"Sir? Sir!" A rather hard tap on his shoulder brought his head around.
"I'm sorry, were you speaking to me?"
The man next to him scowled. "You see anyone else around here I might be talking to?"
Myles glanced around the lobby; it was deserted now, except for the maintenance people and the security guard now glaring at him. He'd gotten caught up in watching people, trying to lip-read a bit, and then more recently been fascinated by the vibration he could feel in the walls as a woman used an industrial vacuum on the wide hallways.
He wasn't entirely sure what the man had said, but he got the idea. "I apologize." He decided it would take too long to explain everything. He'd take the simple route and get a bit more education. "I didn't hear you. I'm deaf."
"Apparently." The man glared at him again. "Then what the hell are you doing at the symphony?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't get that. My lip-reading skills are still rudimentary. If you could write it down for me…?" He held out his notepad and pen.
The man ignored the pad and merely spoke louder. "Then what the hell are you doing here?"
He caught it very faintly, but Myles wasn't about to let the guy know it. "Yelling doesn't help. I could tell because of the way your mouth moved. I really would appreciate it if you wrote it, please."
The guard huffed and grabbed the pad. I said, what the hell are you doing at the symphony if you're deaf?The man thrust it back into his hands forcefully.
Myles took a deep breath for patience, realizing Sue dealt with rudeness like this every day. He could manage it for five minutes. "At the moment, I'm waiting for the young lady who accompanied me. She's backstage talking with Miss Glennie."
The guard started to speak again, but Myles held out the notepad. So you came all the way down here to meet Miss Glennie? Pretty pricey meet-and-greet. The man's face held the poorly-hidden hint of a sneer as he handed it back.
"No, we came for the symphony," Myles explained patiently. The acoustics in here are wonderful. We can feel the vibrations of the music quite well."
"Whatever." The guard huffed again as Myles raised a brow at him, and snatched the notepad out of the agent's grasp once more. We are about to lock the front doors, so you might want to go find your lady friend and go home. He all but threw the pad at Myles as he stalked away.
Well, that was an adventure. He pulled out his cell phone to text-message Sue before he got back to the rehearsal hall. He was surprised to note that almost an hour had passed. And she's put up with people like that every day of her life. I'm surprised she's not jaded. How she manages to stay as pleasant as she does is a miracle.
Sue was waiting outside the door for him when he walked up. "Myles, I'm sorry, I didn't realize it had been so long. We got talking, and Deaf conversations can go on for days if you let them, and I'm so sorry I left you standing out here by yourself this whole time." She paused to take a breath.
"It's quite all right. While you were enjoying yourself, I was antagonizing a… hearie, I believe is the term."
"You were what?" Her brows shot up.
Myles laughed. "Not intentionally. I'll fill you in, if you're not ready to call it a night."
Sue considered him for a moment. "You toss in something sweet, and you're on." She saw the confused look on his face and wrote it out for him.
He grinned and draped his arm over her shoulders as they headed for the exit. Dipping his head enough so she could read him, he quipped, "What, I'm not sweet enough?" When she laughed and swatted him, he chuckled. "Let's go back and see Gregori. I just realized we forgot Levi's doggie bag, and they have a Chocolate Hazelnut Cake that used to bring Lucy to tears."
Her face lit up. "Deal. You know, you keep this up, and you're going to completely ruin our prickly working relationship."
They stepped out into the warm July night as he tapped her arm. "I got none of that."
She laughed as the valet approached and used the notepad. Take out the ear molds, Myles, she wrote. There's no way I'm getting in a car with you unless you do. You don't have that extra clause on your license.
"Spoilsport." He complied, storing the molds safely in their case and tucking it into his breast pocket. "Now, what did you say back there?"
She smiled. "I said, deal on the Chocolate Hazelnut Cake, and if you keep this up, we're going to have to explain to everyone why we're suddenly getting along so well."
"I'll take my chances." The valet had returned with the car, and he opened her door for her. "Though I still think I should be afraid of getting shot by my unit leader."
Gregori was delighted to see them again and since the restaurant was quieter now that the dinner rush was over, he joined their conversation for a few minutes after he served their desserts and coffee.
"So you had a good time? A new adventure for you, eh, il mio amico?" His dark eyes twinkled as he looked at Sue. "You see, signora, you are very lucky. Most ladies he bring in here, he spend all evening with the colloquio dolce. Is sweet talk. But with you, he is smart. He let you talk. Perhaps it work better, yes?"
She watched a flush creep into her co-worker's face, but laughed kindly. "We're just friends, Gregori. But thank you. I don't think I've ever seen him blush before." She smiled impishly.
The restaurant owner grinned. "He is found out, as you say. But when he stop here for lunch, he tell me all about you."
Now her brows shot up. "He does?"
"Gregori, don't you have a busboy to flog or something?" Myles toyed with his coffee cup, a rather uncomfortable look on his face.
"Not recently, but long time ago, yes." Gregori nodded. "He tell me this woman come into his unit and mess everything up for him. He very infastidito for many weeks. Then one day, he come in and is not so angry. He tell me that maybe he thought wrong after all."
"Amico…" There was just the hint of warning, or perhaps pleading, in Myles' eyes.
Gregori glanced at him, a half-smile on his face. "Yes, I am a gentleman and a pirate, but you need to have one person on this planet understand you. And she is good choice, friend or no. I will go away after I tell her."
"You weren't expecting a tip after this, were you?" The Harvard grad's voice was quiet, and his gaze down. Sue could tell he was extremely uncomfortable, but she wasn't sure if it was her place to intervene.
"No, my friend. But is good for you." He turned back to Sue. "Signora, he say he watch you at work and he see a fighter for justice, no matter what other things stand in your way. He say he cannot tell you, but you open his eyes, open his world. You share his fight."
He patted Myles on the shoulder. "Is nothing wrong with her knowing. You cannot tell her, so I tell her for you. Good night, my friend. Forgive me for showing her your heart– but you should do it yourself."
"Good night, signora bella." He took Sue's hand and kissed it gallantly. "Means 'beautiful lady.' Please remind the hostess, on your way out, that there is cannelloni for Levi in the kitchen." He smiled gently at his friend, and headed off to do something else.
Myles was doing his level best to look anywhere but directly at her. Sue turned her attention to her cake for a few minutes, giving him a chance to regroup.
Finally, he seemed to relax a little; she'd been watching him through her eyelashes, so she knew to look up even before his hand tapped hers.
"Sue, I'm sorry," he said. "I—" He saw the expectant expression on her face, and realized he had no idea what he'd been planning to say.
"Would it help if I told you I read almost none of that?" Her expression was carefully neutral.
"Only if you could go under oath with it." He sighed. "Which, knowing you, I doubt."
She smiled, and he actually leaned his elbows on the table as he rubbed at his temples, something she doubted he'd have done if he hadn't felt quite so awkward at the moment.
"Gregori means well," he said, "but sometimes…"
"I'm sorry?" she asked. "With your head down…"
"Oh. Right." The reminder seemed to snap him out of his discomfort, because he sat back and actually looked at her for the first time in about ten minutes. "I said, Gregori means well, but there are times I wish he weren't quite so…"
"Honest?" She smiled as he nodded, rolling his eyes slightly. "He cares about you, Myles. I can tell that just by the way the two of you interact. You've been coming here a long time, haven't you?"
"I met Gregori about a week after I got transferred here to DC. I must admit, though the transfer to Headquarters was something I'd aspired to, to actually be here was a little…overwhelming." He looked rather embarrassed to admit such a thing aloud. "I came in because the place looked homey and inviting, and I missed my grandmother's gnocchi."
"I'm sorry… no-kee?"
G-N-O-C-C-H-I, he fingerspelled. "Knee-OH-key, but slide the first two syllables together. Pasta dumplings. Grandmother made them with potatoes, but it's the same idea. Anyway, Gregori happened to be on a break, or whatever the owner takes, and we just got talking. After that, I started having dinner here at least once a week, and he'd always come over to talk with me. I don't know why I end up telling him so much."
"Everybody needs a confidante," Sue replied. "I just got lucky; Levi doesn't tell anyone. And by the way, you were right about the cake. It's incredible."
Finally, he laughed. "Shall we get out of here before Gregori comes back?"
Sue smiled as he offered a hand to help her up and gently steered her toward the exit.. "Why? Have you been saying anything else to him about me?"
She'd thought he was going to shrug it off, but instead he took her arm and swung her around to face him directly.
"Only that I hope I find in my life one day someone who is a great deal like you." As her eyes widened, he raised a hand to clarify. "I don't want you to think that… I mean, I'm not saying that meaning that I—" He paused and took a breath. "All I mean is that I've come to have a great deal of respect for you, Thomas. And a great deal more after this evening. I simply wasn't expecting to have it all poured out into your lap by my well-meaning friend. But, now that you know, I may as well finish it off."
"Thank you." She wasn't sure it had made it past the tightness in her throat, so she signed it as well. Then she swallowed and tried again. "Myles, look, I know that I got extremely lucky on this team— you were the only one who had any reservations. Ok, well, at least the only one who voiced them directly to me. I've been on other 'teams' in my life where that wasn't the case— where most ofthe others thought the way you did. And honestly? I thought that I'd have to put up with it for as long as I was with your unit. But it hasn't turned out that way. I do understand that you had some real concerns about the safety of the team, and—"
"It was a convenient excuse, for the most part." He looked uncomfortable again as they paused under the lights of the entrance. "And you don't have to bring up Lucy again. Looking back now, I think I was almost relieved that it came out when it did. It would have hurt her worse if more time had passed, because I don't think I had the courage to tell her straight out myself." Another shrug lifted his shoulders. "I never did go to Miami, by the way. She doesn't need to know that, but I thought you should."
"It's not my place to judge, Myles…"
"I know." His eyes shifted down, though he made sure she could still read him. "But I wanted you to know."
She nodded in understanding. "I've learned a lot these past couple of years, too. You were right to be concerned. I guess I've spent so much time on the defensive, trying to prove myself to my mom and everyone else who thought I couldn't do something, or pushed me, that I just dove right in and didn't think about the consequences."
He smiled. "Right to be concerned, perhaps, but not to be cruel. I'm sorry."
Now she grinned and poked his arm. "I thought you were going to stop apologizing. But it's my turn now. I'm sorry, but I really do need to go home so I can get Levi and let Charlie go to bed."
"We can stop on the way and pick him up. Save you a trip, since it's late." He smiled again as she signed THANK YOU, and signed WELCOME in return.