Broken Read Free Page B

Melly into her embrace but resisted touching her. “Hey, there. Looks like you’re having fun.”
    Melly nodded. She signed like crazy while bouncing on her toes. Her daddy translated.
    “She’s saying you have to come on the slide with her. You’ll like it.”
    Ciera almost squawked in alarm. “Oh no, sweetheart, I’d get stuck. That’s for the kiddies.”
    “Oh why don’t you join her, Ciera?” the woman said, whose name and relation to Nathan she still hadn’t learned. “I slid down twice.”
    She would. The woman was fit, putting Ciera in mind of Sarah, the mother from the movie Terminator when she was in jail. Ciera could see this one in a ponytail, cute, barefoot, and jogging like it was as natural as breathing. Meanwhile, Ciera would pass out if she ran to the end of the block.
    To Ciera’s surprise, Melly cut big hazel eyes in the woman’s direction, and a sharp expression of dislike came over the little face. Then she took Ciera’s hand and tugged her forward. Ciera smirked and shrugged at the woman as she followed Melly. They approached a table with piles of gifts, and amid them with a special place of honor was her picture.
    “Wow, you’ve cleaned up, Melly,” Ciera teased. “I think I need to be three again.”
    Melly signed, and Ciera looked to Nathan, but he hadn’t followed them. She looked over to where she’d come into the building to find him speaking with the woman. They appeared to be arguing. Melly tugged her hand, drawing her attention.
    “I’m sorry, sweetie. I don’t understand what you’re saying. I never learned sign language.”
    Melly pouted.
    “But I’d like to learn sometime.”
    The little girl’s face brightened. She ran off, and Ciera sighed. She dropped onto a bench at the table, wondering why she was there. Being around kids hurt because she had none of her own. She liked watching them and hearing their high-pitched voices, listening to the funny things they said. Since she was an only child, she didn’t have nieces or nephews to spoil. Her closest friend was single and childless. Ciera’s experience with little ones was nonexistent. Maybe that’s why the author hadn’t liked her work for the children’s book. Because she had no insight? Yet, Melly had liked it.
    Melly appeared again with paper and a pen and shoved it into Ciera’s hand. Then they both looked down at it doubtfully. “Can you write, Melly?” she asked.
    Their eyes met, and they both burst out laughing.
    “Wow, we’re seriously challenged right now,” she joked.
    “I can help.” Nathan sat on the bench beside her, and his thigh bumped hers. Ciera’s breath grew shallow. She tried to scoot over without him noticing, but she caught the amusement in his eyes. “So what were you two talking about?”
    Ciera groaned. “I have no idea.”
    Melly tugged his sleeve and signed. He nodded. “Ah, I see. She says you were jealous of her gifts.”
    Ciera laughed. “Are you sure she’s three? I think she’s some kind of genius.”
    His chest puffed a bit bigger with pride. “She’s pretty smart for her age.”
    One of the other kids, a boy with thick glasses, ran over to grab Melly’s hand. As they turned away to go play, Ciera noticed the hearing aids behind both ears. “He’s deaf?” she whispered.
    “Yes, Melly just started at the school for the deaf about two months ago. They take kids from three years old. Most of the kids here are students there.”
    “So you taught her sign language? I don’t know anything about it, but she seems so fluent.”
    He looked sad, and she bit her cheek, thinking she shouldn’t have said anything.
    Ciera decided to change the subject before she could bring him down at his daughter’s party, which should be a happy event. “Is the woman I just met her mom?”
    He frowned. “Kathy? No, she’s an old friend. Melly’s mom was black.”
    Of course. The little girl did look mixed, and Ciera couldn’t help scanning the room for the woman in question,