AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, wow, Daisy. That’s so pretty,” Kierra praised. The painting consisted of globs and streaks of different paint colors that eventually produced an undesirable shade of brown. She was no Picasso, and it wouldn’t sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I was sure the painting would find a home on a wall.
Maybe the laundry room.
“Kiyah, tell me what kind of car you’re painting,” Kierra urged.
“It’s a yellow Camaro like Bumblebee.”
That tracked. We watchedTransformersa few nights ago.
I stood behind my sons and quietly observed their paintings. Grant’s was of a superhero—Batman, to be exact. Grant couldpull off the broody superhero perfectly for Halloween. Casey was painting what appeared to be a tiger.
“I want to paint,” I said, finally announcing my presence and giving my family a scare.
“Jesus, Jon. Don’t sneak up on us like that,” Kierra fussed.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle.”
“Ms. Kierra, you have to watch out for Dad. He’s a ninja.”
“I see,” she replied, returning to her impressionistic painting of the house and the surrounding foliage. She was good—excellent, actually, and given the opportunity, I bet she could make a name for herself.
“He is a ninja, Ms. Kierra,” Casey protested. “He has a black belt in Karate and Ju Ju!”
Kierra’s brow crinkled in confusion. “Ju Ju? Do you mean Jujitsu?”
“Yes! Jujitsu!” Casey exclaimed.
A slow smile spread across Kierra’s face. “That’s very interesting, boys. Your father never told me.”
“Because that was in the past. I no longer practice.”
“Shame,” she remarked with a crooked grin that made my blood rush above and below.
Please don’t look at me like that, Kierra. I’ll have you riding my face during the kids’ nap time.
“Shall I join you all?”
“You shan’t,” Kierra commented.
“And why not?” I challenged playfully.
“Tis a nanny activity.”
“I enjoy nanny activities…very much,” I commented, alluding to our late-night and early-morning romp. I chuckled when Kierra glanced away and cleared her throat. If it weren’t for her dark skin, I’d bet her cheeks would be as red as tomatoes.
“Grab a canvas and park it,” she demanded, finally relenting to my teasing.
“Ms. Kierra, can we go jump on the trampoline?” Casey asked politely.
“Knock yourselves out.”
The kids immediately abandoned their painting tools and took off for the massive trampoline. Kiyah doubled back, almost bumping into Daisy, who lagged behind the pack and kissed Kierra on the cheek before returning to the others. I waited until the kids were bouncing and giggling to confront Kierra.
“I take it your talk with Kiyah went well.” Kierra glanced at me sheepishly before returning to her canvas. “Kierra…you didn’t.”
“They came back from the donut shop and damn near been hanging from the chandeliers. It’s a miracle I was able to get them to sit down for two seconds to paint. I didn’t want to talk to Kiyah for it to go in one ear and out the other.”
“What a convenient excuse.”
