Someone Else's Ocean(26)

“I blame Texas.”

“South Africa to Dallas, what in the world made your parents make that move?”

“We went there initially to wait for my brother, the birth mother lived there.”

“Your parents told me a little about him last summer, I forgot his name…?”

“Adam. He’s adopted. My parents and I waited in Dallas for the length of the pregnancy. They got acclimated. I hated it, but we stayed.”

“Too hot?”

“I can handle hot,” he said, looking over the list on the board before he took a step forward with Disco cradled in his free arm and erased one of the notes. “The academics were lacking. I was several levels ahead, and it was all very boring.”

“I remember you griping about not being able to safari on the weekend. No chance of lions invading Dallas then?” He threw his head back at my shitty attempt at his accent. I felt like I was batting a thousand every time I heard that sweet rumble erupt from his chest.

“No, there wasn’t much adventure for me in the concrete jungle.”

“I could say different about where I came from. I suffered from overstimulation. What do you teach?”

“Linguistics and American Sign Language and sometimes I dabble in creative writing.”

“Professor Kemp?” I mused, unable to picture him instructing a classroom. “You went from the Marines to teach?”

“Actually, it was my wife’s doing. My ex-wife, Tara. When we discovered our daughter was deaf, I dabbled in speech, speech pathology, audiology, and linguistics. She pushed me in the direction of teaching. I used to write letters to her when I was stationed overseas. She thought I had a knack for it.”

“So, you started it mostly for your daughter?”

He nodded. “I taught some classes at her school for a few years when she began attending.”

“Sign language is fascinating.”

He nodded thoughtfully and let Disco free. She ran straight toward me and jumped through my feet attacking my flip-flops.

“I agree. I spent years studying the language and the culture. And with Ella’s disability, it seemed a natural progression,” he shrugged.

“None of this is impressive at all,” I said sarcastically.

“Tara was more in tune with the Marine, I think. Her pursuit for me career-wise actually backfired.”

“Did you see yourself in this career?”

“I didn’t see myself as anything. I joined the Marines to buy time to figure it out.”

“And just so happened to finish some of the hardest military training in the world?”

Ian shrugged. “It was either that or go to college for a useless degree.”

“Touché.”

“Pardon?”

“I agree with you. I am a proud owner of one of those useless degrees.”

He winced. “Sorry.”

“I’m not. I’m glad I’m not wasting any more time.” I nodded toward his full erase board. “So, teach me something, professor.”

“This doesn’t interest you.”

“Everything interests me.” I scooped up Disco and took a seat on the corner of his couch. “Were you practicing in here?”

He scrunched his nose as if he smelled something bad. “Practicing? I don’t need practice. This is a list of lectures.”

“Where do you teach now?”

“Nowhere at the moment. I’m hoping for a position at my daughter’s new school.”

“So, teach me, here, in St. Thomas.”

Ian bit his lips and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I know what you’re doing. Did my mother put you up to this?”

“Yes, your mother prodded Disco to whine all night and forced me over here to snoop at your dry erase board. My education awaits, Professor Kemp.”

“And what was your major?”

“I got a master’s in business, got my real estate license, joined a firm and blew a $2 billion deal because I had a panic attack. I should have joined the Marines, it might have made a better woman out of me. Now, teach me something.”

Ian looked down at me skeptically. “It’s late.”

“I’m wide awake,” I said, eyeing the collection of books stacked on the TV stand. “If you won’t teach me anything, how about we start a book club?”

“What do you read?”

“Everything. Lots of historical romance lately.”

“Really?” His demeanor changed and his shoulders relaxed. He was no longer on the defensive.

“Yes, historical romance. What’s wrong with that? You learn something and the boy gets the girl, but not before the wide-spread panic, famine, cannibalism, cholera, the Nazis, and of course, the hurdled forty or fifty life-threatening situations.”

Ian tilted his head back again. The rumble of his laughter my new driving force.

“So, will you teach me how to sign?”

“Maybe,” he said as he playfully squared his shoulders, “it depends, Mrs. Vaughn…”

“Miss.” I pressed my lips together wondering if he remembered his remark the day we met.

Ian’s lips twitched. He did. But he had enough tact not to stare at my miss tits.

We shared another smile, this one was far more intimate. Awareness of the unwanted distance between us began to creep into my thoughts.