I head over to the counter and order a decaf coffee. I take the cup in my hands and walk over to the side table with creamers, sugars, and utensils. As I'm stirring the sugar in my drink, Heidi shows up beside me. “Hi,” I say to her.
“Are you and Chevy going out?” she asks bluntly.
I blink a couple times in surprise. She can’t even say “hi” back first before jumping straight to the point of her talking to me. “Not really,” I reply, tapping the spoon at the side of the cup. It’s not an outright lie and, at the very least, it saves Chevy from dealing with another possible pursuit. When she narrows her eyes, I continue, “Besides, what does it matter? You’ve got Brian now, right?”
“Yes, I do,” she says, lifting her chin in the air.
I smile and nod. “Okay then,” I say as I walk away. I can hear her huff behind me. Stifling a laugh, I'm still smiling when I get back to the couch. Chevy and Roger are off to the side talking intently about something. I look to Lyndsay and Ben. “Time to go?” They nod. Nathan begs us to stay longer. “Ben has a long drive home from here,” I explain.
“That’s right, you do, don’t you?” He shakes Ben’s hand. “Take care of your girl.”
“Will do,” Ben says. “Good luck at Columbia.”
Nathan hugs both Lyndsay and me, telling us he'll see us again over Thanksgiving break.
Chevy notices us getting ready to go and steps over. “You’re leaving?”
“Yeah, it’s getting late.”
He nods. Then he leans in, all serious, and whispers to me, “Everything okay? I saw Heidi corner you.”
His concern is touching. I whisper back, “Nothing I can’t handle.”
“All right.” He seems relieved. Then he hugs me, and whispers in my ear, “I’ll give you a call when I get back to make plans for the song you promised to sing to me.” He's grinning when he pulls away.
“I said maybe.”
“I’ll get a yes out of you one day.”
I should feel nervous at the idea, but I just chuckle. “Okay, I look forward to it.”
Chapter Fifteen
Tuesday, June 19th
Tuesday morning arrives quickly despite my nerves. What possessed me to defy my mom by painting Kaitlin’s room the wrong color? I shouldn’t be nervous, but I can’t back out of the plan now. I have come too far to turn around. My mom will get over me painting Kaitlin’s room the color she didn’t want.
Won’t she?
I shake my head as a sudden wicked chill causes me to shiver. I get back to finishing taping the edges with painter’s tape. I just had a close call when my mom wanted to see the paint cans to make sure the color was mixed properly. I assured her they were, and when she insisted, I mentioned that she would be late for work if I pulled them out for her to see. She didn’t persist in it after that and headed out the door. I breathed a sigh of relief then, but the nerves remained the same.
As soon as I see Mom’s car leave the driveway and head up the road, I sneak into the garage and pull the paint cans out of my trunk. When I set them down in the middle of the floor on the plastic next to the rollers and trays, Kaitlin walks in. She is wearing my old overalls over a white T-shirt. I crack open the lid and she gasps. “What’s wrong?” I ask her.
Her eyes are wide. She clutches the buckles on the overalls tightly. “This isn’t the right color,” she says with a shake of her head.
I make a point to look at them closely, pretending to deliberate over what she said. “No, it’s right,” I say finally.
She shakes her head firmly. “No. It’s supposed to be lilac.”
“But, this is the color you picked,” I state matter-of-factly. “Right?”
She blinks a few times. “But your mom picked the lilac one.”
“But you picked this,” I repeat, pointing.
She swallows audibly. “But…this is the wrong color,” she insists.
She is obviously afraid of upsetting my mom. Who could blame her? This house has always been a representation of great interior decorating, all of my mom’s creation. She takes pride in her home. Nothing out of place, nothing out of order, everything flowing throughout. This color undoes years of matching each room. No more will all of the walls in this house be some shade of pastel. This could very well create a disturbance in the household.
I finally tell her, “No, Kaitlin, it’s not the wrong color. You wanted dark purple, and that is what you’re getting.”
She still doesn’t seem convinced. “But…but your mom will freak out.”
“So? You let me worry about that. For now, we’re making this the room of your dreams.” She starts to open her mouth to protest some more, but I hold up my hand to stop her, and smile. “Come on,” I say, pouring the first can into each tray. “I’ll take the edges on the wall with the windows and door, you take the other two.” I hold out the tray to her. “What do you say?”
She hesitates a second, then picks up a brush. She smiles. “Let’s do it.”
A few hours later, we're finished and subsequently famished. Changing out of our paint-splattered clothes into something clean, we make a late lunch. I take the dirty clothes and toss them into the laundry while Kaitlin stirs the tomato soup. After we eat, we start the second season of The O.C. We're so caught up that when my mom and her dad come home from work a little early, it catches us by surprise. I shoot up in my seat when my mom says hello.
“Hi, Mom,” I say as calmly as I can.
“You seem shocked to see me.” She sets down her purse on the end table and gives me a kiss on the forehead.
“Not really, just a little too into the show to realize it wasn’t real.” I try to laugh, but it trails off into silence.
Maurice sits down next to Kaitlin and puts his arm around her. “I gather today went well.” Kaitlin nods enthusiastically in response.
“Well, then,” my mom says, pleased. “Let’s all go upstairs to take a look, shall we?”
“No!” I say jumping up.
“Why not?” my mom asks, baffled. Her eyes narrow slightly, as if she is expecting something went terribly wrong.
“It’s just…Kaitlin and I were talking earlier and thought it would be fun to do a dramatic reveal when Grandma comes tomorrow night. You know, the whole closing your eyes and opening them when we turn on the light thing.”
Her shoulders slump in disappointment. “I suppose I can wait one more day. It’s not like I don’t already know pretty much how it’s going to look.” I cringe internally and manage an appreciative smile. So far, so good.
Chapter Sixteen
Wednesday, June 20th
The next day, I'm on pins and needles waiting for it to end. I want to get home and get everything set up, including the throw pillows. I had put the finishing touches on them earlier today, and now I can’t wait to give them to Kaitlin. The big reveal is going to be just as much of a surprise for her as for the rest of them. I have hidden them in a large shopping bag in my trunk so that Kaitlin won’t see them when I picked her up.
Since there is strength in numbers, I even convince Mom to invite Faith and Lyndsay as well. It's their mom and grandma, too, after all. It puts the nerves slightly at ease, but only slightly.
Once we get back home, Kaitlin and I move the furniture back where it belongs. When she goes to the kitchen to help her dad start dinner, I sneak out the back door and around the house to my car to get the pillows. I manage to set them up on her bed without her coming upstairs.