“Well, here’s the thing: Yesterday I stopped by Klassen’s Hardware and picked out a bunch of paint samples for you to look at. I don’t know about you, but I think these pale green walls are super dated. Personally, I’m looking forward to trying out a whole bunch of different colors and I bet Violet would love to come in and help out too.” She scooted her chair closer to Colie’s bed. “So, I’m thinking we make this whole conversation about the fight as fast and simple as possible so we can get on to the fun. How’s that sound?”
That was either hesitant relief or disbelieving doubt on Colie’s face. “I guess it sounds okay.”
“Maybe we could even save some extra time by skipping all my questions and you could just give me the quick lowdown and we can go from there.”
And just like that, the story poured out of Colie. Some silly volleyball drill. A student’s unkind words about Colie’s old kneepads. The kneepads her mother had given her two birthdays ago.
Colie had pushed, the girl had slapped, the coach had intervened. “I won’t do it again. Even if she says something stupid like that again. I’ll just ignore it next time.”
“You sure? I could talk to the coach—”
Colie sat up so quickly she knocked a pillow off the bed. “No way. That’ll only make things worse.”
“Okay, I won’t talk to your coach if you’ll answer one question for me. How are you feeling these days about the whole sixth-grade thing? I know you’ve only had one day of school so far and with everything that’s happened, we haven’t had a chance to talk much about it.”
Cole gave another of her signature shrugs. “It’s not so bad.”
“Really?” At Colie’s nod, Jenessa stood. “Then I think we can get to the paint samples.”
Another pillow dropped. “That’s it? You’re not going to punish me for the fight?”
“You just told me Coach Bertelli made you run line sprints. You paid for your crime before it even occurred, my friend.” She ducked into the hallway and grabbed the mini paint cans and sample swatches. “Ready to play interior decorator?”
She expected Colie to jump off the bed, relieved at the end of their discussion. But she didn’t move right away. She opened her mouth, looked away, picked up a pillow and hugged it to herself. And then, “I really loved my mom. I wish she’d talked to me more . . . like this.”
The air squeezed from Jenessa’s lungs and she dropped her armful on the desk. No hesitance this time. She crossed the room, lowered onto the bed beside Colie. She tucked a piece of hair behind Colie’s ear, awed that the girl didn’t flinch at the touch.
“I’d love to hear more about her. Anytime you want to talk about her . . . anytime you want to talk at all.”
“But we might not always be here. We might have to leave.”
What could she say to that? What could she do to provide some kind of assurance to Colie when her own insides twisted and churned at the thought? How could she have known when she’d first asked Carmen to let the kids stay what it would mean for all of them? How fast their hearts might attach to one another until . . .
Until they felt like a family.
Amazingly, Colie let Jenessa comb her fingers through her hair and then guide her head to her shoulder. “We just can’t think about that right now.”
Hushed seconds passed, the only sound the thumping from next door. Violet, surely, knocking on the wall. And then yelling, asking if she could come over yet.
“I like blue,” Colie finally said.
“Oh yeah? I had a feeling. I think I got four or five shades of blue.”
Colie hopped off the bed. “Let’s try all of them.”
He’d waited all day. Edgy impatience wouldn’t let him wait any longer.
Lucas rapped on Jen’s back door, a can of pop in his hands. Caffeine after 7:00 p.m. wasn’t his smartest move, but he had a feeling his buddies would start in on the pastime reminiscing again tonight and he’d be lucky if he landed on his sleeping bag sometime before midnight.
The cloudless, cobalt sky of earlier today had faded into an opaque canvas overhead. He knocked again, his breath producing a fog of white in front of him.
The door swung open.
“Luke?” Jen’s knotted, wet hair flopped to the side. She wore a thick pink robe over a pair of shiny white pajamas, the robe’s belt tied loose and lopsided. Was that a streak of blue paint by her ear? “Welp, you’ve seen the sweatpants and now you’ve seen the pajamas. You can feel singularly privileged, Danby.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to. You’re practically biting your cheeks to keep from laughing.”
“I wasn’t going to laugh at how you’re dressed. I was going to laugh at how he’s dressed. Or, that is, not.”
She whipped her head around, strands of hair escaping from her unruly bun. Cade was crawling across the kitchen, naked as the day he was born.
“Oh, Cade.” Her words came out on a groan. “Seriously, what do you have against your diaper?”
The baby stopped at her slippered feet, pulled himself up to a sitting position, and reached his hands toward Jen. Twin dimples framed his untroubled smile. Jen scooped him up with hesitation.
“It’s like he knows.” She stepped aside so Lucas could enter.
“Knows what?”
“That I can’t resist those two little bottom teeth. He could pee on me right now, but as long as he’s flashing those teeth, I’ll be too helpless to muster up even a morsel of annoyance.”
“And yet, you get irritated at me for being entertained.”
Her expression turned saucy. “Sorry but your teeth aren’t as cute.”
“I’m offended on behalf of myself, my dentist, and the orthodontist who forced me into braces at age thirteen.” He trailed Jen into the living room.
She knelt, laying Cade on his back, reached for a plastic grocery sack, and pulled out a diaper. “Shouldn’t you be with your friends, Lucas?”
“They’ll survive without me for five minutes.” He watched as she secured a fresh diaper, then coaxed Cade’s waving arms and legs into a lion-print onesie. She looked surprisingly natural despite her huff of exasperation at Cade’s repeated attempts to roll away. “Just wanted to see how everything went today. And, um, well, I noticed when I was here the other day that your security system’s broken. I forgot to mention it.”
It was the best excuse he’d been able to come up with.
She freed Cade and stood, her laugh teasing her lips. “That security system has been broken for more than a decade.”
He took a swig of his pop. “Well, you should really get it looked at.”
“This is Maple Valley.”
“Crimes do happen here. Remember Mara’s stalker? The former Everwood owner’s disappearance? And you’ve got kids living here now. I’m just saying, for the sake of safety, you should see if you can get it fixed. Or install a new one.”
Her look turned to one of exasperation. “And when exactly should I do that, Lucas? Because between keeping three children alive and running a newspaper, I’m so lousy with free time. Do you realize I’m basically a single parent right now? Except other parents get eased into this, you know? They have one kid at a time and best-case scenario, there’s two adults involved.”