“We’re moving in with Lincoln. We just have to get the rest of our things.”
The instructor started the video the second Eric finished speaking. I looked to Lexie for confirmation, but she refused to focus anywhere but the front of the classroom.
“You didn’t think you should mention this?” Teague leaned forward so he could better see me.
“We—” I cleared my throat. “We just discussed it.”
His eyes narrowed. Then his face split into a grin. He elbowed Pepper again. “Told ya it would happen.”
She threw her hands up. “I told you.”
Everyone in the class turned around, and Pepper blushed bright red.
“Did you know about this?” Teague poked Beau with a paintbrush.
“I live there. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.”
Eric zeroed in on the first set of instructions. His canvas already matched the one on the video screen. The rest of ours were blank.
“Oh yay!” Pepper clapped her hands. “You two can come to our wedding as a pair.”
“What she’s really saying is you won’t both bring random dates to our family gathering,” Teague said.
Pepper put her hand to her forehead.
“Have you decided on a venue?” Beau swiped a blue streak across her canvas that was completely the wrong color compared to what Bob Ross was doing.
“We’re thinking about the old Grey Paws location,” Pepper said, also starting her painting.
“It’s a mess.”
My sister wasn’t wrong, though she could’ve used a little more finesse.
“We’re hoping to have the demolition and cleanup done soon so we can make an outdoor area big enough for just us, Miss Adeline, the dogs, and the guys from the fire station to come,” Teague said.
“What do you need to make that happen?” I asked.
If that was the wedding my brother and Pepper wanted, then that was what they’d have.
“We have contractors we use who can get the job done quickly and reasonably,” Beau chimed in, completely in tune with the same line of thought as me.
Teague painted his own streaks as the video directed, though it wasn’t quite the same. “I may take you up on that.” He frowned. “As long as they don’t have anything to do with . . .”
“They won’t,” I said quickly. I wouldn’t allow my father to taint the most important day of Teague’s life.
“Who are you going to bring, Beau?” Pepper asked. “Miss Adeline wants to know. You know I’m not that nosy.”
“No one,” she said sharply, adding another swipe of color to her canvas.
“Do you want me to show you which brush you need?” Eric came up for air to check on me.
I thought he was so absorbed in his own work, he wasn’t paying attention to anyone else.
Before I could answer, he rummaged through the can containing several brushes and pulled one out. “This one.” He put it in my palm, then searched through the paint bottles. “Mix this and this.” He set two apart from the others and waited until I did as he told me.
Uncertainly, I squirted some sap green and titanium white on the palette.
“Take your brush and do this.” He demonstrated with his own paint.
I attempted to mimic him and ended up with a blob of white paint in the green. At a loss, I tried again and made more of a mess.
“That’s great,” Eric encouraged. “Grab a little more green and it will be perfect.”
It wasn’t even close to perfect, but I appreciated his positivity. He truly was an incredible person.
Lexie wore a small smile, her canvas abandoned to watch Eric attempt to teach me. I liked how she took joy from the little things. Would I ever do that?
And I realized I just had.
Painting made me incredibly uncomfortable because I preferred to excel at anything I did. Creativity wasn’t my strong suit. But Eric taking the time to help me brought me . . . happiness. And it was because he was so genuinely selfless, something I had so little experience with in life. Until Lexie and Eric crashed into my life.
“Put color on the canvas,” Eric said. “We’re going to make happy little trees.” He was gleeful at the prospect.
Tentatively, I brushed a stroke on the blank white canvas. It was uneven. The color was off compared to the instructional video. And it was the wrong angle.
“Perfect.”
It was anything but, though I appreciated the sentiment. So much so that I dipped the brush in the paint a second time and made another swipe on the canvas. It too was out of place, but when Eric nodded his approval, it didn’t matter.
Brush in hand, I looked down the row of easels at my family. Not so long ago, this scenario would’ve been impossible. Beau may have been able to drag me to an art class, but I certainly wouldn’t have participated.
And for the longest time, it had been just the three of us. Me, Beau, and Teague. Now Pepper and Miss Adeline were part of that. So were Lexie and Eric.
Family.
I’d spent my entire existence making certain my brother and sister were protected and happy. That would never change. But it finally occurred to me.
While continuing to do those things, I could be happy too.
And sitting in a community center painting with the people who meant most to me made me extraordinarily happy.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lexie
“Who invited him?”
I whipped my head around to see who Beau was pointing at. A tall, brutally handsome man stood in the doorway to the rescue. He was solid muscle, which was easy to see even in his jeans and long sleeved FDNY T-shirt. And his grin was all kinds of amused.
“I did.” Teague strode over, actually dressed very similar to the man. He held up his hand. “Glad you could make it, Cal.”
He slapped Teague’s hand. “Hope I’m not late.”
“Right on time. We were about to head up for dinner.”
And I was starving. After the art class, Teague and Pepper headed back to Grey Paws to do their evening routine. Lincoln, Eric, Beau, and I had stopped by the commercial kitchen to make the batch of dog food for the next day. With the storage situation, there was no choice but to do most of it daily. Then we’d met back at the rescue for a late dinner.
It appeared we were adding to the party, and I’d have to hand it to Teague. He got an A+ for choosing guests with eye appeal.
He led the man toward the rest of us. “You know my sister, Beau.”
Her fist balled as her entire body tensed. “Don’t even,” she said when he bent forward as if to kiss her cheek.
His grin broadened as he ignored her and did it anyway. Beau stiffened and I was fairly sure fire beams from her eyes were going to laser him to ashes on the spot.
“And you’ve met Pepper and Miss Adeline.” Teague gestured toward them.
“When?” Beau demanded.
“In between fighting fires,” he returned easily.
Her fingers flexed and balled. Is she going to deck him?
“Heroes are humble. Like Teague.” There was respect on her angry features when she looked at her brother, though I was pretty sure she wanted to punch him too.