Maybe Someday(76)

lowers herself to the floor. She lies flat on her

stomach with a sigh and begins moving her arms,

making snow angels against the carpet.

“I don’t want to go to bed yet,” I tell her.

She flips over onto her back and looks up at

me. “Then don’t. I told Ridge to let you stay up

and play because we were having so much fun,

but you threw up in Brennan’s lap, so he made

you go to bed.” She sits up. “Let’s go play some

more. I want more cake.” She pushes up on her

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hands and stands, then reaches for my hands and

pulls me off the bed.

I look down at myself. “But you took off my

clothes,” I say, pouting.

She looks at my bra and underwear. “Where’d

you get that bra? It’s so cute.”

“JCPenney.”

“Oh. Ridge likes the kind that clasp in the

front, but yours is really cute. I want one.”

“You should get one,” I say, smiling. “We

could be bra twins.”

She pulls me toward the door. “Let’s go see if

Ridge likes it. I want him to buy me one.”

I smile. I hope he likes it. “Okay.”

Maggie opens the door to my room and pulls

me behind her into the living room. “Ridge!” she

yells. I laugh, because I don’t know why she’s

yelling for him. He can’t hear her.

“Hey, Warren,” I say, grinning when I see him

on the couch. “Happy Birthday.” Bridgette is

seated next to him, glaring at me. She’s looking

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me up and down, probably jealous because my

bra really is cute.

Warren shakes his head and laughs. “That’s

only the fiftieth time you’ve said that tonight, al-

though it’s a little more fitting now that you’re

practically in your birthday suit.”

Ridge is sitting on the other side of Bridgette.

He’s shaking his head like Warren. “Maggie

wants to know if you like my bra,” I say to

Ridge. I pull on Maggie’s hand so she’ll turn

around and sign to him.

“It’s a very nice bra,” Ridge says, staring at it

with a cocked eyebrow.

I smile. Then I frown.

Did he just . . .? I yank my hand out of Mag-

gie’s and turn back toward Ridge. “Did you just

speak? ”

He laughs. “Did you not just ask me a

question?”

I glare at him hard, especially when Warren

bursts out into a fit of laughter.

Oh.

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My.

God.

He’s not deaf?

This whole time, he’s been lying to me? It’s

been a prank?

I instantly want to strangle him. Both of them.

Tears sting at my eyes, and the second I lunge

forward, a strong hand grips my wrist and yanks

my arm back. I turn and look up at . . . Ridge?

I turn back to the couch and look at . . . Ridge?

Warren is doubled over Bridgette’s lap now,

he’s laughing so hard. Ridge Number 1 is laugh-

ing now, too. His whole face doesn’t laugh when

he laughs, like Ridge Number 2’s face does.

And his hair is shorter than Ridge Number 2’s

hair. And darker.

Ridge Number 2 has his arm wrapped around

my waist, and he’s picking me up.

Now I’m upside down.

Not good for my stomach.

My face is toward his back, and my stomach is

slumped over his shoulder as he carries me back

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toward my bedroom. I look at Warren and the

guy I now realize is Brennan, and then I squeeze

my eyes shut, because I think I’m about to throw

up all over Ridge Number 2.

I’m being seated on something cold. A floor.

As soon as my mind comprehends where he’s

put me, my hands reach forward until I grasp the

toilet, and then it suddenly feels as if I’ve eaten

Italian food all over again. He holds my hair back

while the toilet fills with Pine-Sol.

I wish it really were Pine-Sol. I wouldn’t have to clean it.

“Don’t you love her bra?” Maggie says from

behind me, giggling. “I know it’s a back clasp,

but look at how cute the straps are!”

I feel a hand on one of my bra straps. I can feel

Ridge pull her hand away. His arm moves, and I

know he’s signing something.

Maggie huffs. “I don’t want to go to bed yet.”

He signs something else, and then she sighs

and walks into his bedroom.

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When I’m finished, Ridge wipes my face with

a rag. I allow my back to fall against the wall of

the tub, and I look up at him.

He doesn’t look very happy. In fact, he looks a

little angry.

“It’s a party, Ridge,” I mumble, and close my eyes again.