I felt like the Pulmer’s were the only people that could make me smile anymore. With my brothers away at college, my dad off chasing younger women, my mom acting like a zombie, and not having any friends, I hadn’t smiled in a long time. Now I feel like I smile all the time.
But now I have the line ‘I’m watching’ etched in my head and I’m scared that the smiles will leave again. I don’t want to stop smiling now that I am again.
Jonathon gathered his art supplies and disappeared. I quickly looked around but he was gone. Just as suddenly he reappeared.
I jumped and said, “Where did you go?”
“To set everything up,”
“That quick?” I asked.
“Yeah. Vampire remember,” he said tapping me on the nose.
“That was awesome,” I said. To move that fast would be amazing, exhilarating, freeing.
“I usually don’t go as fast as I can, like I did just now. Joseph, Danny, and Mason would never stop talking
about it.”
“Why wouldn’t they stop talking about it?” I asked confused. So, what if he could run fast? What difference could it possibly make to them.
“They just wouldn’t like the fact that when I don’t hold back I can run faster than they can. Most of the time I just let them have their fun,” he said.
“That sounds like guys. That’s how Adam and Aiden are when they talk about cars. Intent and excited. Nothing can distract them. They go on and on and lots of times I don’t know what’s so exciting. It must be speed,” I smiled again thinking about them. I really missed my brothers.
“When you talk about your brothers there’s a light in your eyes I rarely see. You really care about them,” he stated.
“Well, they’ve always been there for me. Even though they’re thousands of miles away I feel like they care even more now. They don’t really know how hard the divorce was on me but they’ve tried to make me feel better which is something neither my mom nor my dad did. My mom was to intent on her own heart break and my dad was too busy chasing his new girlfriend Kelly. But my brothers called everyday; soothing me when I was hysterical and comforting me when I cried. I can always count on them no matter what.”
“Were you close to your dad?”
“Yeah, that made everything so much worse. I was a daddy’s girl, not in the whiny sense of the word, and then he just stopped being there for me and it was ‘Kelly this’ and ‘Kelly that’ and ‘Did you know Kelly could do this’ blah blah blah.”
“That had to be tough,” He said putting his arms around me.
“Unbearable. But like I said the only two people I had were my brothers and they were halfway across the country. If I didn’t have them I don’t know what I would’ve done.”
“You would’ve managed,” He said with a grin.
“Yeah, I guess,” I said remembering the day in the garden when I’d said the same line to him. Gosh, could it be only days ago? It feels like years.
“Are you ready to be painted?” He asked.
“Yeah,” I said nervously.
“Why are you nervous?” He asked.
“What if I’m not a good model?”
“You’ll be great,” He said smiling, looking like an angel. My own personal angel. Could he really be all mine?
“But what if I’m not?” I asked looking down afraid to meet his eyes.
“Hmm,” He began thoughtfully, like he was trying to figure out a difficult math problem. “I guess I’ll have to find a new muse and girlfriend then.”
My head snapped up and my eyes bugged out. A small, astonished gasp escaped my lips.
Jonathon laughed so hard he was bent over clutching his stomach.