The Silence Between Us

Maya rushes Connor to the hospital. When she carries him into the emergency room, the alarmed staff take him from her arms. Maya cannot stop crying as they rush him away; she is unable to lip read in the chaotic environment, and she begs for information about what is happening, but no one seems to understand her situation. Finally, she yells at a nurse blocking her way that she is Deaf; she asks for the hospital’s Video Remote Interpreting (VRI), an assistive device that provides a remote interpreter in situations where an in-person interpreter is unavailable. She texts her mother while she waits; her mother responds that she will be there as soon as she can, but Maya knows her mother is at least three hours away. Finally, someone tells her that the hospital’s VRI is broken and asks whether she knows an interpreter who can come to help her. Desperate, Maya texts Beau.

Beau arrives as quickly as he can, and Maya fills him in on the situation. Beau is angry that Maya has been kept waiting for over an hour for news about her brother, and he gets someone to help Maya immediately. The staff member says that Maya cannot see Connor until he is stabilized. Maya waits, miserably wondering if they would have let her go in with Connor if she were hearing. For the first time, her Deafness makes her feel helpless and angry. Beau does his best to comfort her. Finally, Maya is allowed to go back and see Connor. He is unconscious, and she is upset to see how small and frail he looks. When the doctor comes, Beau interprets: Connor has a collapsed lung. He will recover, but he will be hospitalized for several days. After the doctor leaves, Maya thanks Beau for his help and suggests that he go home and get some sleep. Beau tells her that he is going to the restroom, but that he will be back and will stay with her at least until her mother comes. Maya carefully crawls into the hospital bed beside her brother, praying that he will be okay.

When Maya wakes, she is on a loveseat in a regular hospital room, where Connor has apparently been moved. When she gets up, it wakes her mother, who is dozing in a bedside chair. Her mother’s first question is whether Maya is okay. Maya says that she is and explains that Beau came to interpret for her. Sensing how panicked Maya feels over the situation, her mother reassures her that she did well and that what happened to Connor was not her fault. When Maya tells her mother that she is now worried about becoming a respiratory therapist because of how frightened she was about Connor’s crisis, her mother assures her that she is brave and can do it. She urges Maya to see that she will not feel such extreme worry when working with patients, because they will not be her little brother. She tells Maya that Beau is still at the hospital. Maya goes to the waiting room to find him and sees him chatting with a nurse he is clearly very familiar with. Maya tells him that Connor is doing well and that he should go home. Beau is clearly still worried about Maya and resists the idea of leaving. Maya impulsively hugs him; it feels wonderful to her, and she is reluctant to let go. She tells Beau again to go home, and this time, he agrees after making Maya agree to text him later.

Maya spends Thanksgiving in the hospital with Connor. She decides that she should get a job to help her mother out with the increased bills that come with Connor’s health crisis. She does not respond to Beau’s many texts. She has decided that the differences between her world and Beau’s world are too great for a romantic relationship to work between them. When she returns to school on Monday, Beau expresses concern for her and Connor, but he does not mention her failure to respond to his texts. When Nina suggests that she, Maya, and Beau get together to study for finals, Maya agrees.

After school, they head for The Steaming Bean, a local coffee shop. At one point, Beau is headed for the bathroom but nearly collapses. Maya rushes over to him; he will not tell her what is wrong, but she can see that Nina is not concerned—in fact, Nina looks exasperated. Beau and Nina have a short conversation that Maya cannot follow, and Maya feels a little jealous of the obvious intimacy between them. When Maya and Nina are alone, Nina also refuses to tell Maya what is wrong with Beau, because Beau should be the one to share the information. She does reassure Maya, however, that it is not something to worry about. Maya asks whether Beau and Nina are romantically involved, and Nina promises that they are just good friends. She is about to say something about Beau and Maya’s relationship, but Beau comes back and she leaves the thought unexpressed.

Maya is overjoyed when she gets the notification that she has been accepted to Cartwright. When she runs across the classroom to tell Beau about it, she says his name aloud for the first time; his reaction is a kind of stunned happiness that Maya has trouble processing. She tells him the news about college and he hugs her; again, Maya finds herself not wanting to let go. At lunch, Beau asks Maya to go on a date with him, and she accepts without hesitation. “FINALLY,” Nina signs (199).

On the day of Maya’s date with Beau, Melissa helps Maya choose an outfit via FaceTime. When Maya sees the hallway lights flashing, she heads downstairs and catches a sweet scene between Beau and Connor. They are sitting together on the couch playing with Connor’s Spider-Man action figure. When Maya’s mother asks where they are going, Beau tells her that it is a surprise for Maya. He still will not tell Maya even when they are alone in the car, but he promises her that it will be fun. They drive through the snowy mountains to a charming small town called Georgetown. Maya asks what they are doing there, and Beau asks, “You like Christmas, right?” (204).

Beau has brought Maya to Georgetown’s annual Christmas market. They join the crowds enjoying the small shops, carolers, and Christmas decor. Maya finds it beautiful, and she is touched when Beau explains that he brought her here because it is a place he loved coming to with his mother. They take a carriage ride; Maya is excited to be holding Beau’s hand the whole time. As they sip hot cider afterward, Maya tells Beau how happy she is. They have dinner at a local restaurant and then Beau announces that it is time for their train ride. The train takes riders through a holiday light display—another tradition that Beau once shared with his mother. Maya is so captivated by the lights outside the train that Beau has to tap her knee several times to get her attention. It is too dark inside the train for her to read his lips or sign, and she is at first confused about what he wants. Beau kisses her. It is Maya’s first kiss, and she finds herself in a happy daze. Beau signs, “I LIKE YOU,” and she responds, “SAME” (212).

On the Tuesday following their date, Beau FaceTimes Maya to show her that he has a letter from Yale. He opens the letter and finds out that he has been accepted. Maya is overjoyed for him, but Beau does not seem as happy as she would expect. After they end the call, Maya goes to help her mother with dinner. She notices that her mother is even more stressed than usual and that there is not much food in the refrigerator. She sees an enormous medical bill lying on the counter and decides that the time has come for her to get a job.

On Wednesday night, Maya attends a party at Beau’s house to celebrate his Yale acceptance. She is nervous about attending, but she wants to support Beau in the way he so consistently supports her. Beau looks relieved when she arrives. Maya feels underdressed when she sees the fancy spread of food and the adult guests chatting over glasses of wine. Beau tries to reassure her that the people are all nice, but Nina is the only guest that Maya feels comfortable with. She sees Beau’s father give her and Beau a strange look. When Beau gets caught up talking with guests eager to congratulate him, Maya heads off to the kitchen to get a drink. Dana is in the kitchen working, and she immediately drops what she is doing to give Maya a hug. Dana has learned some signs from Beau, and she tells Maya that Beau talks about her a lot. Maya returns to the party, and Nina beckons her over to talk with a group of student council members. Maya is not interested in trying to socialize with the group, so she signs that she is going to help Dana. She watches Beau growing more and more uncomfortable with his father’s theatrically proud behavior. Impulsively, she asks Dana whether she thinks Beau is happy. Dana frowns and says that she does not know.

Maya notices that Beau has been absent from the party for 10 minutes, and she slips off to find him. Beau is in his room, sitting at a desk and staring at his Yale acceptance letter. Maya asks him when he is going to tell his father that he does not want to go to Yale. Beau is startled that she has guessed he is unhappy. He explains that he is fine with going to Yale but that he does not want to be a doctor. He wants to study literature. Maya tells him he would make a great teacher, but he says he cannot disappoint his father. Beau explains that his mother was killed in a car accident when she was taking Beau to a soccer game that he asked her to drive him to because he was running late. This is where his own injury came from, as well. He feels responsible for her death. Maya tells him that she lost her hearing after contracting meningitis on a trip to visit her grandmother; her mother blamed herself for allowing Maya to go on the trip. Maya says that her Deafness is not her mother’s fault and that Beau’s mother’s death is not his fault. Beau kisses her. He suddenly breaks away when Nina appears in the door. Embarrassed, Maya decides to head home to study.

Two days after the new semester begins, Maya begins applying for jobs. Her experiences at Engelmann have convinced her that she needs more experience dealing with the hearing world before college. She is most interested in an opening at the Steaming Bean, the local coffee place where she studied with Nina and Beau. Although her mother cautions her that school should still be her first priority, she tells Maya that she is proud of her and happy that Maya feels ready for new experiences. Nina is excited and nervous when she receives a response from the Steaming Bean offering her an interview. Beau encourages her to accept and says that he is sure the business will be able to find her an interpreter for the interview.