth for two people to sit side-by-side and enjoy the view of Three Rivers.
“Dawson,” she gushed as she joined him. “This is so amazing. I love this so much.” She’d never felt so sparkly and full of light.
“Wait’ll you see the menu,” he said as he lifted up the slim volume and handed it to her. Anticipation and excitement threaded through her, mirroring the way she’d felt during the drive up to his house a few weeks ago for their proper New Year’s Day breakfast together.
She flipped open the menu, hardly daring to hope for all the potatoey things she loved best. The first word at the top of the menu had cartoon potatoes dancing all over it, with the two As made entirely outof a potato with a carved oval in it for the hole in the letter.
BREAKFAST.
The best word in the English language.
Caroline looked over to Dawson, who’d buried himself in the menu he claimed to have memorized. “This is the best date I’ve ever been on,” she blurted out, causing Dawson to lower his menu.
“Yeah?” he asked. “We haven’t even ordered yet. Maybe it’ll be gross.”
Caroline almost felt like crying she was so excited. She set down her menu and held his gaze. “Thank you for bringing me here. Will you order for me?”
He swallowed but said, “Yeah, of course,” as if he’d been planning to order her food for her tonight all along. Glad she didn’t have to decide, Caroline sighed happily and looked out the window again. It had been lowered, and a distinct hint of heat came in from an appliance she couldn’t see.
Yes, this was the best date ever, and she decided it didn’t matter if the food was good or not. Dawson hadthought of herand planned somethingfor her, and that was worth more than the taste of a really great plate of perfectly crispy hash browns.
Oh, yes, it absolutely was.
Chapter Nineteen
Mitchell Glover laughed as Link told him about Dawson’s “potato date” from the night before. He’d feel bad if Dawson wasn’t right there on the screen, also laughing about it.
So it went well, he signed, not really asking. Dawson had a glow Mitch could probably get a tan from though he lived a thousand miles away from the Texas Panhandle.
Went great, Dawson said, as he knew a little sign language. Sometimes he had to have Link interpret for him, especially if Mitch signed too fast. Now that he lived around and with so many other deaf people, he sometimes forgot that he couldn’t speed through the signs with his family.
I only ordered breakfast for her, Dawson said.It’s herfavorite meal, and then I got her a plate of French fries and an extra-bacon-loaded baked potato.
Wow, Mitch said.So you’re to kissing level after a date like that.
Dawson looked at Link, who translated for him, and Dawson simply nodded. Mitch laughed again, so glad for his friend. He honestly was. But he knew this video call would end, and he’d be trapped back in his silent bubble.
You’re being unfair, he told himself. He’d been really trying to call out his negative thought patterns when he had them. Mostly at the advice of his therapist, who asked at every appointment if he’d been able to start rewiring his mind.
Mitch reached for the notebook he kept on the table with his laptop, as he’d also identified that a lot of his self-depreciating thoughts came when he spoke with his family via video. Guilt had riddled him about that realization for the first few weeks, and with the help of his counselor, he’d been able to let that go.
The Glovers were simply a very hard family to live in. Amazing, but hard.So much to live up to, Mitch thought as he wrote the thought out.
He looked up again just as Link said…not listening.
No, Mitch wasn’t listening, which he couldn’t do anyway. Not in the way other people could. He hadn’t beenwatching, and that was different than Link. He could write down a thought,even if his handwriting looked like chicken scratch, and hear the person on the other end of the call at the same time.
Mitch couldn’t.
Focusing on what you can’t do instead of what you can, he thought, and he held up his hand for Link, so he could write that down too.
Sorry, he finally said.Writing stuff down for my therapist.