Chapter Eight
Paint-By-Numbers
“I’m home!”
The deep voice causes me, Liam, and the twins to all snap our heads at the sound.
A man in his early forties comes into the kitchen from the garage, the noise of a closing garage door growing quiet as he closes the door behind him.
“Hey, Dad,” Liam greets, raising a hand in welcome. The four of us are seated at the kitchen table, Liam and I helping the twins with their math homework.
“Hey, guys.” He approaches the table, ruffling Jackie’s hair. “How’s it going?”
“Good,” answers Liam. He motions to me sitting beside him. “This is Finley, by the way.”
“His new girlfriend,” Josh interjects, grinning wildly.
“Really now,” the man’s eyebrows raise, interested. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Jared.” We shake hands over the back of my chair.
Jared Burke is what I imagine Liam will look like in twenty-five years. They have the same thick head of hair, chiseled jaw, and silver grey eyes. The only differences being the lines shadowing Jared’s features and the color of his hair, which is brown like the twins'. His left hand is absent of a wedding band.
“Are you guys doing homework?” Jared asks, peering over the twins’ shoulders.
“Yeah, math,” Liam replies. “I made macaroni. There’s a bowl for you on the counter.”
“Nice, thanks.” Jared grabs the bowl, a fork, and begins eating while leaning against the island. “How was school?”
Liam and I catch gazes. He’s obviously recalling my near dumpster-dive earlier at Marissa’s hands. Thank goodness he was there to save me.
“Normal.” Josh shrugs.
“Except for after school,” Liam says suggestively, eyeing the twins. They both immediately focus on their math.
Jared suddenly looks wary. “What happened?”
“They decorated Tara with make-up and sharpie while she was sleeping.”
Jared’s eyebrows meet his hairline, incredulity across his face. “You guys used Tara as a human paint-by-numbers board?”
Jackie and Josh have the decency to be ashamed.
“She was just laying there,” Josh says.
“It was so tempting…” adds Jackie.
“I bet,” Jared says. He’s straight-faced, but amusement seems to tug at the corners of his eyes and mouth. “Well, you guys know the rules. No TV or video games this weekend.”
The twins groan and utter words of protest.
Jared shakes his head. “You guys brought this upon yourselves. You need to learn some self-control. I’d hate to hire a babysitter, but if that’s what I have to do I’ll do it.”
“No!” Josh exclaims.
Jackie shakes her head emphatically. “We’ll be better behaved.”
“We promise.” Josh says.
“What’s so bad about a babysitter?” I whisper to Liam. Despite the multiple straight-to-television movies saying otherwise, they’re virtually harmless.
Liam lowers his voice to match mine. “Tara lets them do a lot more than any babysitter would. They don’t want to lose their freedom.”
“Ah.” A sudden thought occurs to me. “How do they get home from school?” Tara is too young to drive, as are the twins, and yet all three were home when Liam and I arrived.
