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“For the record,” Wilson said as I climbed onto the stool beside him. “I was hoping I’d lose. I’ve been rooting for you kids since I brought you to class last year.”
“Same Wilson,” I confided quietly. There was no shame between us. The man snuck me condoms when I started dating my first boyfriend in high school. Not that I needed them then,but I sure wish I had a use for a box now. If it was up to me, Theo and I would have been naked and sweaty on the art tables after the first class. OK, maybe not that soon. But at least by Groundhog Day. I’d been walking around in a turned-on stupor for the last twelve months with only my vibrator for relief.
“OK.” Theo clapped his hands, snapping everyone’s attention to him. “Let’s start with you, Mrs. Adams, since you’re new to the class.”
“Call me Alison, hon.”
“All right, Ms. Alison, would you like to come up front and show us your sketches?”
I loved how Theo refused to drop the Ms. every time a member of the Fan Club asked him to use their first names. I took some comfort in the fact he didn’t call me Ms. Poppy. He might not want to date me, but at least he didn’t lump me in with the retirees.
Mrs. Adams picked up two sheets of paper and clutched them to her chest as she stood before then class. “I like to doodle flowers when I talk on the phone with my daughter, so I guess I’m best at those,” she said and nervously held up the first sheet. She’d filled the page with decent renderings of all the blooms in her flowerbeds but without any dimension or shading. “I’m terrible at drawing people,” she said flashing the second sheet with a stick figure sporting a potato head and a crooked smile. It was cute in a minimalist way. I felt the corners of my lips tug up, but quickly forced them down. I didn’t want Mrs. Adams, who had never askedmeto call her Alison in the twenty-three years I’d lived next door, to think I was laughing at her.
“That’s wonderful,” Mr. Fitzwilliam shouted and clapped. Mrs. Adams blushed and hurried back to her stool.
“Better be quick,” Wilson said, shoving an open sketch pad in front of me. I stared at the blank page and shook my head.Wilson tapped his finger on the paper. “Do you want Alison thinking you’re too good for your own assignment?”
I groaned. I’d never hear the end of it from Mrs. Adams if I didn’t sketch something. I could do this. I’d been drawing since I could hold a pencil. Besides, maybe the block was only with clay.
I grabbed the charcoal Wilson rolled to me and got to work. My hand made quick slashes on the pages while everyone presented their sketches. I didn’t think; I just drew. Based on the giggles, Mr. Fitzwilliam and Millie both presented penises.
“Great work, everyone,” Theo said after Wilson showed his drawings.
“Don’t forget Poppy,” Wilson said and winked at me.
I rose from my stool and ignored the smirk he gave me as we passed each other. I totally could have gotten away without doing the assignment. Theo smiled as I neared and my stomach did that weird flip thing again.
“Well, here’s a drawing of Rowan,” I said holding up the first sheet. “I look at her all the time, so I think I captured her face and expression pretty well.”
“Beautiful,” Mr. Fitzwilliam shouted. I couldn’t help but like the guy, even if I’d had to dig through the trash a couple times at Karma to rescue his dentures. Twill and Theo’s Fan Club smiled and nodded.
“You need to frame that for your mother,” Mrs. Adams said. “She just got Rowan home and now she’s moving again.”
“Down the street, Alison,” Twill snapped. “Rose will see her every day.”
“Ignore him, Poppy,” Millie said. “Put it in a frame and give it to her. She’ll cry like a baby.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to make Mom sob, but I nodded. “And this one,” I said, glancing down at the second piece of paper, suddenly nervous. “Well, I guess it’s my dad.”
I held up the portrait of a man with a blurred face. I’d drawn the eyes, nose, and mouth, but then smudged the charcoal with my finger.
Mrs. Adams pressed her hand to her heart and someone sniffed.
I shrugged. “We have pictures, of course, but I can never get his face quite right.”
“They’re both excellent, Poppy,” Theo said after a long pause. “Better than anything I could do.”
“So why are you teaching the class?” Twill shouted.
“Because he’s a hell of a lot nicer than me,” I snapped and glared at him. Theo’s Fan Club all swiveled in their stools and did the same.
Theo smiled at me and I shot off for my seat before I humped the teacher like a demented rabbit, giving Twill an extra-long glare on the way.
Chapter six
Theo
“Finally,” Aiden shouted whenI entered Church Street Brews. He sat alone at a corner booth by the door with a small “reserved” sign on the table. The Friday-night crowd had already filled the rest of the bar. “I’ve been getting death glares since I got here. Think fast,” he said and tossed me his truck keys.