She just hoped he hadn’t noticed it before she put it out of sight.

Tom started signing as soon as Jodi looked at him. “I just got confirmation from the movers. We have to be finished with the boxes by seven in the morning.”

“Dana Roberts?”

“She’s coming at nine-thirty. She’s bringing the final papers for you to sign.”

“Good,” she said with a nod. “What about you?”

“I’m almost finished packing,” Tom replied. “Hank will be helping me bring my boxes tonight so the movers don’t have to stop at my place too.”

“Perfect.” Jodi couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction. Tom had proven himself to be more than just her interpreter; he was her partner. She doubted if she would get anything done in time without him around. “You have a pen I can borrow?”

He reached into his left pocket and pulled out a fancy fountain pen. He threw it at Jodi, who caught it in mid air. She tried to focus her thoughts back onto her speech, but the smiling face of the boy had burned itself into the back of her mind.

Not a minute had gone by before Tom’s hand appeared on her line of sight. He gently grabbed onto the pen, stopping her from writing any further. Not like she was getting much done anyway.

Jodi looked up to find him staring back at her with a peculiar expression on his face. He raised his left eyebrow to let her know that what was coming was a question. “Hey… can we talk about something personal?”

Those words never bode well for her… especially when they came from Tom. After all, Tom knew things about her nobody else knew. The word personal held a whole new dimension of meaning when it came to their relationship.

Jodi finally nodded, leaning back on her high back chair to wait for what was coming.

“Have Bette and you spoken about Mary and Alex?” he asked.

‘Great. Fucking A.’ Jodi took a deep breath before answering. “I told her I had been in a committed relationship for five years.”

It was obvious to Tom that she had managed to give him a response that didn’t answer his question. “Does she know what happened?”