It Was All An Accident (Frerard)

Chapter Eleven: War Paint

Frank threw himself at me one last time. His smile was the brightest I had seen it in a while. I felt my heart stutter in my chest, flickering and fluttering before he let go and disappeared from the room. It was barely after that the kids all stomped downstairs together. Bandit already had her hair up in a sloppy ponytail. Nowadays, she wouldn’t let anyone touch her hair without throwing a fit and talking about needing to learn on her own. I respected her for it, but sometimes it looked really tangled and like it hurt to brush. Cherry and Lily always had the best bedhead I had ever seen. Their long hair was truly wild in the morning and it took those odd detangler sprays in order to do anything with it, but they didn’t complain too much unless it hurt. Miles, well, he had the best hair ever. He went to sleep with it flat and woke up with it flat. On the worst mornings, all he had to do was comb it with some water and then it dried without waving or curling.

They all scrambled up to the counters and I realized that I was going to have to make something for them. I started digging around in the freezer for something easy to make when Frank stuck his head around the corner, his hair combed neatly and presentable, "I made something earlier this morning. It’s in the microwave and there’s smoothies in the freezer."

I opened the microwave and smiled at the vast amounts of food on the plates. While I was busy pulling everything out, I heard the door close and then Bandit get off the stool to check, "Daddy, where’s Frank going?"

"He’s got an interview for a job, so after everyone is done eating, we’re going to go up into my office and paint." I said it so casually that the kids didn’t catch on at first. I waited and stared at them until Cherry’s eyes widened comically.

"We’re going to paint in your office?" Cherry yelled loudly.

Bandit’s eyes widened in surprise and happiness next and she was bouncing adorably in her seat, "I thought we weren’t allowed to go in there!"

"Well, for today, since Frank is going to be out, I decided that it would be okay. Plus, having an office that’s mostly white for painting isn’t even that fun. So, what do you all have to say?"

The kids started talking excitedly as I served their food. Miles was beaming incredibly largely and all I saw for a second was his resemblance to Frank in that smile. I ruffled his hair lightly and he hugged me. I felt my heart melt in my chest as he did so. I smiled back at him and kissed his forehead like I would to Bandit.

Once they were all situated, I climbed up the steps into my office and looked around. There wasn't much to cover besides my desk, the chair that went with it, and the work that was on my desk. I ended up rolling the chair into my bedroom down the hall and then shoving my work into a filing cabinet that I rarely used anymore. I moved the desk into the corner of the room by the window that looked down onto the backyard and then wrapped it in an old white sheet that I found in the linen closet.

Afterwards, I grabbed the long black material I usually used when painting and spread it to cover the entire floor. I used the special paint tape to keep it in place before deciding that the kids would move around a lot more than I did and stapled the material securely to the wall. After that was finished, I tacked white giant amounts of paper on the walls and then stepped back to admire my work. It didn't look too bad, if I did say so myself.

I poked my head downstairs and could still hear the clanking of dishes along with their muted conversations. I shrugged to myself before going into the storage closet and pulling out bucket after bucket of paint but leaving the brushes safely tucked away in their packaging. Finger painting alway seemed to be the most fun kids could imagine and I was pretty sure I had every color except gray because I had run out of it last week. It was on the grocery list even though Frank hated when I put non-food related things on the grocery list. He'd get used to it sooner or later though.