Wood Worked

Was this considered the bayou? In truth, I wasn’t even sure what that meant, but the yard was gorgeous. Charlotte and Lucas were playing in the clearing before the woods started. To the right, there was a fence that separated this property from Flynn’s. The big barn was visible, as well as part of the house behind it.

Spencer settled me at a table for six, and I wondered who else would be joining us. Flynn? Nana?

I had my back to the house, so I could take in the gorgeous view and also see the whole of the deck. It was great. There was a firepit, a hammock, lots of mismatched patio chairs and side tables. A closed umbrella leaned against the wall to my left.

It looked like a wonderful place to relax and unwind. I vowed to spend some time out here each day, but my smile faded when I realized that would mean asking someone to carry me out here.

That wasn’t very sustainable, but I didn’t know what to do about it. A wheelchair, maybe? But I doubted I could wheel it through the narrow doors and hallways inside.

“Are you cold?” Spencer asked. He was holding a heat lamp that he plugged into the wall behind me.

“I’m good.”

Spencer sat down at the head of the table. “As long as I’m keeping you company, Raphael won’t make me help with the meal prep.” His smile was so charming that I couldn’t help grinning back. “Oh, I almost forgot—congrats about the news from your company. That’s really generous of them.”

“Generous?”

“Yeah. It was in the paper today.”

“What was?” I was completely confused.

“You don’t know?” Spencer’s eyebrows rose as he pulled out his phone. A few moments later, he handed it to me.

He’d pulled up the website for the Lake Boise Gazette, and sure enough, there was an article about Zee Tech. Apparently, they’d announced that in honor of my good deed, they were giving me six weeks off to recover at full salary.

My jaw dropped. Six weeks was a long time. Still, it wasn’t like I didn’t need it. I skimmed through the rest of the article, and then reached the comments at the bottom. Many people had praised Zee Tech for their actions.

This was good news, no doubt about it, but still, I couldn’t help shaking my head. “Why didn’t they tell me?”

Spencer tilted his head to the side as he thought about it. “Yeah, it seems like something you’re supposed to learn from your employer, not a newspaper.” He took his phone back and leaned back in his chair, his long legs stretched out.

Six weeks. Wow. I was grateful that I could keep both my paycheck and my health insurance during that time, but it still sort of bothered me that they hadn’t told me. They could’ve at least shot me an email.

“It’s good to see them doing something nice for a member of the town. Some folks weren’t too happy when they set up shop here,” Spencer said.

“Why not?”

He took a moment to think it over. “I think some people are suspicious of a startup like that. Like it’s all jargon and buzzwords, with no real value to the community. But it probably fits better here in Lake Boise than in some of the surrounding towns. Since we’re a university town, I’d like to think that we’re a bit more openminded than most.”

I nodded, but something about Spencer’s account bothered me.

Then a loud clamoring caught my attention as Charlotte and Lucas came running up the stairs from the yard.

“Good timing,” Spencer said, signing as well as speaking. “Go wash up, dinner’s almost ready.”

I watched the kids pull open the sliding glass door and rush into the house. “How old are they?” I asked Spencer.

“Eight. They’re in third grade.”

“When did they learn sign language?”

“When they were really young. We used sign language and spoken language with both of them from the start.”

I couldn’t even begin to imagine how hard that must’ve been. “Can Charlotte hear at all?” I bit my lip as soon as I said that. “If you don’t want to talk about this, I apologize.”

Spencer shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I want to talk about it?”

“It seems kind of personal.”

“But you’re one of us now. Therefore, you need to know these things.” A warmth that had nothing to do with the heat lamp filled me when he said that.

“Charlotte’s got a cochlear implant. It allows her to process sounds, only not quite in the same way that our ears do. She can understand spoken language best when she’s talking one on one with someone. Out here, it’s harder for her to pick up the sounds, since we’re in such an open space.”

“What does she do at school?”

“There’s an aide who goes to class with her. The aide is fluent in sign language, but she’s also increasing the amount of spoken language she uses with Charlotte.”