The Lonely Heart by K.M. Mahoney

couple of times on the plastic bench cushion. He flipped the menu around, pointing. Isaiah had to lean over and squint to read the tiny print.
    “That’s a lot of food for such a tiny body,” he commented.
    Josh raised one eyebrow.
    “Right. Burger platter it is.”
    When Josh sat back in his seat, Isaiah noticed that Grady’s grip on his menu was a bit tight. Huh. He didn’t think burger platters were upsetting.
    Isaiah glanced over his own menu. Across the small table, Josh leaned against Grady’s arm, tugging the menu until it nearly hid his small face. Josh busied himself pointing to different items. Grady made small humming noises of agreement, a smile replacing his earlier almost grim expression. Isaiah had noticed lately that the two of them had come up with their own communication methods. It wasn’t ASL, or even Josh’s preferred written conversation. But the two of them seemed to understand each other just fine. It pleased Isaiah. A lot. It was nice to see both of them so happy.
    The waitress came and they placed their orders. Isaiah thought it was kind of cute, the way Grady ordered exactly the same thing as Josh. Although, knowing Josh, half of Grady’s food would probably go into the kid, too. And if it didn’t? Heck, Isaiah could always find room for more food.
    While they waited, Isaiah and Grady exchanged casual conversation, Josh listening intently and adding his own opinion on occasion in his own special way.
    Stares were boring into Isaiah’s back, though. He tried to ignore it. Not like he wasn’t used to the dirty looks and the disapproval. Of course, if they started anything with Josh around, his temper would probably snap.
    Isaiah kept his thoughts to himself. No sense in borrowing trouble. Or looking for some.
    It would probably find him eventually, anyway.

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    THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 68

Chapter Eleven

    Grady hit pause and tossed the remote onto the table. He leant forward, rubbing his eyes and feeling like an idiot. He’d been watching these stupid videos of Isaiah’s for nearly two weeks and he’d made absolutely zero progress. Grady would think he’d finally got a sign right, only to realise he was doing it backwards, or upside down. Hell, even his letters were generally wrong, and most of the boys had picked those up in mere days. The letters should have been pretty fool-proof. It wasn’t like they weren’t similar to the written alphabet.
    Then again, Grady had never done well with that, either. He’d thought about giving up at least a dozen times. But then he’d see those green eyes in his mind, the ones that, on occasion, saw more than they should.
    His hand hovered over the remote again before he pulled it back. Maybe he should call it quits for the night. He was tired and the instructor’s words weren’t making sense anymore.
    “So that’s where my tapes went.”
    Grady jerked, butt sliding on the worn leather couch cushion. He jumped to his feet and turned. Damn it. Isaiah stood at the foot of the stairs, just out of range of the living room lights. The shadows masked his expression and hid the emotions in his eyes.
    “I was just—”
    “Grady.”
    At Isaiah’s soft word, Grady snapped his mouth shut. Not like the man couldn’t see what Grady was doing, anyway. Just because Grady was stupid didn’t mean Isaiah was, too.
    Isaiah dropped onto the sofa next to Grady, so close their legs brushed. Grady looked away to hide the sudden heat in his face.
    “This instructor isn’t the best,” Isaiah commented, nodding at the figure frozen on the screen across the room.
    Grady still couldn’t think of anything to say. He took refuge in his usual silence.
    Isaiah sighed. “I don’t get you,” he said. “You act so gruff and aloof all the time, then I find something like this.” His wave included the papers scattered all over the table—frozen shots of different signs with the corresponding words.
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    THE LONELY