Page 113 of Coff

Things need to change. If Duke wants to continue to run the business, then he needs to find people he can trust. I’ll give him my two weeks’ notice.

I smile at the idea. After our dad died, Duke and I received an inheritance. It’s enough that I can live off of it for a while until I figure out what I’m going to do. When I first received it, I swore I wouldn’t touch it. But the more I thought about it, I realized if I’d worked at any other job all these years, I’d have a savings account. Savings I could spend on pursuing what I want to do. Art is my first love, but I had to drop out of art school because of my dad. Without the proper training, getting a job in that field might be hard.

“Yes!” Sam screams.

Despite my music, I can still hear them.

“Oh, baby!” My brother yells.

I’m nauseated, but then the sound stops. Please let them be done.

I tiptoe out of the guest room and go downstairs. Duke brought a box over from the house for me. I’m curious about what he packed up.

When I open it, I’m surprised to find a couple of blank canvases and my old sketchbooks. After I transferred out of art school, I tried to toss these. But my mom took them and said she’d hold them for me. She understood how important these were to me.

Duke walks down the stairs. Sweat is beaded all over his chest. “Oh, hey.” He smiles.

“No. You two are too loud. I can hear it all over my music. If you two have sex, don’t make any noise.”

He laughs as he walks into the kitchen. “I’ll see what I can do.” The faucet turns on, and then he steps out of the kitchen a moment later, wiping his mouth. “We’ll be down to clean up soon. Don’t worry about it, okay?”

I arch a brow. “I’m not.”

He nods, then heads back upstairs. I turn my attention back to the box as I continue to unpack it. At the bottom is some old paint. I loved to sketch, and suddenly, the desire to do so again is strong. But as I empty out the box, I discover there are no pencils of any kind.

Painting was never my thing, even though I tried to get into it. But I have this idea I want to get out. Maybe I could paint it.

I set my phone next to me and turn on some pop music as I set up the paint. The blue catches my eye, and I use it first. Slowly, the image in my head comes forth on the canvas. After the last stroke, I sit back.

“Wow,” Sam says as she walks into the living room. “I wondered what you were doing down here the past couple of hours.”

I frown. “Hours?” I check my phone, and it’s later than I thought. “I lost track of time.”

“That’s really good.” Sam continues to study my painting.

“Thanks. I wanted to draw it out, but I couldn’t find any pencils.”

She turns to me. “I think this is better. You used color.”

Wait, she’s right. My sketches were always black and white. But the color is what defines this one.

“This reminds me of one of my favorite children’s books. It’s like a scene from a fairy tale,” she says.

I step back and take in the way the blue water meets the vibrant green forest. She’s right. The style I used does look like something that should be in a book.

“Have you thought about being an illustrator?” she asks.

“A what?”

She laughs. “You know, the person who does the drawing for kid’s books. Or any books that need it. I think you’d be great at it.”

The idea of drawing for a living sounds amazing. “I would love to, but I think Duke wants me to keep working at the construction company.” I glance up at her to gauge her reaction. Maybe Duke won’t take my leaving as hard as I think he will.

Sam’s smile drops. “You and Duke both need to get out of that ‘construction’ business.” She uses her finger to put air quotes on construction.

I’m surprised by her words. “Does Duke know you feel this way?”

She nods. “It’s why I’ve been slow to commit. He feels stuck since there is no one else to run things, and he says he can’t walk away without a target on his back.”

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