Chapter 16. New Ground

Wren POV

For a long time, neither of us moved.

He stood on the bottom step with his hand still half-raised, like he wasn't sure he was allowed to put it down. I stood on the sidewalk with my phone in my fist and my whole face on fire.

He'd understood. Not all of it. Enough.

You're the only place that's quiet.

I wanted the sidewalk to open up and swallow me.

Instead, very slowly, I put my phone in my pocket.

Then I signed, carefully this time. Slow and clear, the way I'd sign to a child or to my father when he was tired.

How much do you understand? Really.

He watched my hands with a small crease between his eyebrows. The same crease he got on the ice right before he did something fast.

"How much," he said. "Understand. Really." A pause. "Not much. The alphabet. Numbers. About three hundred words, if you go slow." His jaw tightened. "I can't do the