Lina’s phone rang Sunday night while she was in the middle of a finger painting project. Only two feet away, her phone flashed Corrie’s name, making it that much worse to know she couldn’t pick it up. Even if she washed her hands right then, Lina would never get to the call before it went to voicemail. Plus, the berry color on her middle and pointer finger had happened by accident, and she was dying to use it.
Painting had always called to her, but it wasn’t until Lina tried painting with her fingers that things clicked into place. It was a secret hobby not even her closest friends knew about, including Corrie. She’d taken it up after Ashley married and moved out.
Lina wouldn’t have been embarrassed to be caught finger painting, she just wanted to get better at it before showing anybody. She had donated all of her finished projects to the local Goodwill and liked to imagine what happened to them after that. Perhaps her finger-painted vase was in some sweet old lady’s kitchen right now holding roses from the yard. Maybe teenage boys used her canvases as dart boards. The possibilities were endless.
The berry color became the shadowing on a porch, one she’d been to twice in the past two days. It was a shame she couldn’t make the dogs look right. Their heads were too big, and their legs were laughably bent at the wrong angles.
When the last of the berry paint color was gone, Lina rubbed any excess paint off with a paper towel before coating her hands in canola oil. Then she washed them with dish soap.
Corrie had been in Iowa for Thanksgiving visiting her family. Lina eagerly picked up her phone and called her back.
“Lina?” Corrie said in greeting. “Hey, I heard you spent Thanksgiving on a date. Spill it, sister.”
Of course she’d heard. Corrie’s husband, Preston, was best friends with Shaun.
Lina caught her up on the story from the beginning, including Lina’s time with Dillon’s family on Friday, which the rest of her friends didn’t know about yet.
“Does his lawyer brother work out with you two?” Corrie asked. “I never met them, did I?”
Lina and Corrie had met in the apartment gym back when Corrie was single, so it was a valid question.
“No, I met Dillon a few months ago. And I met his brother for the first time on Thanksgiving. Of course, now that he thinks Dillon and I are an item, I’ll probably run into him all the time.”
“And how do you feel about this guy, Lina? I would think if you weren’t interested in Dillon at all, you’d be super annoyed with this whole thing. But you don’t sound annoyed.”
Just to be a tease, Lina changed the subject. “Are you back from Iowa yet?”
“Yes. We flew in two hours ago. Ella is already missing her cousin friends like crazy. It’s too early to tell her she’s getting a little brother or sister, but I can’t wait. She’ll be so excited.”
“I’m so happy for you, Corrie. Is Preston excited?”
“Over the moon.” Corrie paused. “Oh my heck, you changed the subject on me. Now back to your man. What’s really going on? Because I have someone I want to set you up with, but if Dillon is taking up all your headspace, I won’t even tell you about this other guy.”
“The last time you tried to set me up with a guy, it was Shaun. And he was secretly dating Paige already.”
“Exactly. I don’t want to make the same mistake. And for the record, finding someone for you every couple years is not exactly a matchmaking overstep.”
“Fair enough.” Was Dillon taking up all her headspace? Lina wasn’t sure it was that serious, but she also wasn’t jumping for joy at the thought of meeting someone else. “Let’s hold off on the new guy. But that doesn’t mean Dillon and I are serious. Because we’re not.”
“How are things when it’s just the two of you?” Corrie asked.
The disappointment hit Lina all over again. He’d chickened out Friday night and put his hand up for a high-five instead of pressing her against the door and giving her the kiss she’d been hoping for. But Dillon wasn’t impulsive like that. He was hesitant. Patient. Basically, her opposite. Most of the time that felt like a good thing, but at the moment it just left her frustrated. “We’re pretty much buddies right now. He’s kinda shy.”
“That’s not necessarily a bad thing.” Lina could practically hear the smile in Corrie’s voice. “I know taking things slow is not your style, but maybe it’s his.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Lina grumbled. She’d told herself the same thing, and to be honest, Dillon was likely being the more mature of the two, but still…
“I’d better go. Ella and Preston are hollering for me to come play basketball with them.”
“Tell them I love them.” Lina hung up and looked around at her painting mess, wishing it was the kind of mess caused by lots of people living in the same space. Maybe it was time to get another roommate, though that wasn’t the kind of people Lina secretly hoped to have around. She wanted what Corrie, and Ashley, and Paige had. She wanted to find the right guy and get married. She wanted a family.
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Chapter 9
Lina didn’t have to worry about whether or not Brenda was coming in, because she had asked Ashley to watch the schedule for her. It meant explaining to Ashley that she was still pretending to be Dillon’s girlfriend, but it also meant Lina was mentally prepared for Friday morning at nine-thirty, when Brenda took a seat in the dental chair and beamed up at her.
“This is so fun. You know, I’ve actually been looking forward to getting my teeth cleaned. And that never happens!”
