“Sorry, ignore him,” she said, chuckling. “Can I ask what it’s for? Because if you’re talking clothes, she really likes blacks and grays and dark blues, but if you’re talking flowers, she adores pink and yellow. Roses, carnations, gerbera daisies, you can’t go wrong with those colors. Just not the typical red.”
Flowers? Why the hell did Haven think he’d want to know about flowers?
“Uh, what if I wanted to paint a room for her,” he said, feeling way too damn exposed.
“Oh!” She laughed. “I’m so excited that she’s going to be your nanny, Slider. She’s so good at taking care of other people, and she adores your boys.”
“Yeah,” he said, clearing his throat. “So, what do you think?”
“Man, this is a lot of pressure. I’d say definitely not pink or purple, because that would be too like her old room at home. I think she’d like blue, though. I think she’d like it a lot.”
“Blue. Okay, sure. Thanks, Haven.”
“Blue! See, I knew it!” Ben said. Slider gave him a thumbs-up.
“No problem,” Haven was saying. “Hold on, here’s Dare.”
“You’re painting a room for Cora?” he asked. Slider could almost imagine the look in his eyes, observing all kinds of things you didn’t really want anyone else seeing, but Dare always saw anyway.
“Yeah. Just freshening things up for her,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Want help?” he asked.
That wasn’t what Slider expected at all. He had a kneejerk no on the tip of his tongue, but if he was going to start doing a better job with the people in his life, that had to include his brothers, too, didn’t it? And there was no better time to start than now . . .
So . . .
“If you don’t mind, that would be great. But I’m doing this today. I know that might be too last minute—”
“Count us in.”
Which was how, three hours later, a painting party got under way in Cora’s bedroom and bathroom, with Dare, Haven, him, and his boys all working on different parts of the walls, ceiling, and trim. They’d pushed all the furniture to the center of the room, and the new bed was covered in bags of what Ben called their loot from Target.
Music playing from Dare’s cell phone, the open windows welcoming in the fall afternoon breeze, and the sound of everyone’s chatter and laughter made the house feel alive in a way it hadn’t in so long, as if asking Cora to move in was rousing the old farmhouse from a long slumber.
Maybe it was waking Slider up, too.
When they were done, the men cleaned up the tape, plastic, and paint supplies, while Haven and Ben unpacked the Target bags and took a load of new bedding down to the washing machine.
“Hey, Sam,” Dare said, “would you mind grabbing me a cold soda from the fridge?”
“No problem,” Sam said.
“Wash your hands before you touch anything,” Slider said.
“You mean, like this?” On a laugh, Sam lunged at him and managed to grasp the bottom of Slider’s beard, leaving a swipe of blue in his wake.
“What the hell—heck—ya little monster,” Slider said with a disbelieving laugh. He pulled the kid into a playful headlock. It wasn’t a hug. But it was one of the first times in Slider’s recent memory that the two of them had touched.
Sam laughed. “Now will you finally get rid of that thing?”
“No way, I’m leaving it blue and scruffy and walking you into your classroom tomorrow morning,” Slider said, grinning as Sam groaned and got away. And then he disappeared to get Dare’s drink.
Leaving Slider alone with Dare, who was looking at him like he had three heads in addition to a blue beard.
“What?” Slider asked.
Dare shook his head, the expression on his face like he was debating, and then he held out a hand. “Welcome back, brother.”
The words lodged an immediate knot in Slider’s throat. Slider grasped his friend’s hand, and it felt a whole lot like a lifeline. “I’m not sure if I’m all the way back yet. Or if I’ll ever be.”
Nodding, Dare didn’t let go. “I get that. But you’ll never get anywhere if you don’t try. And the man I’m looking at is trying, and it’s damn good to see.”
Sam came flying back into the room. “Here you go.”
“Thanks, buddy,” Dare said, dropping Slider’s hand and taking the can. And then their focus was back on home improvement, as if Dare hadn’t just made two years of Slider’s bullshit okay with a single handshake.
That night, the boys refused to go to bed until Cora’s room was all put back together again. The blue walls were still drying, but that didn’t keep them from rearranging the furniture, making up the bed, putting down the new area rug, and stacking fresh towels in the linen closet.
“Think Cora’s gonna like it?” Slider asked, really hoping she would.