Chapter Thirty

R oam got the canvases ready. Their plans hadn't turned out quite like they thought. The girls' trip was rescheduled to tomorrow, three days after they'd originally planned. When Beth had called to double-check they could come see the puppies, the owner had said he was closing for a couple days. He was driving to a friend's shelter because hers was overflowing. He didn't feel comfortable having his help deal with all the animals alone and be open for people to visit.

When Sprite finished her last client, instead of heading home for supper, they were having a getting to know you night. Roam had been trying to figure out what to do, then watching Sprite sketch a tattoo had given him the idea.

He and Sprite, along with Matthew, would be hanging out for a couple hours while Matthew took his last nap before supper. Baron and Regina were taking all the kids for dinner at the diner, then they were going to take them home.

Sprite cashed out her client and then closed and locked the door. She smiled as she walked back toward him.

"So, what's this special thing we're doing?"

"Come in here, my gorgeous woman," he said, leading her into the break room. He'd set up table easels with sixteen-by-twenty canvases. He had sketching pencils and paint for their activity.

"We're going to ask each other questions and get those answers we didn't get with our unconventional love story. I find I want to know everything there is to know about you. While we do that, we're going to paint something. Every twenty minutes, we switch canvases and continue the other person's painting."

He adored seeing her smile and the anticipation in her eyes. She got her stuff ready and so did he. He set the timer and started on the first question. He'd deliberately set up their canvases so they couldn't see what the other person was sketching and then painting.

"First question for you, if you could choose to visit anywhere, where would you go?"

Sprite tilted her head as she sketched, then answered him. "In the US, I'd love to visit the Grand Canyon. I want to see the way the water has chiseled it out and the colors in the ground that remain. Outside the US, I think I'd like to visit art museums. It's hard to pick. My turn?"

He nodded and finished his rough sketch and squirted some paint on the plate. He mixed a little yellow and white, then did some sweeping strokes across the canvas. Sprite was working on her painting too.

"I know you're close to all your family and the MC. Who's your best friend?"

He smiled. If she would have asked him before he went to the competition, his answer would have been different.

"With you here and how I feel about you, I consider you my best friend. After you, I'm closest to Rascal and War. But they all feel like family."

The timer went off and Roam set down his brush. "So the paintings don't look like colors are off, we're just trading spots so the paint and canvas stay together."

He stood and walked over to Sprite's canvas and chuckled as she walked over to his. She had painted a sunrise with the edge of their porch visible. The colors were darn close to what he used on what he'd started on. He sat down and smiled at her face when she saw his painting. He set the timer and picked up the brush.

"What secret dream do you have that you haven't accomplished yet?" he asked.

"Oh wow, that's a hard one. Give me a second." She painted a little more.

"Before I started working at the studio, I would have said own my own business but since that's what I'm working on, I can't think of anything. My turn. What's your favorite thing to eat and your least favorite to eat?"

"There are so many things I love but my favorite thing to eat sweets-wise are decorated sugar cookies. Mom started letting us help in the kitchen when we were little. I'd wait until we had frosting on them and lick across them so I could have them all."

Sprite giggled. "Well, that's one way. Least favorite?"

"I'm not a fan of liver or chicken gizzards. There's not enough seasoning to make me enjoy the taste. Favorite memory of your brother?"

"It would be when he taught me to drive. He took me out into one of his friend's pastures and taught me to drive with a stick shift. He said everyone needed to at least learn how to drive one even if they chose to drive an automatic the rest of their life. There were cows in the pasture and I was so worried about hitting them. My brother said to not worry about it because the cows could easily outrun how slow I was driving. And thanks for making me think of one of the good times. I'm not mad at him now. No, that's not right. I wasn't mad at him. I was mad at the situation that would make Blake sad. But we're talking about us tonight. So, name a time when you weren't truthful."

SPRITE GIGGLED, SEEING a blush fill Roam's cheeks.

"Are you blushing?"

Roam bit his lip. "I'll tell you but it's a secret you take to your grave. Got it! I kind of think the women figured it out but I know the guys didn't."

Oh my. She couldn't wait to hear it.

"After we were out of the military and I'd started apprenticing with Rascal, War and Bear were back over a weekend. I'd ordered these marked cards and special glasses because, honey, I stink at poker. But I needed to practice piercing."

Sprite snorted, then chuckled.

"I won at poker by cheating and then gave War a Jacob's ladder piercing and Bear an apadravya one. You'd think it would be weird holding your friend's dick but, and don't you tell War I told you this, before War and I knew we shouldn't do this, we'd had sword fights with our dicks."

Sprite laughed until she had to scoot back from the table and lay her paint brush down. She gasped and chortled until tears ran down her face.

"Oh my, how old were you? Please do not tell me you were in high school."

Roam shook his head with a disgusted look on his face. "No, we were in elementary, like second grade. We'd grown and our penises grew a little bigger. They were long enough we could hold them and the tip could smack my brother. Too much?"

"No, but I sure hope our younger ones don't think it's a good idea."

"We didn't do it when Mom or Dad were in the bathroom. We only did it a couple times and it was right after they let us move from baths to showers. This is one of those married things you take to the grave."

Sprite giggled, then covered her mouth. "But we're not married when you told me?"

The timer went off. Roam kissed her as he traded places. "I trust you."

She trusted him too. She'd always wanted someone she could trust with every part of herself and Roam was it. She checked on Matthew and he was still sleeping. Roam had added to the painting and he'd done exactly what she would have. She'd painted the sunrise and the front porch with the swing when Liam had called. The swing and the sunrise reminded her that she wasn't ever alone and even when it was darkest, a light would shine.

"My turn. What's something you wish you wouldn't have had to go through?"

She considered all the things she used to wish she could change. "I think I wish the middle school kids wouldn't have bullied me about my threadbare clothes. I hated going to school even though I loved the work. I vowed my kids would never deal with that. At least, not because of clothes that were falling apart."

Sprite painted the edge of the porch and added more definition to the sun coming up. Sprite wanted to ask the next question and she hoped Roam wasn't offended.

"Why did you serve for four years and then come home?"

Roam nodded as he painted. "I served because I'd been raised by a man that taught me the value of the greater good. The reality was more than I was prepared for. I'm an artist, a dreamer at heart. I agree with what we need to do in the military but some of the decisions hurt my heart. I came back here, and War went to the academy. It was hard but a good transition for us to become the people we were meant to be."

The timer went off and she looked at her picture. Roam could add to it, but it was pretty much done. Matthew was starting to move and make little sounds.

Roam looked at her and turned his painting toward her. His had been the sunrise with the family standing facing away from the painter. They were all holding hands or leaning against each other, connected as a family. Cane was even in the picture. She turned her painting toward him. He smiled.

"These would be perfect above our bed to remind us every time we go to bed how incredibly blessed we are."

She nodded then laid her painting down because Matthew's eyes had opened and he was getting ready for his feed me cry.