Ashes to Fire by Piper Collins

Author:Piper Collins [Collins, Piper]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-05-17T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

Jules

As predicted, Charlie had had too much wine at our impromptu girl’s night. She was currently upstairs sleeping off her hangover, according to Ryan after I inquired about my partner in crime.

Ryan and I were setting up the face painting table for the upcoming school when Colt showed up for his shift. Putting out his cigarette and flicking his pack of Camels on the dashboard, he exited his truck and walked over to us.

“Couldn’t help but overhear you’re stranded,” he said, smiling at me and giving Ryan a stiff nod. Turning his attention back to me, he said, “I can help you paint the kids’ faces. I was pretty good in art class.”

I could already tell Ryan was about to intervene, so I beat him to it. “That’d actually be a great help, thank you, Colt.” I ignored the daggers Ryan was throwing my way with his stare. He was going to have to lighten the hell up if we were all going to be working together for another few weeks.

I finished putting the rest of the paints out while Colt did a few quick sketches of basic patterns. He was decent at art and I told him as much.

“Thanks,” he said. “I perfected my skills drawing nudes,” he deadpanned.

“Oh,” I said, at a loss for words for once.

He chucked me on the arm. “Kidding,” he said laughing. “Had you going though, huh?”

“Ha, you sure did,” I mocked amusement, but turned my back and rolled my eyes.

The kids started rolling in around ten thirty, all carpooling in a handful of vehicles driven by the parents. Today would be a hell of a moneymaker.

“Ohhhh mom! I want to get my face painted!” I heard a kid say. Several others followed suit and both Colt and I had a small line formed within minutes.

Just as the first kid sat down, I felt a rain drop. The clouds had hung around, but they hadn’t seemed like the dark, ominous ones that brought rain.

I looked at Colt. “Should we move this under the concession tent?” I asked as another fat drop hit me on the forehead.

He looked to the sky, gauging if it would peter out in a few minutes. “I say we move it under cover—this may not last long, but it’ll be heavy to say the least.”

Together, he and I picked up the tables and scooted them under the tent where a family was getting their pumpkins weighed. The rain had come down steadily, even in the short amount of time it had taken us to relocate, and my hair was half plastered to my face.

“You’ve, uh…here, let me help you,” Colt said, reaching out and moving a chunk of hair that had taken up residence over my right eye.

“Uh, thanks,” I said, not really knowing what to say, especially with little ears around us.

“Welcome,” he said in a friendly tone, his hand lingering, before brushing my cheek with his thumb.

“So, kids!” I said excitedly, changing the subject and effectively telling Colt that Flirting 101 was over.

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