She can see it flash across his face: regret, apology, almost too empathetic for his own good. That settles it for her. She slowly sits, and she gestures vaguely to the bench beside her to invite him along.

She's learning that most people here know how to fingerspell, and that's encouraging. It means that ASL isn't a totally foreign concept to them, and she has the chance to communicate in more comfortable ways. She nods when he spells the name right.

"My name is Regan," she adds.