Page 126 of With Us

Yours,

Dahlia

After sending the message, I sent a text to Luc.

Me:I want to see Theo on Sunday.

My phone chimed within seconds.

Luc:Good.

Pulling my blanket up, I turned my phone off and tried to sleep.

Surrounded by darkness.

???

“Okay, so Dahlia won the night.”

I looked over at Julie as I cleaned my paint brush, nearly dipping it in my wine glass.

Again.

Rosa had picked one of those boozy paint classes to do for girl time. Since wine wasn’t my drink of choice, we’d pre-gamed at a cocktail bar across the street.

It was amazing how much more tolerable wine became when I was already tipsy.

“Whoa. You’re good at this,” Rosa chimed in, eyeing my painting. “Have you taken an art class before?”

I shook my head. “Not since tenth grade in high school.” I leaned back and looked at my painting.

Everyone was doing a generic path with trees scene. Instead of bright and sunny, though, mine had brightness that shadows were encroaching on.

It seemed fitting.

Adding a few quick details, I set down my brush.

“That really is lovely,” Rachelle said, wiping at my nose with a napkin to remove some stray black paint.

Motherly.

Everyone else finished up their paintings, leaving them to dry and moving into the lounge area. Plopping down, I sank into something that reminded me of an upscale beanbag chair. It was insanely comfortable.

I wanted ten.

Tina handed me a full wine glass and sat next to me. “Oh boy. You’re going to need to help me out of this thing. It’s like a cloud.”

A surprisingly, and suspiciously, quiet Julie sat across from us.

“I’ll stick with the regular chair.” Rachelle dragged a neon green plastic chair over. “I’d have to roll out of one of those.”

Rosa gracefully lowered herself onto one. “Oh, I could use like ten of these.”

I laughed. “That’s what I was thinking.”

“Maybe I can get them for Amaric instead of the regular waiting area furniture.”

“But could you get away with adding a nap time into the day? Because no way could you sit on one of these and not fall asleep.” Just saying it had me fighting a yawn.

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