Hello! Thank you for your patience during my delightful experience of the flu (I am feeling much better now I can breathe out my nose again). Back to the adorbs!
Love, Cam
♡
Chapter Fifteen
I receive a giant paintbrush
The week passed nice and swiftly, with Rowan and Adam's team finishing the gallery in what I could only assume was record-breaking time. It looked great; much bigger now it was completely white, and the bar area was coming together nicely. Sorcha and I had managed to clear out and organise the teaching room, and Adam had been working on our decorations.
"That looks so cool," I said in awe, as he presented the first of our pieces.
It was a giant paintbrush, made entirely out of wood. We were going to paint it to look like a huge, genuine paintbrush, and he had spent the last two days creating it with nothing more than a chisel and a sander. It was spectacular.
"Thank you," he bowed with a flourish. "I primed it last night, so it's ready for you to paint. I figured it'd be best to set this up for you."
He gestured to a contraption next to him that consisted of two X shaped stands on top of a large paint sheet that we could lay the large paintbrush across, so we were able to paint it all without it needing to be laid on the ground to dry.
"Very clever," I grinned.
"The giant pencil and giant paint tube will be done and primed by the weekend," Adam assured me. It was Tuesday, so that gave me a few days to figure out what colours I wanted to paint everything. "I'm having a lot of fun. They should be more than lightweight enough to suspend from the ceiling."
That was our plan; to suspend them in the teaching room, which had just as high a ceiling as the gallery itself, and would otherwise be wasted space. Adam had thought up the idea over the weekend, and started on the designs as soon as he could, enjoying the creativity.
"So epic," Sorcha clapped her hands together, very pleased. "Plus, that gives Tyler something to occupy him with over the weekend."
Adam frowned. "Got something going on?"
"It's Saskie's first trip back to Ireland," I replied. "Sorcha's going with her this time - she's seeing some old friends over the weekend. I'm staying here."
Adam smiled sympathetically. "Not looking forward to it?"
"It's just weird," I admitted. "I worry about Saskie on a plane, Saskie on a plane without me, Saskie on a plane with Sorcha-"
"Hey!" Sorcha glared at me, leaning against a wall. "Rude."
I grinned, "You just painted that," I said, indicating the wall, and she hastily leaped away from it with a lovely white splodge down her back.
"Ack," she grumbled, but then sighed. "I guess it's an old shirt." She checked her watch and said, "Speaking of Saskie, shouldn't you be going to pick her up?"
I swore, catching sight of the time. "Bollocks. Yes, do you have the keys?"
Sorcha threw them at me and I caught them, rushing out of the gallery and to the car. Fortunately, primary school finished before rush hour got into gear, so I didn't encounter too much traffic as I drove to the school.
I was still a bit late, not wanting to break too many speeding laws, and Saskie was hanging around near the school's entrance door with her bag and coat. Fortunately, she was not alone, chatting animatedly with Mr Rose, who smiled as he saw me hurrying up to them from the car park.
"Sorry, Sask, lost track of time painting," I heaved a breath, and smiled at Elliot. "Thanks for keeping her company!"
"No problem, Rowan texted to say you were running a bit late," he smiled back, and I felt out of breath for a completely different reason now. "Actually, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind me tagging along? Adam says they're getting tantalisingly close to finishing and would like some extra help."
"Oh, sure," I said as easily as I could, trying to hide just how much I wanted him to tag along. "Did you drive in, or do you want to come with us?"
"I get the bus most days," Elliot replied. "I have a motorbike, but it's rather dependent on the weather, and how much stuff I have to carry."
I tried not to picture Elliot in bike leathers, and failed dramatically. We got into the car, with me buckling Saskie into her car-seat, and I managed to distract myself by asking Saskie about her day, which meant I filled the entire ten-minute drive with a loud and thorough account of her activities.
"-and we did art today which was good, and I painted a house, and Mr Rose said it was very good, and I got a gold star sticker - thank you Mr Rose! - and we played Pumpkin Says, and I wasn't good at it but it was fun, and-"
"Sorry to interrupt, Saskie," I said, unable to find a natural interjection, as we pulled up outside of the gallery. "But we're home, and I need to remind you to be careful as we go in - most of the walls have fresh layers on them and they're the last layers, so we've got to be extra careful not to touch the walls, okay?"
"Okay!" she replied.
"Wait until you see the giant paintbrush," I grinned at her, getting out of the car and opening the back door to unbuckle Saskie from her car-seat. She wriggled free of the straps and climbed out of the car, forgetting her coat and bag in the process. I smiled fondly and picked them up, following her to the door.
"Be careful," I reminded her, as she opened the door to race in and find the promised giant paintbrush. I turned back to make sure Elliot was out of the car and the doors were shut before I locked the car and smiled at him. "Ready to spend your evening at the direction of your sister?"
"Never," he replied, and laughed. "But I am looking forward to the giant paintbrush."
We walked into the gallery to find Sorcha talking to a group of people that I vaguely guessed to be about twenty years old. They were all dressed similarly in a style that I imagined would have come from our building's prior establishment, with pierced faces and tattooed skin.
"Hi," I greeted them, not surprised in any way; Sorcha tended to make friends wherever she went.
"Hey, Tyler!" Sorcha greeted me cheerfully. "We have our first interested artists!"
We'd been emailing the universities to get any interest from art and photography school students, and had clearly had an impact. There were five people there, all looking hopefully around at the space.
"Great to meet you," I greeted them cheerfully. "I'm Tyler, but you'll be dealing mostly with Sorcha - I'm focusing more on the teaching aspect. I'll be running classes in digital art."
Sorcha launched into a bigger speech about the art we wanted to display, painting a lovely mental image of what the gallery would look like once we were finished, gesturing to the walls. I left the group to it, confident that Sorcha would provide all the information.
Saskie and Elliot were admiring the giant paintbrush, and Saskie was excited to paint it with me, which I allowed after some promises about her being very careful and taking things slowly. She agreed to listen to everything I said and stop if I asked her to.
"What colour are you painting the handle?" Elliot asked.
"Well, I want the brush, pencil, and paint tube to be complementary," I mused. "So I want to either pick a warm palette, or a cool palette, for a start. But within that, I'm thinking either a red-pink-orange sunset theme, or a blue-green-purple sea theme."
"Both lovely options," Elliot mused. "What do you think, Sask?"
"I like blue," she said. "But pink goes with the paint splodges."
She gestured to the bar, and I nodded. "That does make sense, and we do have leftover paint from that. Nice thinking, turtlebug."
I high-fived her, and she giggled. "We won't get started on this today, though," I said, gesturing to the paintbrush. "We want to make sure the walls are finished first, but we're at the fiddly bits, so we have to leave it to grown-ups for now, okay?"
"Okay," Saskie replied, obviously irritated that she was not included in the 'grown-ups', and then said, "What should I do?"
"Why don't you watch some TV and have a snack? I put something in a lunch box for you in the fridge," I suggested, which she clearly agreed with, because she raced off up the stairs. I called after her that I'd be up to check on her in a bit, and returned to the prospect of the walls.
Elliot and I didn't even bother with the coveralls at this point; we had resigned ourselves to somehow getting paint on our clothes anyway after the weekend. Elliot did We were practically unnoticed by the team, who were clearly incredibly focused on trying to get the remainder of the paint finally done. Practically unnoticed, except for Rowan, who spotted Elliot immediately and walked over.
"Can't stay away?" Rowan teased.
"You know me, I love painting," Elliot snorted. "Adam asked if I wouldn't mind coming to help out - he's hoping we can get it finished today."
"It does look like we'll be done soon, yes," Rowan agreed, pleased.
Sorcha joined us, her merry band of aspiring artists having left with happy expressions, and greeted Elliot with a, "Hey! Didn't expect you here today!"
"I think Adam wants to go home and never look at the colour white again," Rowan grinned. "He's calling in all the cavalry, clearly."
"Yes, me and my one set of mediocre arms will truly make the difference," Elliot replied dryly, and I bit back a comment about his arms being nowhere near mediocre.
"Every little helps, no matter how little," Adam argued from the side. "Get on with it, or I'll never escape this hell."
Elliot laughed as everyone turned back to their work, lazily grinning at me. "Well," he said, picking up a wide paintbrush and turning to one of the windows. "Let's get to work, shall we?"
Of course, 'getting to work' really wasn't that simple when I kept getting distracted by him. It was hardly my fault; he'd outright flirted with me in the teaching room the other day, and it had been hard to look him in the eye since. If Rowan hadn't interrupted us, I was almost positive that we'd have been in a very different situation ten seconds later.
I wasn't used to this; I was used to being married, in a monogamous relationship, and not looking at people outside of the relationship as actual romantic prospects. I wasn't used to being available for that sort of thing. I wasn't used to being flirted with.
Not that he is a romantic prospect, I told myself firmly. You're not even divorced yet, and you're setting Saskie up in a new life.
"So, Elliot," Sorcha said, and I could sense impending doom due to her tone.
"Yes?" Elliot asked.
"Is everything alright after the Glitterbomb incident?" she asked casually, even though she knew the answer, because I had already been through it with her.
Elliot smiled. "Yes, I spoke with the other student and her parents and made it clear that sort of behaviour isn't acceptable. I also had a little chat with Saskie and the other student, and helped them talk through what happened. It ended in a hug and sharing a cookie, so I'm pretty sure it was just a case of ignorance, rather than malice."
"Good, good," Sorcha beamed, and I continued to sense impending doom. "You know, it's nice to see Saskie so supported. She's off to Ireland this weekend with me, you know. She's seeing her dad, and I'm seeing old friends. We're leaving Tyler all by his lonesome."
Well, it wasn't the least subtle attempt she could have used to get us to spend time together, but it certainly wasn't clever.
"Saskie has talked about it a lot," Elliot confessed, laughing affectionately. "She's very excited to go on a plane again, and to see her dad. And Lola. She even added Andrew at one point."
I grinned; Saskie was holding fast to that grudge, and it was hilarious. "I hope she's not just chattering away constantly."
"Everyone in class loves when she talks because of her accent," Elliot chuckled. "They keep asking her to say normal words and then try to imitate it. It's led to some hilarious attempts. Most of them keep coming out vaguely Scottish."
"That is a very classic response," I snorted. "There are many English folk that think they can do an Irish accent - any Irish accent, that is - and it comes out wildly incorrect."
"I like listening to it, anyway," Elliot smiled. "I love your accent. I went on a date with an Irish guy a few years ago and he was incredibly dull but I still listened ardently because his accent was so nice."
Sorcha grinned. "Hey, I had that date but with an English guy."
"Colin and I came from different parts of Ireland and he had a way stronger accent than me," I pondered. "I think we sort of evened out in the middle over time."
"Oh, he did sound very country when you first met, absolutely," Sorcha agreed. "And you sounded way more posh. It's nice you evened out, you both don't sound like wankers anymore."
Suddenly, there was a huge thud, and we all looked over in alarm to see that Rowan had dropped a paint can and was trying to mitigate the inevitable disaster. Sorcha hurried off to help, leaving Elliot and me alone to talk.
"Sorry," Rowan was saying fretfully. "I thought it was one of the empties and misjudged the weight-"
"Do you mind me asking how long you and Colin were together?" Elliot asked me suddenly, carefully painting the border around one of the large windows.
"I don't mind at all," I replied; it wasn't my favourite topic of conversation, but it didn't cause me the pain it used to. "We were together for seven years, married for five. We adopted Saskie when she was very young, only about a year old."
Elliot nodded thoughtfully, but didn't say anything, so I asked, "Ever been married?"
"No," he smiled. "If I'm completely honest with you, I've never been in a long-term relationship."
That was utterly astonishing to me. "You - really? How old are you?" I then realised how rude I was being, and added in a mortified voice, "If you don't mind me asking, that is."
Elliot looked amused, not offended, and said, "I'm twenty-eight. And yes, really. I've dated, but it's never gone further than six months, I'd guess. It either came to a natural close, or the other person was an arsehole, or I just wasn't ready for the commitment. Since I have been ready for the commitment, everyone I've met seems just to be..." He cringed, and awkwardly said, "Well, into short-term gratification, to put it politely."
I got what he was going for and tried not to laugh. "I imagine short-term gratification could be fun in its own way."
"It is," he shrugged. "But not what I really want. Like I said to you before, I want kids - and I want someone to build a life with. But I'm also not going to force it - I got rid of the dating apps, because they're more like casual hook-up apps, really."
I desperately tried not to picture Elliot engaging in a casual hook-up, because I really didn't want to turn beetroot-red and embarrass myself in front of everyone. The mental images department of my brain was working overdrive, and I really needed them to cut it out.
"You'll be a great dad," I told him instead, and found myself turning red anyway when he smiled in delight at my words. "Really great," I smiled. "Just look at you and your students."
"Thank you," he said, sounding genuinely pleased, and then asked, "Do you mind me asking how old you are? I tried to guess but I couldn't figure it out."
I grinned. "Which side of thirty-five did you place me?"
"I hate this game," Elliot admitted. "I'm going to hedge my bets and say bang on thirty-five."
"You're right," I laughed. "Although if I'm honest, having a five-year-old child, I feel more like sixty-five some days."
"So Sorcha is thirty-five?" he asked, surprised at that revelation. "You said you went to school together."
I nodded. "Yeah, she's got a youthful face, though - it's the big eyes and the round cheeks, she'll always look in her mid-twenties."
"You're not wrong," Elliot commented, and then flashed me a smile. "Although I wouldn't say looking thirty-five is in any way a bad thing."
Predictably, my face heated up. I managed to get out a thank-you, and started painting. I didn't have a very steady hand when it came to lines; it was one of the reasons I loved digital painting so much, because it had an 'undo' button. I was therefore, covering larger points with a roller, rather than the fiddly border work Elliot was on.
While I refilled the roller and painted repeatedly in silence, my mind started to wander. Elliot was definitely flirting with me, and I was definitely not discouraging it. Should I discourage it? I still felt a weird sense of guilt, like I was somehow being unfaithful, despite the fact that my husband was currently living with his boyfriend in another country. I wasn't sure if I was in the position to date anyone - if that was even Elliot's hope, which wasn't a given. He might have just always been a flirtatious person, and it could have been entirely harmless, with no further intention.
"Tyler," Elliot interrupted my thoughts, his hand on my shoulder.
I looked up, blinking as I met his eyes. "Yes?"
"You're painting your daughter," he told me.
I looked to see that Saskie had stepped in front of me to ask a question and I'd absent-mindedly painted her face. She was glaring up at me with absolute fury.
I bit my lip. "Oops."
Saskie spluttered a bit, some paint on her lips, and said, "Tastes gross."
I quickly dropped my roller in the paint tray and hurried her off in the direction of a sink. Fortunately, she didn't ingest any of it, and her eyes were okay, so by the time we'd returned, we were both giggling about it a lot.
"I have been allotted my punishment," I told Elliot, as we re-joined him. "Please give Saskie your paintbrush."
Elliot handed it over, and I knelt down so Saskie could paint a nice stripe down the centre of my forehead and nose, avoiding my mouth and eyes. "There," she said determinedly.
"Eli," Rowan asked, stopping by our station and only doing a minor double-take at my face. "Nice look, Tyler. Eli, can you go fetch us our order? They won't deliver because it's just down the street and apparently 'we are covered in paint' isn't an adequate reason for them to go a few hundred metres."
Rowan had ordered pizza, hoping to quickly re-fuel the team so we could churn out the rest of the painting quickly. Elliot nodded and got to his feet, but then Saskie loudly demanded that she come and help with the pizza. I exchanged a look with Elliot, and then said, "Alright, sweetie, we'll go with him. Just let me wipe my face off."
Paint-free once more, and armed with a list of our order to double-check everything was there, we left with Saskie to walk down the street to the local pizza place. We passed a music store along the way, and Saskie announced that she wanted to learn to play piano.
"Just like Daddy," she said proudly.
"You play piano?" Elliot asked, interested.
"I do, indeed," I smiled. "And it was an absolute nightmare to move here, so I plan on playing it a lot to make up for the cost."
"I love piano," Elliot smiled, and then hesitantly added, "I play the harp. Don't laugh."
"Why would I laugh?" I asked, genuinely impressed. "That's awesome, I hear those things are really expensive."
"Oh, yes," he grinned. "I should have chosen a cheaper instrument."
"Relatable," I said, deciding not to reveal just how expensive that piano had been.
Saskie, at this point, absent-mindedly took Elliot's hand. She had already been holding mine, but she was used to holding the hands of her dads when walking between them, and it was habit. Elliot looked surprised, but pleased.
"Can we do the swing?" she asked, looking up at me.
Elliot frowned. "The swings?" he asked, looking around. "Is there a park?"
"No, it's a thing - you count to three and then swing her forwards," I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Saskie, we're only doing it once, alright? We've got to focus on our mission for pizza."
"Okay!" she said happily. "Do it, do it!"
"One..." I said. "Two...Three!"
On three, Elliot and I swung Saskie forwards through the air, both of us laughing as she giggled madly before returning to the floor.
"Again, again!" Saskie said, jumping up and down and trying to lift her feet off the floor.
I sighed. "Once more, then no more."
"Okay," Saskie grinned, and we did it again only to have her ask for another. It was hard to resist her pleading eyes, and she got so much fun out of it, but Elliot expertly distracted her by asking her what pizza toppings she liked best.
"I like all the cheese," Saskie replied, which was completely understandable in my opinion.
"Me, too," Elliot high-fived her, and then led her inside the pizza place, cautioning her not to go around touching everything. I smiled at how natural it seemed to come to him, looking after children. He greeted the woman at the register and said, "Hello, we've got an order booked under the name Rowan."
The woman nodded and turned to grab the mountain of boxes that was our order. Saskie excitedly hopped from one foot to the other at the smell of pizza; she was clearly hungry after her day at school, and I couldn't help but agree. Elliot took half of the boxes and I took the other half, making Saskie promise to walk beside me and not run off.
On the short walk back, Elliot and Saskie played a little game of I-Spy, and I listened to it with a growing sense of warmth. Elliot was genuinely smiling, not just pretending to like most adults humouring children. Saskie looked completely comfortable and happy beside him. She seemed completely at ease with his company.
"We have a plot to hoard the garlic bread," Elliot informed me, grinning. "You in?"
"I'm in," I laughed, and hurried after them.
****
Rowan: where the heck is the garlic bread?
Elliot, Tyler, and Saskie: *slowly pushing the boxes of garlic bread behind them collectively*