Page 60 of No Kind of Hero
“Can I help?” she asked. She seemed to take in what he was doing for the first time, because she gasped, and that was pretty sweet. “Evan. It looksamazing.”
“Yeah.” He let himself enjoy that for just a second. “Here. Tie in.” He handed her the other harness and helped her get into it, and if he enjoyed it and felt her up a little bit along the way? Well, there she was under his hands. “You get the fun part,” he said. “You can paint all the top part of this column with the gold. All the leaves and whatever.”
“The capital. That’s what this decorative part is,” she explained at his look of amusement. “On a Corinthian column like this, it’s much more elaborate than on the Doric or Ionic. You don’t get these acanthus leaves on those.”
“Yeah,” he said, trying not to laugh and totally failing. “Whatever it is. Paint it gold. I figured you’d like the metallic. Copper last night. Silver hair. Gold paint. And I’ll keep doing the blue over here on this trimwork.”
“So pretty,” she said.
“Yep.”
They painted a while in silence, Beth concentrating with everything in her, and then he said, “By the way. Obviously, Kristiansen liked my idea, because we’re doing it. But he also liked the Zodiac. Actually, he said, ‘What the hell. It’s a chick thing, I guess. Do it.’ Close enough.”
Beth said, “I’d be affronted by the ‘chick thing,’ but itissilly. Just for fun.”
“Mm. Fun for me. Taurus setting Virgo free. That’s my favorite part.”
She turned and loaded up her brush with more gold paint, carefully wiping off the excess the way he’d taught her all those years ago. “Again, I’d object, but I have to admit, that’s kind of how it worked out. And by the way, tell me he’s not on the practice team.”
“Who?”
She waved her brush, then settled in to painting leaves. “The Viking.”
“You don’t know who he is?”
“Nope.” More brushwork. “But I told Candy Farnsworth last night that he was a huge star, so I’m hoping he’s not the . . . kicker, or something.”
Evan laughed. “Wide receiver. MVP last season.”
She glanced at him sidelong. “MVP how?”
“Most valuable player in the league. It’s kind of a big deal.”
“Oh. Good.” She kept painting. Quick, neat, and careful. The way Beth did most things. “I’m saved. I made this whole speech.”
“Uh-huh. Let me guess. About how she’d better look out, because I was going to set this town on fire.”
She laughed. “It sounds bad when you say it. I was passionate, though. If I’d done that in court, the jury would have come in for me all the way. It was fairly awesome.”
“I’ll bet. And you can just keep on defending me. I kinda like it.”
“Well, on that note.” She dipped her brush in the gold paint again. “While I was waiting for the color to set up, or whatever hair color does, I made a call to a colleague at my firm.”
“Uh-huh.” He switched brushes, started in on the body of the column, which he was picking out in cream. “Multitasking.”
“Yes. And since she’s not licensed in Idaho—which I am, by the way, so you know—she called somebody who knew somebody here in town, andthatsomebody sent me over some documents. All pretty basic. I just need Gracie’s birthdate and her middle name, and April’s full name and birthdate, and the best address you’ve got for her. You can text them to me. Gracie does have your last name, right?”
The fun was gone, just like that. Talk about your bucket of cold water. “Yeah. Grace Amanda O’Donnell.”
“Grace Amanda,” she said. “Pretty.”
“Yeah.” He painted in silence for a minute, then said, “You went ahead.”
“I thought it was a thing I could do. A thing that might help. You need to do it, Evan. What you’ve done up until now . . . it’s normal. If I didn’t know that, I heard it this morning. Fathers or mothers, if the other parent leaves? You’re trying to take care of your kids, make a living, and you don’t want to rock the boat or stir up trouble. But you can end upintrouble. It’s important. Otherwise—”
“Yeah,” he said. “I get it.” If he hadn’t before, the coldness deep in his gut would have told him. “So what do you need?”
“For you to sign the petition for custody in front of a notary. In this case, in front of that attorney. And don’t worry,” she added hastily, “I can get her to come meet us and do it. I thought we could do it over at Blake’s tonight.”
