Page 34 of Where You Are

MATT

“Hey Luna,” Mel says brightly as she makes her way over to the table. “Mind if I color with you?”

Luna looks up at her quizzically before softly answering, “Okay.”

Melanie spends a few minutes asking Luna about the coloring books, who the characters are and who her favorite is as I slowly approach, taking my time watching their dynamic get lighter and easier as I pull up a chair. Melanie flips through the pages of a Pixie Ponies coloring book until she finds a page she likes.

“May I color this one?” she asks Luna, holding it up with an eager smile. Luna responds with no words but a smile of her own as she excitedly nods. She’s still being shy, but she tends to open up pretty quickly so it won’t be long. “Perfect,” Mel says as I settle in next to Luna to color the opposite page of the book she has open in front of her. “Anyone mind if I take all the greens?” she asks, not waiting for an answer as she picks through the crayon bucket, pulling out different shades of green.

“Green?” Luna finally pipes up. “Isn’t that like a boys color?” There’s more surprise in her tone than mocking, and Melanie just shrugs as she grabs jungle green, granny-smith apple green, forest green and so on.

“It’s my favorite color,” Mel responds, tucking in to her coloring page, looking content as ever. Huh. We’ve gotten to know each other well over the last few weeks, but I never thought to ask her little things like that.

“What’s your favorite color, Uncle Matt?” Luna turns and tilts her head up at me in question, and I notice Melanie looking up to catch my answer. I stare in her eyes as I answer.

“I like green also.”

“Well,” Melanie says, blushing slightly as she looks down to account that she’s got every shade of green Crayola has produced. “Just let me know if you need any of these, I’m happy to share.”

“No, no. You do your thing,” I say, waving towards her as I pick up indigo blue and giving her one of my charming smiles that I like to bring out just for her. It works. Her blush deepens as she blows out a breath between her lips and gets to work on coloring her pony.

Luna tries to focus on her own picture, but I can tell she’s intrigued by Melanie, this new person that’s in her uncle’s home, taking an interest in her and sitting down to color with her. She keeps glancing up to see what Melanie’s up to with all her shades of green.

“How do you stay inside the lines so good?” Luna asks, peering over at Mel’s work.

“Hey! How come you never ask me that?” I ask, holding my hands out.

“I have a trick,” Melanie answers, as they both ignore me. “I press a little harder and trace the outline like this,” she instructs as she demonstrates. “Then I color around the inside, and before I know it, I only have to worry about coloring in the middle.”

Luna watches Melanie’s tutorial with fascination for a moment before returning her eyes to her own picture and attempting the same method. My heart warms and swells in my chest when I see Luna light up after a moment when she sees how much better her picture is turning out, thanks to Mel’s advice.

“Jeez,” I lament out loud, trying to really put some effort into my own picture now.

“What?” Melanie keeps filling in her lines with a sage green that matches the shade in her eyes that are filled with a look of concentration.

“It’s not enough that you beat me in a swim race, you have to show me up at coloring too?” I ask, sitting back and holding my hands out indignantly.

“You beat Uncle Matt in a swim race?” Luna’s head snaps up in surprise, her eyes wide and seeking confirmation.

“Yep,” Melanie looks up with a proud smirk before adding, “I kicked hisbutt!” she verifies, widening her eyes on the last word, to which I blow out an exasperated breath and shake my head.

Why?I mouth, resting an arm on the back of Luna’s chair. She shrugs and blinks her eyes at me before returning to her work. I jokingly act put off, but her playful mischief is just one more thing for me to fucking adore about her, along with how natural she is with my favorite kid in the world.

“That’s so cool!” Luna marvels at Melanie as she rests her face on her hand that’s holding a purple crayon, having no idea she’s smudging a little on her face. I’ll worry about getting it off later. I’m not going to interrupt this new bond that’s forming. “I thought boys beat girls at everything,” she quietly states as she goes back to coloring.

“Well,” Melanie starts to explain as she casually focuses on her own coloring. “It’s easy to think that. Boys are generally bigger and stronger because nature just sort of made them that way. But when you spend a lot of time doing something, you get pretty good at it. And there’s a chance I’ve just spent more time in the water than your Uncle Matt,” she finishes with a humble shrug and I’m fucking blown away.

In a matter of minutes, she’s managed to inspire and empower my seven-year-old niece. I can tell by the look of awe Luna is giving her. It’s mild, but it’s there. She wants to strive for more, and she just had a strong and independent woman show her it’s possible.

Don’t get me wrong, my sister is a good woman and a dynamite mom. Kasey’s come back from so much and is incredibly strong; it’s just in a way that Luna is too young to understand. I appreciate another woman being an example of inspiration and ambition until she can appreciate her mom’s strong points.

I try to calm my heart as we all continue on in contented silence, gradually bringing color to the black and white images laid before us.

“Tah-dah!” Melanie sings out as she sets down her crayon and holds up her final product for us to see. She’s colored her pony completely green in various shades of its spectrum. The mane is especially impressive with lighter colors like sage and seafoam mixed in with shades like forest, olive and emerald.

“Wowwww,” Luna expresses breathless drawing the word out. “I didn’t know green could be pretty like that.”

Melanie smiles appreciatively as she sets her picture down.

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