Page 110 of Noble Neighbor
“What’s their dog’s name again, Clemmie?” Molly asked, her eyes bright with excitement.Standing side by side, both fair-haired and blue-eyed, one would assume they were blood siblings.
“Bandit,” Clement replied as he turned to look at the building before them, apprehension flashing across his features as his head tilted up.
Oliver followed Clement’s line of sight.Jelani Okiro Arts and Cultural Center, the sign read. The center had opened its door just months ago, and they had invited Clement to hold a whittling class. The founder, Dexter Truitt, had long been a subscriber to Clement’s YouTube channel.
Kenzie moved up to Clement and grabbed his hand. “You’ll be fine, Clem,” she whispered, giving him an encouraging smile.
It warmed Oliver’s heart to see the powerful bond between the two of them.
A dark-haired man bounded down the stairs, a young child in his arms. “You must be the Armstrongs.I’m Dex,” he said, grinning, “and this little madam is Georgina.”
Clement stepped forward. “I’m Clement.”
He offered a hand but before Dex clasped it, the wriggle-worm in his arms threw herself at Clement. “Memsis, Memsis,” she yelled. “Cath me!”
Clement caught her moments before the kid plunged to the ground. “Umph,” he huffed, stumbling back a step, his hands somehow grasping hold of the little body.
“Shit.” Dex glanced at Sunny, the girls, then Oliver. “Sorry. Trying to clean up my language, but” — he nudged his head toward the little girl offering Clement puckered rose-bud lips, her pudgy hands pressing against his cheeks — “it’s a challenge.”
“We’ve a dollar jar at home,” Molly offered, then giggled. “It gets fullveryquickly.”
Oliver stepped forward. “My wife, Sunny. And daughters, Princess Kenzie” — he drew Kenzie closer and dropped a kiss on her head, thrilled at the smile pulling her lips — “and our blabbermouth, Miss Molly.” He cocked his head. “Memsis?”
“Ah, yes.” Dex looked to the ground and shook his head, looking a bit shamefaced. “Years ago, I stumbled upon Clement’s whittling videos — andthat’san entire story on its own — and determined to better him. No such luck. Hence” — his lips kicked up at the corners — “my nemesis. Miss Big Ears here obviously picked up my conversation with my wife.” He chuffed a laugh. “But I am being rude. Let’s get off the sidewalk. Bianca’s inside, resting. She’s heavily pregnant — our second, and according to her, last, but we’ll see about that,” he added, chuffing a short laugh. Dex pulled open the door and waved them in.
“Is Bandit here?” Molly enquired as she passed the man.
“He’s not. He’s visiting at Forever Grey — it’s the shelter from where I adopted him. One of his friends, a lovely two-year-old lady named Luna, is about to move upstate to a farm. The shelter only keeps the dogs in the city for three months, then they go north, and Bandit’s spending the day with her to say goodbye.”
“Ah, that’s sweet,” Kenzie murmured.
Molly stopped. “Is she getting adopted?”
“No, unfortunately not.”
“Farm?” Sunny asked sharply, halting beside Molly.
“Notthattype of farm. They have a good life there, plenty of love and space to run, but” — Dex looked at her, a scheming glint in his eye — “it’s not ahome.”
Sunny blinked and turnedherscheming gaze toward Oliver. “We have a farm.”
“With aforeverhome,” Molly added.
Oliver sighed. “Guess we’re going to meet Bandit after all,” he said, resigning himself to flying home with a dog to add to their ever-growing menagerie. Thankfully, they’d flown private. And lived on a farm.
Kenzie threw her arms around Oliver’s neck. “Thank you, best Dadever,” she said and smacked a kiss to his cheek.
And that, Oliver thought as he walked behind his family, was part of what made his life perfect.
Dex and Bianca — Georgina now asleep in her dad’s arms — took them on a tour of the center. He explained his relationship with the late Jelani Okiro asthey viewed numerous framed black-and-white imagesof Jelani’s skillful hands and the wooden sculptures the Kenyan man had created and bequeathed Dex. “The wood whittling started as a joke for me, but it was Jelani’s entire life. It saved me, teaching me to express my feelings in other ways besides words. And that is what I hope this place, this center,” he added, “will be. A safe place for people in the community to come and discover art, discoverthemselves, and heal.”
Their tour ended in the woodshop where Clement would hold his class. Kenzie and Molly were staying to support their big brother, and Dex, determined to suck as much from Clement as possible, offered to keep an eye on them. Bianca, admitting exhaustion, went home with her daughter, leaving Oliver and Sunny to mooch around on their own.
Entering one of the music rooms ahead of him, Sunny stuttered to a halt and Oliver, close behind, plowed into her. They both stared at the humongous Elvis painting.
Sunny laughed in delight. “Frank would love it.”
“Should we offer to buy it for Dad?”
