“I found us some group sign language classes,” Jenny told us all after a few minutes. “We can start anytime, they’re an hour a day to learn the basics.”

“Oh, good. Thanks,” I told her. “Alice will still be in here for at least a week or so.”

“Well, we can go while she’s here or we can wait until she goes home, it’s completely up to you,” Jenny replied. “You don’t have to decide right now.” I nodded in response as I ate my sandwich.

“This is really good,” I told Shane, since I was assuming she’d made it. She didn’t say one way or the other, but she did thank me, which made me assume I was right.

“The classes Jenny found are with a private instructor. She’s said to be pretty good at teaching the basics quickly, and we can always hire someone to come to the house if we need to.” Shane said. “Charlie said he was going to call around to see if he can get someone to put in a wheelchair ramp for the front and back door, and maybe a lift for the basement. If you want, Al.” This got a halfhearted nod from Alice.

“Have the kids been in?” Shane asked me a little bit later. Jenny was talking to Alice about helping her write if she needed her to, and instead of getting agitated like I’d feared she would, she seemed pretty enthused about the idea.

“Yeah, Kallie was here just a few minutes before you showed up. She left with Gemma before you guys walked in,” I replied.

“Good for her,” Shane said, and it was obvious that she meant it. Kallie had spent so much time at their house when she was younger that I knew Shane felt almost like a parent to her, and she’d been almost as worried as Alice when Kallie had started to live in her work so much. “She needs to get out more.”

“Yeah, she does,” I agreed.

“How’ve you been?” Shane asked, looking sideways at me. “You look pretty tired.”

“So do you,” I shot back.

“I run a restaurant,” Shane retorted, but she was smiling.

“You don’t run it, you co-own it. And it’s not even a restaurant, it’s a coffee shop and café that becomes a nightclub at night,” I told her.