Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"Oh, that looks great, sweetheart!" Alissa said, watching in admiration as Dane carefully painted the branch of a tree onto the wall of the baby's room.

They were painting a mural there together, and her heart felt warm. They'd been planning it together for days. First, they had drawn up a sketch together, and then they'd gone to the hardware store for the various paints they needed. Finally, after carefully measuring and transferring their drawing to the wall in light pencil strokes—she had not expected it to involve as much math as it had—they had begun to paint.

"Thanks." He turned to her with a grin. He had a streak of bright green paint on his left cheek that brought out the green in his eyes. "I never thought of myself as an artist, but I have to admit, this is really fun."

"It is," she agreed happily. "I'm so glad we decided to do this. We're making the room pretty for our baby, we're working on a project together, and we're creating content for our DIY home renovation column! So many good things happening at once."

When Dane and Alissa had first moved into their home, the amount of things that needed to be fixed had felt overwhelming to them at first. Then they'd learned that there were a lot of things they could do on their own, and they'd decided to start a homeowner's column for their magazine. It had become immensely popular, and even though their home was now well fixed-up and decorated, they were still finding ways of adding to the column from their own personal experience.

"You're right." He smiled at her. "And speaking of—would you take a picture of the mural at this point? I think we should have more than just a before and after photo, so people can get a better sense of how the secondary color layers work."

"Sure! I'll get you in it too." She laughed when he grimaced. "You don't have to smile! Just stand there and paint and I'll snap a picture. You won't even know when it happens. It'll be totally painless."

He chuckled and continued to paint. She snapped a couple of pictures, making sure to get both Dane and most of the mural in the shots.

"Yup, looking great," she said, checking her photographs. He turned back to her, and she grinned at him. "Our baby is lucky to have such an awesome daddy."

He smiled at her, and then sighed. "Someday we're going to have to call him something other than just ‘our baby.'"

She sighed too. "You're right. There's got to be a name out there we both like."

"How about Reginald?"

She snorted and picked up her paintbrush again. She crouched down and began to paint small blue flowers at the base of the little mushroom house they'd painted.

"You didn't answer me. What's wrong with Reginald?"

A laugh burst out of her, and she shook her head once. "Veto on Reginald, sorry. Maybe it'll come back in style in another twenty years or so, but that hasn't happened yet."

"Okay, how about Coriolanus?"

"Like the angry Shakespeare character? Veto." She laughed again as she concentrated on creating delicate, smooth strokes for the flower petals.

"Okay, how about Liverwurst?"

She groaned.

"What? I like it."

"Hmm, let me think about that one, okay?" She was laughing almost uncontrollably now—so hard that she had to take a break from painting because she was worried about her hand shaking too much.

They continued to discuss baby names as they painted. Dane kept coming up with silly ones, but as their painting progressed, they both shared a few more names they genuinely liked. Unfortunately, they still couldn't agree on one.

Stroke by stroke, the mural became more and more elaborate.

"It's beautiful," she said, stepping back to gaze at it in delight. "I mean, you can tell we're not really artists by trade, but watching those instructional videos really helped. I'm proud of us, Dane."

"I am too." He also took a step back and sighed in satisfaction as he looked at their work. "I hope what's-his-name likes it too."

"Are you referring to our son as what's-his-name?" she squeaked, and he laughed.

"Well, we don't know his name, do we?"

She sighed, shaking her head, and he continued to grin as they resumed their painting.

After another half an hour or so, they declared themselves to be finished.

"That looks amazing," she said, stepping back to get a good look at their finished project. "Let's get a photo of just the mural, and then a self-timer photo with both of us in it."

"Sounds great to me."

She took a picture of the mural, and then set up her phone on a tripod so they could take a photograph together. They stood in front of their painting with their arms around each other, smiling at the camera.

Once they'd checked both photographs and agreed they looked great, they stepped back to look at their mural again.

"I'm proud of us," she said. "We tackled something new and we stuck with it."

"I'm proud of us too. Not just for this. We're doing a great job of preparing. We're just about ready for the baby to arrive."

"Yes—we've got just about everything ready except the name."

They both sighed and wrapped their arms around each other. They stood side by side, looking at the mural and thinking about what to name their baby.

"I just can't seem to think of anything we haven't already discussed," she said finally, leaning her head against his shoulder. "It's like my wellsprings of baby name inspiration have run dry."

"We'll come up with something, I promise," he said, kissing her head. "And when we do, it will be that much more satisfying."

"Okay." She smiled.

"How about Ham and Eggs?"

"I guess so. I am pretty hungry. What about pasta or something else, though? We could make enchiladas tonight."

"No." He laughed. "I meant for the baby."

"Ahh!" She groaned. "What am I going to do with you?"

He grinned and kissed her nose. "We really will come up with the perfect name. For real."

She smiled at him. "You're right." She placed her hand on her stomach, feeling a rush of love for their coming baby. "Hopefully we know what it is by the time he's born."

Caitlin smiled down at Pearl, who was skipping along the sidewalk at her side. Pearl was bundled up in her puffy coat and hat, and she looked a little bit like a pink marshmallow hopping down the sidewalk.

"Are you excited?" Caitlin asked her daughter, who was holding her hand tightly through her yellow mittens.

"So excited. I like Haley so much. And Max is also really cool."

The two of them were on their way to Coastal Keepsakes, Corey's store, to meet with his kids Max and Haley for a playdate. The kids had become friends through their classes together at Little Clams and Caitlin and Corey had started having them meet up to spend time together outside of class.

A few minutes later, they reached Coastal Keepsakes and stepped through the front door. A shop bell jingled overhead, and Caitlin smiled when she smelled the pleasant, floral aroma of the shop.

Corey and Olivia were standing behind the counter, and they turned and greeted Pearl and Caitlin warmly.

"Hey!" Olivia said, leaning over the counter to give Pearl a high-five. Olivia was Pearl's teacher at Little Clams, and she had a special bond with all her students. "How's it going?"

"Good!" Pearl said cheerfully. "Where are Max and Haley?"

"They're in the back room," Corey said. "Want me to call them?"

"Yes please!" Pearl said, and Corey walked over to a door behind the counter. He opened it and called, "Hey, kids! Pearl is here!"

From behind the door, Caitlin heard a shout and the sound of pattering feet. A moment later, Max and Haley burst through the door and ran to hug their friend.

"They're so cute," Olivia said adoringly, watching the kids chattering excitedly together as if they'd been separated for days.

"Can we play in the store, Dad?" Max asked, turning to his father.

"You can, but be very careful around the merchandise!"

"We will!" the kids promised, and scampered off to play around the shelves.

"Makes me nervous," Corey murmured, watching the way they were running.

"They're okay," Olivia assured him soothingly, placing a hand on his arm. "They're always careful. Besides, we'll be out of here in a few minutes. You just have to finish closing up."

He glanced at her adoringly. "You're right."

Caitlin smiled, feeling happy about how good for each other the two of them clearly were. It was sweet to see how Olivia steadied Corey and made him feel more at ease.

In another few minutes, Corey was ready to close up shop.

"Okay, kids, it's time to go to the park," he called from the front door. "Come on and put your coats and hats on."

Whooping with enthusiasm, the kids hurried over to the front door, where Caitlin and Olivia helped them get their coats and hats and mittens on.

"We're going to have the greatest snowball fight of all time," Max announced dramatically as they stepped outside in the crisp winter air. "Boys against girls."

"You sure there, bud?" Corey asked, laughing as he locked the door behind them. "You realize that's two to four, right?"

"We've got this, Dad," Max said, and Corey grinned at him while Olivia and Caitlin covered their mouths with their hands, laughing.

They walked down the sidewalk together toward the nearest park. The kids chatted excitedly in front, while the adults walked more slowly behind them. It was a lovely winter afternoon, with a blue sky overhead. The sun was starting to dip toward the horizon, turning the sky pink at the western edge.

"Oh, it's a beautiful day," Olivia said, taking a deep breath and sighing in satisfaction. "I'm looking forward to spring, but I love winter. The snow is so pretty, isn't it? It's annoying to deal with sometimes, but I love it when it dusts the tree branches like this."

"And glitters in the sunlight," Caitlin agreed warmly, smiling at her friend.

"And of course, the epic battle that's about to ensue wouldn't be possible without snow," Olivia added.

They reached the park and the kids took off across a snowy area, already starting to pelt each other with snowballs. Corey followed them, laughing, and Olivia and Caitlin sat down on a bench nearby.

"Let's let them play two against two for a little while," Caitlin said, chuckling. "Haley and Pearl can more than hold their own in a snowball fight."

"They sure can." Olivia laughed. "They're both feisty. Especially Haley."

For a few moments, the two friends sat quietly, enjoying watching their loved ones scamper around in a snowball fight.

"Did you pick a date for the wedding yet?" Olivia asked finally, turning to Caitlin with a smile.

"We did! We want to have it in late April. At first, we'd said we were just going to have a very simple wedding—a quick marriage at the courthouse—but then it turned out that Michael wants a big wedding. He didn't tell me at first, but I found some pictures he'd saved so we talked about it, and I changed my mind. I think he's right to want to celebrate our marriage with all our loved ones. And I just think it's so sweet that he cares so much."

"That is sweet." Olivia twisted a lock of her curly brown hair around her fingers. "He wants your wedding to be beautiful because he cares so much about your relationship."

Caitlin nodded. "And I guess I'd kind of assumed that he would prefer something without fuss—I guess I assumed that's what most men would want. I find it really touching that he wants to put a lot of effort into celebrating our marriage. I mean, he'd saved pictures of centerpiece ideas!"

"Aww!"

"And now I've been thinking about it, and I want to make our wedding extra special. I need to think of something that could be really wonderful—something that would be the memorable wedding that he wants and then some."

"That sounds sweet. I'm sure he'll love that." Olivia grinned.

"Thanks." Caitlin grinned back. "I have to think of something. You know, like a theme of some kind. Something very different from the little courthouse wedding we were going to do."

"How about a beach wedding?" Olivia suggested eagerly. "If you're having your wedding in late April, that would be so nice!"

"I love that idea!" Caitlin bit her lip as she considered Olivia's suggestion. "You're right, a beach wedding could be absolutely beautiful."

"And we're definitely already in the right spot for it." Olivia gestured broadly, encompassing the town around them and the beachfront beyond.

Caitlin laughed. "So true! Thank you, Olivia." She gave her friend a quick hug. "I think that's the answer to my question. My mind is already racing with ideas."

"Good! As long as you click with it, I think that's the sign that—" Olivia yelped as a snowball came sailing through the air and hit Caitlin squarely on the leg.

Caitlin laughed, turning toward the kids and Corey.

"Sorry, Mom!" Pearl yelled across the snowy field. "I meant that for Max."

"That was quite a shot!" Caitlin called back. She turned to Olivia. "You want to join this snowball fight?"

"Absolutely. I will always defend your honor in a snowball fight."

Laughing, the two of them stood up and hurried over to join the fun.