The sound of the wind blowing lightly through the trees had me dropping my head back and smiling.
“Aren’t you supposed to be painting, Ells?” Ari asked in a hushed voice.
“I’m enjoying the sounds of nature and the peeks of sun through the threes on my face. Let me have this moment. Plus, my hand is cramping.”
Ari chuckled. “Don’t let the teacher see you. She already yelled at that poor old lady for closing her eyes and humming.
Focusing back on the work in front of me, I stared at it.
With a grimaced face, I stated, “Mine doesn’t look like it’s supposed to.”
Peeking over at mine, Heather chuckled. “Looks better than mine.”
I glanced at hers and we both started laughing.
“Ladies in the back, did you need some help?”
Instantly, I felt my cheeks heat as Heather and I shook our heads.
“This class is for serious painters, ladies. Unless you can zip it, you’ll be asked to take your canvas and vacate.”
Heather picked up her brush and fumbled over her words. “Yes, sir … I mean ma’am. Yes, ma’am.”
After a few seconds, Ari leaned over, “You totally just got schooled by the instructor.”
Pushing her away, I put my finger to my mouth for her to hush up.
“Okay, is she serious? For serious painters? It was an open class put on by the park!”
Aril shrugged. “I guess she takes it serious.”
I dragged in a deep breath and focused back in on my painting. Tilting my head, I stared at it. With a quick peek at Ari’s, I groaned internally. Her painting was perfect. The mason jar was spot-on and the flowers she had put in it were beautiful. The colors reminded me of the west pasture during this time of year. The flowers in full bloom. I could almost smell them.
Then you had my drawing. I turned back to it. My jar looked like a paint can. The flowers were basically sticks coming out of the can with weeds sprouting out.
Then I saw it.
Holy crap. Are you kidding me?
At the bottom of the painting we were to paint the words Wild Flowers. Mine read, Mild Flowers. How in the hell did I do that?
I covered my mouth to hold back my laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Heather asked.
When I looked back at her tic-tac-toe painting I couldn’t hold it in, even though I tried like hell to. My strained laugh came out sounding like someone dragging a metal chair across the floor.
The instructor didn’t look my way. Clearly she was too involved with the painter in the very front who was probably knocking it out of the park with their painting.
I covered my mouth with both hands as I pointed to Heather’s painting.
“Are you playing against yourself?” I asked.
Heather shook her head and pointed to the girl who was sitting on the other side of her. “Alison’s playing.”
Leaning back, I waved to Alison. When I looked at her painting, I chuckled again. It was a giant blob of blue with yellow dots.
“What is going on with y’all? She’s going to yell at you again, Ellie,” Ari stated with a stern expression.
I pointed to where I had painted Mild instead of Wild. It didn’t take long for the four of us to get the giggles. The more we tried to hide it, the worse it became. The next thing I knew, the instructor was standing in front of us, hands on her hips and one pissed off look on her face.
“May I ask what is so amusing?”
It was right about then Gunner and Jeff walked up. “Hello ladies, how’s the painting coming?”
The instructor rolled her eyes and spun around, her pointer finger ready to start pointing as she yelled at them for interrupting the Zen of the painting. She jumped back and covered her nose.
“Excuse me, you are interrupting my class, and that smell!”
Jeff shrugged and smiled. “Skunk attack at two in the morning.”
The instructor gagged then turned to Gunner. “Oh, well hello there. Are you um, are you interested in painting?”
Gunner flashed that melt-your-panties smile of his at her. “No ma’am. I’m sorry we interrupted. I thought the class would be over by now.”
The instructor playfully swatted at Gunner as her cheeks blushed. “You’re not interrupted at all! Not. At. All.”
My mouth fell as I gave her a dazed look.
Ari reached over and placed her finger on my chin, lifting it until my lips met. “You’re going to catch flies, Ellie.”
Swinging my gaze to Ari, I shook my head. “Do you see this right now?”
Ari chuckled. “I see it.”
Jeff stepped forward and tipped his hat at our art teacher and made his way over to Ari. She quickly stepped to the side and tried to wave the smell away. Leaning down, he kissed her softly on the lips, eliciting sighs from all the women in the area.
“Wow, look at your painting. Where will we hang it?” Jeff asked.
Ari wore a huge grin. “The baby’s room.”
Awe’s were heard across the lawn. Even with Jeff stinking like high hell, his good looks still drew the ladies in.
When I looked back at Gunner, our instructor was still eyeing him like she was ready to pounce on him. I cleared my throat, drawing Gunner’s attention over to me. His smile came to life, filling my chest with warmth.
Oh, how I loved this man.
“Excuse me ma’am, but my beautiful wife is right there.”
“He’s good,” Heather whispered as she started to clean up her painting area. Her and Alison quickly got lost in a conversation.
“Hey there, sweetheart. How was the painting class?”
I shrugged. “I’m pretty sure folks won’t be lining up to buy my work anytime soon.”
Gunner pulled me to him and hugged me. “Nonsense. That is a priceless piece of work. Look at how beautiful and … unique it is.”
My arms instinctively wrapped around his body. “I love you, but you are a terrible liar, Gunner Mathews.”
“What? I’m not lying.”
“It’s unique all right,” Ari threw in. “She was supposed to put wild flowers, and she put mild.”
Gunner tilted his head and stared at the painting. “Wait. Is that a mason jar or a can of paint?”
Playfully pushing him away, my hands went to my hips. “Ugh. I hate painting.”
The instructor tsked. “Don’t blame the canvas for the brush not working.”
I rolled my eyes and finished cleaning up. Gunner and Jeff took our paintings and we headed back to the campsite. It was hard walking near Jeff; he still smelled like skunk. I wasn’t sure how Ari was going to sleep in the tent with him tonight.
“Jeff, did you soak in the mixture?” I asked while waving my hand in front of my nose.
Ari giggled and glanced back over her shoulder at Heather who was walking with Alison.
“I did soak in it … twice. Apparently you need to do it almost immediately. Hopefully a few more soaks and the smell will be off of me.”
Gunner chuckled. “Only you would get sprayed by a skunk.”
With a groan, Jeff responded, “Tell me about it.”
Heather walked up alongside of me. “Hey, where is your painting?” I asked.
“I left it there! I just did the class for fun ‘cause you and Ari wanted to do it.”
I looked around. “Where did Alison go?”
“She headed back to her campsite to get lunch ready for her husband. He’s been fishing while she took the art class. I may head over to her campsite to chat for a bit later. Introduce Josh to her and her husband.”
My heart dropped. “Really? But, you don’t even know her.”
Heather shrugged. “I know, she seems really nice though. She’s a kindergarten teacher, and I think Josh will get along with her husband. He loves working with wood. Plus, they live outside of Fredericksburg. How cool is that?”
I forced a fake smile. “Pretty cool. Hey, I thought we were all going to go for that hike?”
“I don’t think it’s such a great idea with Josh’s ankle. Besides, I’m not really feeling up for a long hike, Ells.”
“It doesn’t have to be long.”
Heather gave me a sweet smile. “Still not feeling it. You and Gunner should go, spend some time together. I’m sure Jeff and Ari wouldn’t mind some alone time as well.”
With a nod, I replied, “Yeah. Sounds good.”
I had no idea why I was feeling the way I was. It was nothing but jealousy and downright childish. I knew it was wrong to be upset with her, but I was. As she talked to Ari about this Alison girl, I grew more and more upset. This was our friends camping trip and she was leaving us to go spend time with some strange woman.
“So, what’s on the agenda for this afternoon?” Jeff asked.
Everyone looked at me. “Heather has already made plans, so everyone just figure out what you want to do. I couldn’t care less.”
I spun on my heels and practically stomped off.
Trying like hell to stop the tears from falling, I took in a deep breath and blew it out.
I would regret my silly behavior later, but for now I needed to get away from everyone and clear my head.