Will nodded. “But it’s okay. I realize you’ve had other things on your mind. We can do it anotherday.”
“No, I think now would be a great time,” Amy said. “I’ll just go get what we need to do it.”
Half an hour later as he draped yet another sticky strip of newspaper on the balloon Amy had given him, Will understood what she’d meant about messy. His fingers were coated in the smelly flour paste that she’d made up along with instructions on how to apply the strips to the balloon.
“How’s it coming?” Amy leaned over his shoulder, giving him a whiff of her perfume. It was infinitely better than thepaste smell.
“I’m getting the hang of it, I think,” Will said as he lifted the balloon that now had a coat of strips on it.
Amy reached past him and ran her fingertips along the damp surface. “That’s really nice and smooth. You’re doing a terrific job.”
Will chuckled. “Well, at least I know I could a job making piñatas if Lance ever fires me.”
“Yeah, like that’s going to happen,” Lance said from where he sat on a lounge chair. He’d gone upstairs for a bit but then had reappeared when Laurel and Violet had said they’d go spend some time with their sister.
“How many layers am I doing?” Will asked as he set the balloon back down.
“One on this balloon to start. It needs to dry before we do the next layer.” Amy pulled out another balloon and blew it up. “But we can work on this one while we wait.”
“How many of these things are we going to make?” Will asked.
“Just the two.” Amy tied off the end of the balloon and handed it to him. “Here. How about I get the strips ready, and you can put them on the balloon.”
She sat down across the newspaper-covered picnic table and picked up a strip and ran it through the paste. He watched her slender, pink-tipped fingers slide the excess paste off the paper before holding it out to him. As he laid the strip across the balloon, she took another and prepped it for him again. They worked in silence while Lance, Matt and Dean talked. The kids ran over every once in a while to check on the progress. Isabella was particularly curious since she knew they were for her party.
Will fell into a rhythm with Amy, and the process went more quickly except for when they had to wait for the layers to dry a bit before adding another one. In total, they did three layers on each balloon.
“We’ve got plenty of time for them to dry completely before the party,” Amy said. “I’m going to be painting them next week so they won’t look like this.”
Will held up his paste-coated hands. “This is certainly a first for me.”
Amy grinned. “Well, now you can make one for her birthday every year.”
“I’m too chicken to tackle this on my own,” Will informed her. “I don’t know how to make the paste.”
“I’ll teach you.”
“Or you could just make sure you’re around to do it yourself.” Even as he said the words, Will wondered if he’d crossed a line.
She regarded him for a moment, her expression guarded, but then she smiled. “I might be able to do that. There are worse things than spending summers in Minnesota.”
“We’d love to have you come each summer,” Lance said. “You’ve been such a great help.”
Amy began to gather up the stuff they’d used. “I’m glad it worked out for me to come. This is the first time I’ve been in Collingsworth for a summer. The last two times I was here you guys still had snow on the ground. I have to say I like this a whole lot better.”
“Are we leaving these out here?” Will gestured to the piñatas.
Amy nodded. “Until they’ve dried a bit more. I’m just going to clean up the rest of this stuff and get this paste off me before it dries completely.”
Will followed Amy into the house. After washing his hands, he said, “Is there a garbage bag I can put all the other stuff into?”
“The garbage bags are under the sink,” Amy said as she set down the paste bowl.
“What exactly are those piñatassupposed to be?” Will asked as he opened the cupboard doors and pulled out a garbage bag.
“I’m still debating a bit on that. I could paint them shades of blue and say they’re raindrops.”
“Raindrops? Well, there will certainly be showers of candies when they whack them open.”
