17. Noah
17
***Noah***
I stared at the grown woman and little girl wearing my clothing as they stared up at a big, blank wall. Sitting in a lawn chair off to the side, I stayed out of their way and admired the view. Sinclair was adorable in an old shirt of mine, the ends of it nearly tripping her every other step. Brooke was something else entirely, not exactly what I’d call adorable. The shirt was snug across her ample chest but it was way too big everywhere else. It hung down to her thighs until she tied it in a knot at her waist. She then bent down and did the same move to Sinclair’s.
There was a bucket of paint at their feet and Brooke had made sure to get an extra paint roller for Sinclair. Sinclair was a ball of excitement but Brooke seemed nervous as she struggled to open the paint and pour it into the pans the hardware store had provided. She’d glance up at the wall every so often and just stare at it with a haunted look on her face. I would’ve called her on it if Sinclair wasn’t there.
I had to be careful. Sinclair was clearly already head over heels for Brooke and I knew that if I acted too flirty she’d start to get big ideas in her little head. Since Kelly had remarried Sinclair had been obsessed with the idea of me getting married, too. I was mostly sure that it was just the wedding part that excited her but I didn’t want to hurt her. Especially if Brooke left again.
That thought left a sour taste in my mouth and turned my fond stare a bit harder when I watched my old friend.
Brooke stepped back and kicked off her boots. “Alright. This is when we save our most precious belongings. These boots? They fit like they were made just for me and I’d rather stub my toe a hundred times than ruin them. We also tie our hair up now because paint in our hair can be cute for a bit but getting it out isn’t.”
Sinclair kicked off her sneakers and looked back at me. “I need my hair up, Daddy!”
I froze. I didn’t have a hair tie. I wasn’t even all that good at putting her hair up. It just seemed like pieces always escaped, no matter how hard I tried.
“I’ve got you, girl.” Brooke squatted in front of my daughter and I fought the need to check out her ass. “I always carry an extra hair tie. I’ve met a lot of nice people by having an extra.”
Where were all those nice people? Having a daughter had made me more wary of the things that happened to women in the world. The idea of Sinclair being as alone as Brooke seemed made me feel ill. Why had she been so alone? Why hadn’t she had anywhere else to run when the shit hit the fan?
“Alright, we’re ready.” Brooke grabbed the two rollers and handed one to Sinclair. “Ever used one of these before?”
“Nope.”
“Let me show you. Knowing how to use one of these things can mean the difference in living in a place you love and a place that’s the color of dog vomit.” Wielding the roller like it was a sword, Brooke held it over her head. “There’s power in this roller, Sin. There’s hardly anything a little paint can’t make better and you have to walk before you run. First, you learn to paint with this brush. Then, later, you move to smaller and smaller brushes until you can make magic.”
Sinclair drank in every word Brooke spoke, her eyes wide and focused. I’d never seen Sinclair take to someone so quickly, but then again, not many people were like Brooke. She could suck you in with a single look.
I tried to focus on my phone, studying the plans I was writing up for the summer camp for the football team that was coming up. The season wouldn’t start until the fall but the last month of the summer was always an intense time. We didn’t have the appropriate set up to hold the camp in town so Logan was visiting a few sports complexes across the lower half of the state to see what location would work. Even though he was the baseball coach he covered a lot of the traveling for me since I had Sinclair. It didn’t slip my attention that Colt had volunteered to go with him on that particular trip. He was definitely running and hiding from Brooke.
I looked at the pictures of the stadium Logan had just sent me and frowned. It was too big and would cost half of the budget, I was sure. I sent him back a negative and then looked up to watch Brooke and Sinclair again.
They were painting the wall a solid cream color. It was kind of an eyesore. The old brick wasn’t meant to be one solid color and it seemed to highlight every worn spot on the building.
Brooke caught my expression and frowned. “It’s just a base coat so the other colors stand out better. I knew it looks terrible.”
I smiled. “It’s looks fine.”
Sinclair sighed. “Daddy’s lying. It looks bad. Why does it look bad, Brooke?”
Brooke looked panicked but she was calm as she sat on the ground next to Sinclair and pulled a notebook out of her bag. She pulled out a pencil next and started sketching. Sinclair watched with more attention than she normally bestowed upon Tangled .
“Okay, say this is what we were going to paint.” Brooke held the notebook up to Sinclair, who gasped.
“How’d you do that so fast?”
I couldn’t help moving over to peek. I felt my own wave of awe as I took in the wall of flowers she’d sketched out. She was so talented. I hadn’t exactly forgotten but her art wasn’t the thing I’d thought about the most in the ten years she’d been gone.
“Okay, now look at this.” Pulling out a professional looking set of colored pencils Brooke quickly colored half of the sketch in with a color similar to the one of the brick they’d painted over. “Watch how much better the color of the flowers can pop over the white background.”
Sinclair was so still as she watched that I wasn’t even sure she was breathing until she gasped and danced in place. “Wow!”
Of course the flowers over the white background looked amazing, despite how quickly Brooke colored them in. “That’s why we painted the wall white. It looks blank and weird right now but as soon as we get art on it, it’ll show off brilliantly. And since you just learned something in the summer, you deserve another chocolate.”
I was watching my daughter fall in love with Brooke and there was nothing I could do about it. Brooke just sucked people in with her big green eyes and even bigger heart. A sense of unease came over me as I thought about how easily she’d walked away before. Would she run away again?
“Can we paint flowers on the wall?” Sinclair already had paint on her face and shorts but I couldn’t find it in me to feel bad when she was clearly having such a good time.
“You know… I was thinking about the flowers that grow on the west side of the island. Why don’t we paint some of those?”
I gave up checking my phone at all and gave into the desire to watch them together. Logan would probably be pissy later but I had a feeling he’d understand if I told him what I’d been doing instead of answering his messages.