Page 118 of Possibly Texas

Again, he nodded.

“You don’t leave at night to send letters?”

No. Sorry. He smiled at me as he signed.

“Well, shit,” I grumbled and kicked at the ground. “I thought I’d solved one of Possibly’s unsolved mysteries.”

Jack made his laughing expression before signing “sorry” again.

Disappointment that I wouldn’t be able to give Auggie an answer to the Shirlene letters pulled at my gut.

“It’s all right,” I said. “I guess I just…well, I saw you two the other night. Then again yesterday. I guess I just assumed?”

He started to sign something, then stopped himself to dig his notepad out of his breast pocket. Apparently, whatever he had to say was too advanced in sign language that he didn’t think I’d understand. Jack jotted down a note and then held his pad out to me to read.

It was a good theory, but it was wrong.

“Yeah.”

He jotted another note.

I think the Shirlene letters are from Starbuck.

“Oh, yeah?” I grinned. “Why him?”

Jack held up a finger before jotting another, longer note on his pad, before holding it out to me to read once again.

I think he’s sweet on Levi Lee. He could practically be the boy’s father, but to each their own. Levi Lee lives with him, you know?

I gasped in shock, then laughed uproariously. Jack turned red, but he made his laughing expression, too.

“Do you really think so?” I asked.

Jack shrugged with a goofy grin.

I don’t know why, but I decided to share some gossip with Jack as well.

“You know,” I started slowly, “Levi Lee asked me if I wanted to get coffee with him yesterday…”

Jack froze and stared at me, his expression blank. After a moment, he jotted a note and held his notepad out to me.

What did you say?

I wanted to be offended that Jack had felt the need to ask, but then I realized that there was no reason to be offended. Besides, he was only asking the logical question for someone who—though he was my stepfather—didn’t know me all that well yet. How was he to know how I’d feel about a guy asking me on a date?

“I said ‘no.’”

Jack nodded as he wrote another note.

He’s a nice kid.

Again, I found myself saying a thing out loud that shocked even me.

“Yeah. He is. And it’s not like it wasn’t, like, a maybe at first. But…I’m not interested in Levi Lee,” I said quickly. “He’s really nice, though. He’s a good friend.”

Jack smiled. We stared at each other for a moment, unsure what to say or do next. We had both shared more intimate information about ourselves than we had in our entire lives. Information that, at first, felt dangerous to share. But, like everyone in Possibly, we allowed each other to just be who we were. It felt good. All things considered it was awkward. But not in a bad way. It was a first real step in getting to know each other.

Is there someone you want to get coffee with? Jack held his notepad out to me again after jotting down his note.