“I did.”
“I can’t believe how beautiful these are, Tea.”
There was no getting out of telling him once he grabbed the painting, although it had sand on it and wasn’t exactly a beach scene anymore. However, as imperfect as it is, I’m sort of in love with it.
It’s messy, much like my life. It has texture—I’ve never thought to add sand to the paint before—but it’s also still vibrant.
“You don’t have to lie,” I say with a bit of nervous energy. “I know they’re amateur and not that great, but painting is my outlet.”
“Why do you think I’m lying?”
“Because you’re not cruel and don’t want to tell me they’re shit.”
His eyes go back to the painting. “I’m not lying, Teagan, they’re really beautiful. I haven’t seen paintings with this perspective before. Have you ever tried to sell any?”
Or maybe he is cruel. “No. No one even knows I do this. This is my hobby that I don’t talk about, and now that you know what I was hiding, we can never speak of it again.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do you always do that?” he grumbles.
“Do what?”
“That!” Derek says with a growl. “You answer questions with a question—still. I figured you would’ve grown out of it by now.”
I grin, liking that it irritates him. I don’t even realize I do it. It’s just easier than trying to guess and be wrong. If people were more forward and didn’t beat around the bush, I wouldn’t have to keep asking them to clarify.
“It’s a habit.” I shrug.
“Yeah, it’s annoying.”
“So is you pointing it out.”
Derek huffs but I catch his grin. “Well…too bad.”
This is the first time it feels a little like old times. He’s giving me shit and I’m giving it right back.
“So what did Everly do that is making you question your life choices?” I ask as he stands in front of one painting for too long.
“I don’t stand for bullying and I heard her”—he shifts uncomfortably—“on the phone…making plans.”
It’s not hard to guess what—or who—the plans are for. “She’s trying to make her place in the pack.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re a vet, you should get what I’m saying.”
Derek rubs his temples and I try not to laugh at him. “You mean they’re a pack of animals?”
He has no idea. “Wolves would’ve been my first choice of words, but yes. Teenage girls, well, the bitchy ones, tend to live in a pack mentality. Remember me with Lori and Kelly?”
“Oh, how I wish I could forget.”
We were truly awful and I hate when I look back at myself during that time. I can only hope that Everly is more like me and less like Kelly. She was the orchestrator of it all. Each horrible thing came from her devious mind.
“Well, what were the plans for Chastity?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, the best way to beat them is to know the plan. Can you imagine if every person Kelly wanted to destroy knew beforehand? They could’ve taken countermeasures.”
Derek takes a step closer. “I squashed it. You don’t have to worry.”
“That’s not likely.”
“Seriously, I wouldn’t let it happen.”
He is cute that he thinks he has that type of control. “Still, I think the more information the better. Do you want to see Chastity caught up in this? Don’t you think she’s endured enough?”
Whether he tells me or not, I’m going to prepare my daughter.
“Of course she has.” He sighs and moves back. “It’s just that so has my daughter and I’m not going to betray her.”
I can understand that, but I’m in the same boat. “And what about protecting my daughter?”
“I would never hurt your daughter or let Everly hurt her,” Derek says with conviction. “I need you to trust me.”
Trust. That word means so much. “Once upon a time I did trust you, and we’re a long way from that right now.”
“I know and I’m sorry. I think you need to have some blind faith then. I really like Chastity. She’s a smart girl, by the way. Way smarter than even you were back then. I enjoyed having her assist me today.”
I forgot that today was the first time she worked with him. She’s been going over there, doing tasks for his father, but she told me that Derek was who she shadowed today. I had to bite my tongue to keep from asking a million questions.
Was he nice to her?
Was he funny?
Did he ask her about me?
Did he smell nice?
The last one was way over the line of appropriate to ask my teenage daughter, so I figured it was probably best to not ask anything and let her lead the conversation.
“Yeah, I hope she’s smarter than me in every possible way. She loves animals and would happily be with them more than people.”
“I can see that. She helped clean out more crap in those stalls than I would’ve at her age and still asked to stay a little longer to play with the animals.”
I smile to myself. “Reminds me of someone else I used to know.”
“Well, I didn’t have a choice. I grew up on a zoo thanks to my dad.”
“But you loved the animals.”
He nods. “I still do.”
It’s crazy how much Chastity is like him in some ways. “I feel like our kids were switched at birth, don’t you?”
Derek lets out a small laugh. “You’d think, considering how close we were and how well I could manage you, that I’d do a better job with her,” he says and then his eyes go back to the painting.
I walk up behind him, allowing myself to look over his shoulder to see which he’s fixated on.
Of course it would be that painting.
I remember that one so distinctly. I painted it on my thirty-first birthday. It had been years since I had allowed myself to remember him in any sort of wistful way.
