Dangerous to Know & Love (35 page)

Eventually, Lisanne sighed and admitted it was time to head back.

“Grandma and Pops will have arrived by now,” she said. “That’s my mom’s mom, and my dad’s dad.”

“Great,” said Daniel, with exaggerated irony.

It was her turn to reassure him.

“They’ll love you – besides, I thought you said you were irresistible?”

He shrugged. “Shoulda read the small print.”

Daniel tensed visibly as Lisanne drove them back to her house. The relaxed, sexy boy she loved was now spiky and closed off, his fingers drumming restlessly on his thighs.

She reached over with her right hand and touched his knee.

“It’ll be fine,” she said.

He grimaced and looked out of the window.

But when they arrived back at the house, things got weird.

Pops was standing out front with love in his eyes, as he gazed at Daniel’s Harley. Not only that, Lisanne’s staid, twinset and pearl wearing Grandma Olsen was waxing lyrical about her first boyfriend who’d had a motorcycle, and talking the ear off of Pops.

“Oh, Marlon Brando had nothing on him. ‘What are you rebelling against, Johnny?’ ‘Whaddya got?’ Such nonsense! My boy sure knew how to wear a pair of Levis, I’ll say that much for him.” She turned and saw Lisanne. “There’s my little bunny!” and descended on her, smothering Lisanne with pink-lipstick kisses.

“Hi Grandma,” said Lisanne, embarrassed by her nickname. She could see Daniel smirking at her out of the corner of her eye. “Um, this is my boyfriend Daniel.”

Right on cue, she blushed on the word ‘boyfriend’.

“My goodness!” said Grandma Olsen, scanning Daniel’s tattoos and pierced eyebrow. “Well, you certainly match with your motorcycle. I’m very happy to meet you, Daniel.”

“Likewise, ma’am,” said Daniel, who assumed they’d be shaking hands.

He didn’t know Grandma Olsen.

She pulled him down to her height and planted a loud, pink kiss on his cheek.

Daniel looked taken aback and Lisanne wanted to laugh at the expression on his face.

“Um, this is my grandfather, Pops.”

“Pleased to meet you, son. The name’s Harold Maclaine, but this little miss called me ‘Pops’ before she could walk, and it kinda stuck.”

They shook hands and then Daniel had to answer dozens of questions about his bike.

“She’s called ‘Sirona’,” added Lisanne helpfully.

“Who is?” said Grandma Olsen, looking around her as if another person was about to materialize underneath the peach tree in the garden.

“His motorcycle,” snickered Lisanne.

Pops looked glassy-eyed. “That sure is a pretty name for a pretty lady.”

Daniel smirked at Lisanne, folding his arms across his chest.

“Some people appreciate her charms, baby doll,” he said.

Dinner was a noisy affair, and at first Lisanne was worried about how Daniel would cope. But at Pops’ request, they were seated at the same end of the table. Lisanne had no idea that a motorcycle fanatic lurked beneath the benign surface of his gray haired exterior.

Poor Daniel was barely permitted to take a bite of the excellent lasagna and salad that Monica had made, before a cascade of questions poured forth.

“I heard that tuning the exhaust is very easy to get wrong on a Harley,” said Pops. “The stock 1¾ inch dual header pipes are hard to beat.”

Daniel nodded. “Sure, but they’re not tunable. SuperTrapp make tunable mufflers. You just need to install baffle cores.”

Tunable, untunable, there was nothing musical about
that
conversation: Lisanne tuned out.

She turned to see her grandma watching her.

“Well, bunny, he seems like a very pleasant young man.”

Lisanne smiled. “Thanks, grandma.”

“Handsome, too, although it’s a shame about all those tattoos – and as for that ridiculous piece of metal through his eyebrow, I can’t imagine what he was thinking.” She patted Lisanne’s hand. “You’ll be a calming influence on him. You’ve always been such a sensible girl.”

Lisanne winced. For the first time ever, she was glad Daniel hadn’t heard what had been said.

Harry, sitting on the other side of Pops, seemed equally taken with Daniel. His eyes kept flicking back to Daniel as he listened to them discussing baffling terms such as cams, combustion chambers and carburetors, with ease and mutual enjoyment.

Lisanne knew her father had little interest in fixing engines – any trouble and he was straight down the auto repair shop.

For Harry, it had been a new experience in male bonding.

After dinner, Lisanne helped her mother clear the table, and Daniel was left to the mercy of Pops and Grandma Olsen. Lisanne regretted having promised him that she wouldn’t leave him alone, but really, she had no choice.

She cleared and stacked the plates while her mom loaded them into the dishwasher.

“Lisanne, I swear that young man of yours is in a dream half the time! I called his name three times before he answered.”

Lisanne took a deep breath. Daniel’s expressed preference was that Lisanne’s family didn’t know about his deafness. But seeing her mother’s amused expression, Lisanne felt she had no choice but to defend him by telling the truth.

“That’s because he didn’t hear you, mom.”

“Well, I could tell that. I don’t know where he was, but it must have been somewhere nice.”

“No, mom. I mean he
couldn’t
hear you. Daniel is deaf.”

“Excuse me?”

Lisanne almost laughed.

“Daniel is deaf. He started to lose his hearing when he went to high school. He became completely deaf nearly two years ago.”

“But… but…!”

“He lip reads. That’s why he doesn’t answer you if he can’t see your face.” Lisanne paused as her mother took in this extraordinary piece of information. “I told you he was amazing,” she said, quietly.

Her mother sat down at the kitchen table looking stunned, staring at her daughter as if she was waiting for the punch line.

“He can’t hear? At all?”

Lisanne shook her head.

“But how does he manage? At school? In his classes?”

“Like I said: he lip reads then writes up his notes later. He’s really smart. He helps me with our Introduction to Business class.” Lisanne rolled her eyes.

“But…” her mother was still struggling with the concept. “But he doesn’t wear a hearing aid.”

“No. They’re for people who have some residual hearing. They don’t help him. Not anymore.”

“Good Heavens,” said her mother. “Good Heavens!” Then she looked up. “Is he safe on that motorcycle of his? I mean, if he can’t hear the traffic?”

“He’s deaf, not blind, mom,” said Lisanne, patiently.

She knew her mom was only asking the questions because she’d never met a completely deaf person before.

“Is it genetic? I mean, would his children be deaf?” Lisanne’s mother flushed red when she realized how that might sound to her daughter.

“No, mom. The doctors think it was because of a virus – it’s not genetic.”

“Well… well, that’s something.”

Lisanne leaned against the kitchen sink, giving her mother time to take it all in.

“What about those implants?” Monica said. “I saw people talking about them on
Ellen
.”

“Cochlear implants?”

“Yes, that’s it! Could those help Daniel?”

“Maybe,” said Lisanne slowly. “But it’s quite a big surgery and there are risks. Sometimes the operation can damage facial nerves. It’s rare, but it can happen. And it doesn’t always restore hearing of any quality. Besides, it’s a bit like saying there’s something wrong with Daniel – that he needs to be fixed.”

“Oh,” said her mother, her mouth opening and closing, lost for words. “But… but wouldn’t it help?”

Lisanne gestured helplessly. “Maybe, I don’t know. He doesn’t like to talk about it.”

“Well,” said her mother again. “Does your father know?”

Lisanne shook her head.

“Should I tell him?”

“I guess,” said Lisanne. “It’s not as if he could dislike Daniel any more than he already does.”

Her mother frowned. “That’s not fair: your father is trying very hard. It’s not easy for him knowing that his daughter… that you’re a young woman.”

“You mean because I’m sleeping with Daniel.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean,” said her mother sharply. “I think your father is behaving very well under the circumstances.”

Lisanne sighed and looked away.

At that moment Pops came wandering in.

“Everything okay in here, ladies?”

“Sure, Pops,” said Lisanne, quietly.

“That’s a very interesting young man you’ve got there,” he said. “Knows his motorcycles. Rebuilt Sirona from scrap by the sound of it.”

Lisanne rolled her eyes.

“You’re not calling her ‘Sirona’ as well, are you? Because I’ve got to say, Pops, after riding on her for over three hours, I was about ready to throw it in the lake.”

Pops snorted. “No taste some people, unlike young Daniel. Pity he’s deaf.”

Lisanne stared.

“What… how… when… how did you know, Pops?”

Pops stared back.

“Didn’t know it was supposed to be a secret. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Well,
I
certainly didn’t guess,” said Monica, looking slightly miffed.

“But how did you know, Pops?”

Pops smiled. “Friend of mine, Mal Peters. He’s damn near deaf. I’ve gotten used to making sure he’s facing me when I’m talking to him. I noticed you did the same thing with Daniel and it got me wondering. Figured the rest out for myself. He hides it well, although I’m not sure why he wants to.”

Lisanne stared at her fingers. “It’s complicated, Pops.”

“Nothing complicated about the truth,” he replied, but not unkindly.

“It’s how Daniel wants it,” explained Lisanne, with a lift of her shoulder. “He says he’s tired of people judging him when they know.”

Lisanne’s mom looked guilty as she listened to her daughter’s words.

“Well, well, his choice,” said Pops. “I’m going to head for bed now – this old man needs his beauty sleep.”

He kissed Lisanne goodnight and waved to Monica.

“Well,” said Monica, watching her father-in-law disappear upstairs, “I suppose I’d better tell your dad. He’ll be surprised, that’s for sure.”

“Thanks, mom,” said Lisanne, giving her mother a big hug.

Then she left Monica in the kitchen, shaking her head tiredly.

Daniel was still sitting at the table with a slightly glazed expression, as Grandma Olsen continued in her blow-by-blow description of her gallbladder operation.

“And the gallstones were the size of walnuts. You certainly don’t want to try passing anything that size!”

Daniel winced.

“Well,” she said, with a heavy sigh, “I shouldn’t eat this late – it’s not good for me. I’m going to go and lie down, but nobody get worried if they hear me wandering around in the night. It’ll be indigestion – that, or my bowels.”

Daniel scraped his hands over his face, obviously wishing he hadn’t lip read that last sentence.

“Come on, let’s go watch some TV,” said Lisanne, pulling him up.

Daniel stood, a grateful expression on his face, and willingly allowed her to lead him into the TV den.

When they’d settled on one of the sofas, she snuggled up to him.

“How was that?” she asked, before planting a soft kiss on his lips.

“Yeah, okay, until your gran started describing – well, you heard her. I thought my lasagna was going to make a repeat performance.”

“Sorry about that,” she giggled.

Then she sat up straighter.

“Um, Daniel?”

“What, baby doll? You look guilty as all hell. What did you do?” he teased her.

“Pops guessed… I mean, about you.”

Daniel’s smile faded. “Damn it. I thought I’d nailed that.”

“Well, you did, as far as everyone else was concerned, but he’s got a friend who’s deaf, so he just guessed. Anyway, mom knows, too. I’ve asked her to tell dad.”

Daniel sighed. “Don’t worry about it, baby. I was dumb to think I could get away with it for the whole vacation.”

She kissed his pouting lips, determined to make him forget his disappointment.

They’d had just a few minutes to themselves and Lisanne was cuddled up to Daniel on the sofa, pretending to watch
Arrow
. Really, she was busy kissing Daniel’s neck and suggestively rubbing her hand over his thigh.

“You carry on doing that, baby doll, and your dad will have me thrown out,” he whispered.

Lisanne giggled.

“Am I turning you on?”

“Lis, you walk into the room and I get a boner,” he said with a smile.

She blushed happily, and was just running her hands under his t-shirt, when Harry walked in.

“Oh, cool,” he said glancing at the TV, then plopping himself down on the chair and halting his sister’s make out session. “You’ve got the subtitles on.”

“I know,” said Lisanne, looking up as her parents came in and sat down on the other sofa.

“Whatever,” said Harry, his eyes fixed on the screen.

“It’s quite useful having subtitles,” said Lisanne’s mother, glancing at her daughter.

Daniel caught the look between them and smiled at Lisanne, placing a gentle kiss on her temple. Lisanne’s father frowned at the public display of affection, but refrained from speaking. Which was a first.

Shortly after that, Harry yawned and said he was heading for bed. Monica looked pointedly at Lisanne, clearly suggesting that she should do the same.

“Yeah, me, too,” said Lisanne, playing along, “it’s been some day.”

Daniel stood up immediately.

“Sleep well,” said Monica. “You’ll both feel so much better after
a good night’s sleep
.”

Lisanne caught the message without any trouble. It wasn’t like her mom was blessed with subtlety.

As they walked up the stairs, Daniel whispered in her ear.

“I’ll see you later, baby doll.”

She shivered with longing.

The side of his mouth lifted in a smile and he disappeared into Harry’s room. She could hear the low murmur of conversation. Feeling nervous and overwhelmingly
naughty
, she hurried to brush her teeth and wash her face, wondering if there were any other preparations she should make. She ransacked her drawers for something to wear. All her pajamas were so childish – for the first time, she wished she had sexier night wear.