Page 11 of Tears of Revenge

“Guess I’ll take the second smallest,” Varos groused.

She giggled, took one of the larger ones, and situated herself between the two. “Do you two mind if I take my shoes off?”

“Not at all,” Varos assured. “Make yourself at home.”

She kicked her shoes off, then selected the paints she wanted.

Varos and Marcus stepped to each side of her and anxiously picked out a few random shades.

“Have you two thought about what you want to paint?” she asked.

“I can’t envision anything.”

“I’m with Marcus.”

“Have either of you ever painted before?”

“I’ve been painted,” Varos revealed with a smirk.

“You have?”

“Many years ago.”

“I hope you still have it. I would love to see it.”

“Maybe one day you’ll come visit and I’ll show you.”

“What will you paint?” Marcus asked curiously.

“I usually like painting nature.”

“Maybe Varos and I can follow?”

“I’ll try my best to teach but I was never really taught professionally either.”

“Don’t worry too much, Avalon. All that matters to us is spending time with you.”

She bashfully ducked her head, forgoing a verbal answer.

They followed her back to the easels and slowly began to mirror what she was doing. Marcus and Varos were very sweet, eager to learn every little thing they could. They talked about their travels around the U.S. and Europe, while she talked about her upbringing with a single parent.

“So, you still don’t know who your father is?” Varos asked, feathering a rich brown through the trunk of one of his trees.

“No. Mom never talked about it and after she passed, I couldn’t find anything in her belongings. I think I was simply a fling, but she never openly said that.”

“She seemed to love you very much,” Marcus soothed. “Perhaps she didn’t want you to think negatively of her.”

“I think so too.”

“Have you always wanted to be an accountant?”

“I have. The older I got the more I could help my mom with everything. Managing our budget and bills always came easily to me—I enjoyed it.”

“Lysander does that part of the business for us. Varos is the smart one who always predicts our best moves, and I enjoy the fun part of being the boss and taking lots of vacations,” Marcus joked.

“So, you like watching other people work, huh?”

“I do.”

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