Page 208 of Boyfriend of the Hour

And so, almost as soon as we arrived at the enormous estate, Nathan and I got back into the fancy black Mercedes and drove away. I watched the Virginia countryside gradually grow more and more populated as we closed in on the outskirts of Washington, DC. Eventually, the car moved farther south, and close to an hour later, we parked on a large school campus outside of Alexandria.

The Ferndale Center for Autism and Other Developmental Disorders was one of those places that looked more like a summer camp than an educational facility. Children could live at the center and attend school there beginning at the age of five, which was when Isla began at a similar program in North Carolina before moving to Ferndale when she was twelve, Nathan had informed me on the drive down. Students could remain until they were twenty-five, depending on their individual needs.

The campus was split into several sections for different age groups, along with centers offering different forms of therapy,learning support, and vocational counseling for the students. We passed a culinary institute, a bar, a large gymnasium, a pool, and several other buildings dedicated to the needs of the center’s three hundred and forty-seven residents. Including Isla’s beloved stables.

We parked near the small administrative buildings at the center of campus. Nathan checked in at the front desk, and we were then escorted down a path and past a locked entrance to the section of the center designated for students between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. Our guide led us to a waiting area in the bottom of the girls’ dormitory, where Isla shared a suite with another person like her.

“One of the goals of the center is to help kids like Isla learn how to socialize well enough to function in the communities outside,” Nathan told me while we waited. “Right now, she requires an EA—that’s an educational assistant—to help her interact with others. But I’m hopeful that one day she’ll be able to manage on her own.”

“You don’t think she could after high school?” I asked.

Nathan shook his head. “Not completely. Cognitively, she can probably handle the course load at one of the local universities with the help of her EA, but she still struggles enough with other independent living, social communication, and executive function skills that it would make it difficult for her to be on her own anywhere.”

He explained that today, for example, there was a strong possibility she wouldn’t even acknowledge either of our presence. Or if she did, she might not be able to talk about anything outside of her own specific interests.

I knew he was preparing me for potentially uncomfortable moments, but I honestly didn’t mind. This girl was important to him, and so she was important to me. It didn’t really matter ifshe was willing to speak to me or not. I just wanted her to know that I cared about Nathan, and therefore, I cared about her.

Impulsively, I grabbed Nathan’s hand and kissed his knuckles.

He looked down at me. “Why?”

I smiled up at him. “Isla’s lucky to have you in her life. And so am I.”

The delight that crossed his face warmed my very soul. But before he could answer, the door to the dormitory opened, and a middle-aged woman carrying a basket of knitting walked in, followed by a girl of about seventeen.

Nathan stood up immediately.

I did with him.

“Good to see you so soon again, Dr. Hunt,” said the woman as she reached out to shake Nathan’s hand.

“It’s good to see you too, Mary,” Nathan said. “This is my girlfriend, Joni.”

Mary smiled at me with warm gray eyes as she shook my hand as well. “Lovely to meet you. We’ve heard a lot about you, haven’t we, Isla?”

Isla, who had already taken a seat across from us in one of the cozy armchairs, was fixedly drawing something on a sketch pad. We all watched as she worked diligently to finish some shading. And waited. When it appeared she wasn’t going to respond, Nathan shrugged at me. I nodded. This was the kind of thing he had prepared me for.

Isla was beautiful. She was tall and blond, with sharp blue eyes the color of a robin’s egg that darted around the room, clearly noticing everything. Not unlike her friend Nathan, I thought. Her blond hair was tied back in a very sensible braid, and she wore plain blue clothes without a discernible label, which I later found out were specifically tailored to avoid sensory irritations.

She also had extensive scarring on several parts of her face, also visible on her hands. I had a feeling it extended over other parts of her body too. The horrible remnants of the fire that killed her mother.

“You’ve been talking about me, huh?” I teased Nathan with a little poke to the side.

He blinked. “Yes. I saw her a few weeks ago and told her I was going to find you and bring you back.”

I grinned. Gradually, he grinned back. I fought the urge to kiss him, but made a mental note to do it later as a thank you.

“But I thought your name was Giovanna.” Isla surprised us all by putting the pencil down and looking up at me for a second before her gaze darted away almost as quickly.

Beside her, Mary smiled. “What a good observation, Isla. Thank you for joining the conversation.”

Beside us, Nathan’s entire face lit up. Clearly, he hadn’t been expecting much from the interaction.

I smiled at Isla. “It is Giovanna, but everyone calls me Joni.”

She worked very hard on shading something on her paper. “Why?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure, actually. It’s kind of short for Giovanna.”