Page 71 of Marked By the Pack
Tuesday
Emma
I painted one last stroke and stepped away from the wall. There were several paint color options and I was really leaning toward the second one.
Callum walked back inside, bringing the cool autumn air into the house with him.
I shivered.
“Sorry,” he said and quickly closed the door.
I knew he couldn’t feel the cold. But he tried his best to always make sure I was comfortable. I still shivered when we stepped outside on an autumn day. I never shivered when I was in his arms though. “I’m actually getting quite used to the cold.”
“You are, huh?” He tried to pull me into his arms, but I stepped back.
“Callum, you’re covered in grime.”
He laughed and looked down at his dirty t-shirt. After I tried to help with demo for a few days, we realized it was not my forte. He put me on design duty while he got his hands dirty. He was currently gutting the downstairs powder room.
“What do you think of these options?” I gestured to the wall with the different paint samples.
“I think…this is a trick question?”
I looked over at him. “How? I really want your opinion.” Sure, I preferred number two, but I liked all of them. Except number three. That one looked awful in here.Please don’t pick number three.
“Baby, they’re all the same color.”
“No they’re not.”
“They’re all white.”
I laughed. “Yeah, but they’re all a little different. The second one looks brighter, right? Homier?”
“Um…yes?” He was staring at the options, but he clearly wasn’t getting it.
“Do we need a brighter light in here or something?”
“I think there’s plenty of light.”
Honestly…there wasn’t. It wasn’t sunny out right this moment, but the forecast said it would be soon and the curtains were drawn closed. I knew opening them wasn’t an option. Not today when I was too distracted by paint to notice the sun coming out from behind a cloud. Callum could only go outside when it was cloudy. I pulled one of the work lights closer to the wall. “Better?”
“Hmm.” He stepped closer to the wall, finally studying it.
I hoped he’d pick number two. I really did like that one.
“I can see the difference now,” he said. “And I know which one I like best.”
“Which color?”
“Well, which one is on your face?”
“Huh?” I turned to him and he smeared a glob of paint over my cheek with his thumb.
“Callum!” I pushed on his chest and he pulled me into his arms.
He silenced my protests with a kiss. “And you said I was too dirty to hold you.”
I shook my head but I couldn’t hide my smile. “Now I’m filthyandcovered in paint. And I’m supposed to meet up with Zoey in a few minutes for lunch.” Zoey had gotten in a bad habit of texting me a million times whenever I didn’t respond to her right away.
