Page 50 of Painting Together a Family
“That is a lot of room,” Bryan admitted. “Do you need to take my arm or are you okay?”
“I’m good. So the door to the second floor is always locked. I’ll get you a key, but there are dangerous chemicals and paints worth a small fortune in there. Please never leave it unlocked.”
Bryan nodded. “No problem. I don’t know why I’d need to go up to your studio, but if I do, I won’t leave the door unlocked.”
“Thank you. This is the door.” The door was locked way up where little fingers couldn’t reach it. “The door to the roof is here. It’s alarmed, just in case. I never set it anymore, but when my kids were smaller, I worried.”
“Oh, I bet. I’d hate to have littles accidentally get up there without supervision. That’s too high.” It looked like Bryan got it. Of course, he was a dad, so that wasn’t surprising.
“You want to come up and see?”
“I’d love to.” Bryan closed the door behind himself and followed Dev up the stairs.
The roof was open and nice, with a little area for a garden that had gone to seed, an empty sand box, a shed, and a lovely swing set.
“Oh, this is nice. You ever use the garden?” Bryan looked longingly at the space.
“I don’t have time, but if you’re a gardener, that would be amazing.”
“Yeah, I’d like to play in the dirt if it’s an option. I helped Mrs. Pereiso with hers in the backyard, but it’s not the same as doing it all yourself.”
“Absolutely. This space—” he waved his arms at the garden patch. “Consider it yours.”
“Like I said, I’m going to get it tattooed on my forehead—thank you.” Bryan circled the fallow garden, checking out the plants there and poking his fingers into the soil. “This looks good, and it’s big enough to do more than just some tomatoes. There could be beans, carrots, potatoes even, and maybe beets. Stuff that’s ready at different times.”
It was going to be glorious to teach the kids about growing their own food, flowers. Bryan might keep thanking him, but he thought that he and the girls were going to get a lot out of having Bryan and the boys living with them, too.
Bryan grinned at him. “I have plans already, so you’d better have meant it.”
“Absolutely. This place could be amazing with some work.”
“It’s pretty damn amazing already. Have you ever thought about putting in a gazebo or something that would shelter youfrom the rain? I bet it would be fun to sit out here and listen to it hitting the roof, watching a storm lightning and thunder its way through the sky.” Bryan looked out over the city, like he was envisioning it.
“You choose one, and we’ll have it built. It would be a good place for picnics.”
“Thank y—” Bryan stopped himself, took a deep breath and instead of finishing his thank-you, said, “Yeah, I think it would be a great addition up here. I’ll look into it.”
“Sounds great. This way, the boys have an outside space that’s not the park.” Not that the park was a huge walk, but this was close and easy. And safe.
“Somewhere out of the sun and rain if necessary.” Bryan took a last look around. “It really is a beautiful spot.”
“I’m glad it’ll get more use. It needs a loving hand.”
“Show me the rest of the place?” Bryan asked. “I mean back downstairs in the main house, so to speak. If you’re feeling up to it.”
“Absolutely. Anything you’d like to see.” He led Bryan back down the stairs.
“I’m enjoying you sharing your home with me, and I’ve yet to see the playroom or the office…”
“I’m glad. We need to make the boys comfortable. Give them a place to play.”
“Yeah. I’m going to get them to school tomorrow. I think going back to the school routine will help get them settled here. I don’t think they really got what was going on when Grant showed up. Marley did an amazing job of shielding them. I was impressed.”
“She’s a beast when it comes to defending little ones. And everyone needs to get back to all their lessons.”
They returned to the living floor, and he led Bryan to the place the man could set up his office.
“There’s everything an office could need here.” There was a lovely window, tons of outlets, and a closet.
