Chapter 17 #2
He moved closer to the table and discovered that she was extremely talented. She’d only been outside by herself for about an hour, and she’d pretty much finished the sketch. Not only that, but she was drawing it from memory, and it looked so much like Trent that it was scary.
“This is really good, Landon.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s extremely well drawn. You’ve got talent.”
“I…drew you too.” She held her hand out for the sketchpad, and he handed it back to her. She flipped through a few pages and handed it back to him.
Rohan smiled down at the page. After seeing just two of her drawings, he was beyond impressed, and she’d done them both from memory. He couldn’t understand why she didn’t feel like she was doing good work.
Most times, when a child didn’t feel accomplished in something they enjoyed doing, he knew it was from a lack of praise or others teasing them about it.
He knew Jalen was very proud of Landon’s creations because she’d told him how many sketchpads she’d bought, and she’d even shown him the sketch pencil set she planned on getting her for Christmas, and it was costly.
“You know, Trent’s a fan of good art and great drawings.
I bet he’d buy his sketch from you,” he told her, and he wasn’t lying.
His brother was always buying art pieces he didn’t have space for.
Rohan figured it was because Trent didn’t have an artistic bone in his body, but enjoyed the story the pieces told.
“I don’t see why he’d want to,” Landon told him with a shrug.
Rohan raised an eyebrow at her. “Should we go find out?” He watched as she wrung her wrist but didn’t respond. “Tell you what, if I’m right, you owe me a canvas-size sketch. If I’m wrong, I’ll give you fifty dollars. Either way, you’ll make money.”
“You can just give me the money now,” she told him, and this lack of confidence in her skill bothered him a bit. He always thought kids should be confident in what they liked.
“Nope, let’s go find Trent.”
Landon sighed, standing, and he allowed her to enter the house first. He followed her through to the living room, where his brother was scrolling through his phone. Rohan handed Landon the sketchpad back, not wanting to flip through her drawings. They were hers and could have been personal.
“Hey, Trent,” Rohan called, and his brother, along with Jalen and his mother, turned to look at the two of them. “Landon has something she wants to show you.”
He watched as the teenager flipped back to where she’d drawn Trent and handed the sketchpad to him. His brother took it from her.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Trent stated.
“Language in front of the child, Trenton,” his mother scolded.
“This is…incredible. You drew this in the time you’ve been outside?” Trent asked, completely ignoring their mother. Rohan knew it was because she cursed far more than they did in front of Alynn.
“Yeah,” Landon whispered softly, and Rohan wondered if she had a little crush on his brother.
“Can I have it?” Trent inquired. “I’ll pay you for it.”
Landon’s eyes widened before she turned and looked at him. “You…you planned this,” she accused.
Rohan lifted an eyebrow at her. “How would I have done that when this is my first time seeing your drawings, and you came into the house before me?”
“Planned what?” Trent questioned.
Rohan recounted the part of the conversation they’d had out back that was relevant, and his brother and mother both laughed.
“He just knows me well,” Trent told her. “So, I’ll give you fifty bucks for it,” he told her.
“Really?!”
Trent nodded at her, handing her the sketchpad back as he pulled his wallet from his back pocket, pulling out a fifty-dollar bill. Landon stared at him for a moment before she carefully pulled the drawing from the book.
“You can just have it,” she informed.
“Nope. It’s worth the money,” he responded, holding it out to her, and Landon took it tentatively.
“Hold it up, let me see.” Their mother requested, and Trenton did as she asked. After she’d looked it over for a few seconds, she agreed with her two sons. “Will you draw one for me?” she then questioned Landon. “I’ll pay you as well.”
“Um…I guess I can if you really want one, but you don’t have to pay me.”
“Too bad.” His mother shrugged. “Because I’m going too.”
The teenager nodded her head before giving them a small smile and telling them all that she was going back outside. Rohan asked Jalen if she’d come help him cut dessert in the kitchen, and he didn’t miss the way she shifted in her seat before nodding at him and standing.
“I think Trent just made Landon’s day,” Jalen said once they were in the kitchen.
“Thank you for bringing her drawing to his attention. She never believes me when I tell her how great they are. She thinks I’m only telling her because I’m her sister.
So, hearing it from someone else will hopefully boost her confidence. ”
“You don’t have to thank me, but she didn’t believe me when I told her either. So, I knew she’d get an unfiltered reaction from Trent. He’s a collector of drawings, paintings, sculptures, and whatnot.”
It was quiet between them for a moment as he pulled out cake saucers and bowls for the ice cream his mother had made.
“How have things been with her?” he questioned.
“She’s still grounded,” Jalen responded with a sigh.
“It’s like, things plateau and then something else happens.
She gets an attitude when Kodi or I ask her to do something, and the disrespect just keeps getting days added on to her punishment.
I mean, I know I’m not her mother, but I’m raising her, and I will not let her talk to me any type of way without consequence. ”
“You’re wrong,” Rohan told her. “You may not have given birth to her, but you are her mother. I don’t know the details of how you came to have custody of them, and you don’t have to tell me.
But your parentage isn’t chosen by who gave birth to you, and you have every right to discipline her like she’s your child because she is. ”
“I just—” he listened to her cut herself off before exhaling. “Can we talk about this another time? When we’re alone?”
“Whatever you want to do, baby.”
Rohan would not push her to talk about anything she didn’t want to, but he wanted her to know that he was there when and if she wanted to talk. He’d let her vent, rant, whatever she needed to do.
They got dessert ready in silence, and once there was a slice of cake and a bowl of ice cream for everyone, they rounded everyone up into the living room.
They always let Alynn pick a movie for them to watch on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
This year, the eight-year-old told the twins they could pick.
“Moana!” they collectively squealed, and Alynn bounced in her seat. That was one of her favorite movies.
They settled in, eating their dessert and watching the movie, and he wondered if it was too soon to think he could get used to the whole thing.