The Happiness Plan by Susan Mallery

Author:Susan Mallery
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 2023-04-19T19:15:09+00:00

* * *

Daphne had covered the kitchen table with newspaper and sacrificial sheets. She’d set out paint and brushes.

“This morning we’re going to paint the flowers,” she told Elijah, Cadin and Alexa. “Later this afternoon we’ll glue on the pictures. Once the glue is dry, I’ll spray on the sealer and we’ll put on the magnets.”

She’d looked online for craft projects and had decided on salt dough flower magnets. Earlier in the week, they’d made salt dough. After rolling it out, they’d used cookie cutters to make flower shapes. Daphne had carefully cut out the center. Once they’d baked, they’d dried for a few days.

The plan was to each paint four and cut out pictures of themselves. When the magnets were finished, they would leave a couple here and take the rest to their mom’s. She’d drawn outlines of the flower shape on paper and had painted a few options to give the kids ideas. Now they crowded around her to see what she’d done.

“I like the stars,” Alexa said, sliding onto her lap. “And the suns and moons.”

“You can’t put stars and moons on a flower,” Cadin complained.

“Sure you can. It’s called art expression.” Elijah’s tone was superior as he sat beside Daphne. “An artist at summer camp talked about it and we did lots of projects. Even using chalk on the sidewalk.” He sounded faintly scandalized.

“I like that one.” Cadin pointed to a dark blue flower covered with white flecks. “It looks like the night sky.”

“I’m glad you think so. That’s what I was going for.” Daphne grinned at him. “Making the tiny specks of white is messy but fun.”

“I want to do one like that,” he said eagerly as he sat on her other side.

“Me, too.” Elijah passed out paintbrushes.

“I want to do one with the moon and stars. And a striped one.”

“Then let’s get started.”

She had the kids put on their craft aprons, then poured water into plastic bowls for cleaning brushes between colors. By the time they finished, they each had four flowers drying on the counter and plenty of paint on their hands.

Cleanup went quickly. Elijah directed his siblings to scrub all the paint off their skin. Daphne promised they would glue on the photographs after dinner and put on the magnets in the morning, before they went back to their mom’s. They raced outside to play soccer in the backyard—a good way to burn off energy after sitting for so long.

She’d just finished wiping down the kitchen table when Brody walked in.

They stared at each other without speaking. Sadness gripped her as she acknowledged that their easy conversation had been lost over the past few weeks. Now silence was the norm.

“The kids painted the magnets,” she said, pointing to the drying flowers.

“They did a good job. You were patient with them.”

“I like when we all do crafts together.”

“This was a fun project for them. You’ve always been good at that kind of thing.”

She shrugged. “My mom and I did all kinds of things when I was growing up.

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