“Are you a wind chime girl, Skyler?” I asked.
He smiled. “You know it.”
“How is your project going, Paisley?” Olivia asked.
She took out her phone and snapped a picture of a scraggly plant growing out of the rocks. “It’s practically writing itself.”
“I hope that’s not how much effort you’ve put into it. This is so you don’t have to retake a class next year,” Olivia said. “This shouldn’t be a hard assignment. Look at this place.” She smiled up at the strip of sky above us. Her smile was contagious and I found myself drinking in our surroundings as well.
“Look at this place!” Paisley said in a playful mocking tone. “It’s like Mother Nature was trying to show off!”
Olivia’s eyebrows popped up. “Later, I want to look over what you’ve been working on.”
“Ugh, Mom, please, don’t helicopter me. I’m getting itdone.”
Skyler smirked at her and Paisley shot him a look that said,Don’t you dare contradict me.
And that’s how Skyler, Paisley, and I ended up sitting at the table that night in the RV, huddled over her project as Ezra pulled onto the road out of Zion.
“This is all you have?” Skyler asked, scrolling through the pics on her phone. “Mom will hover the rest of the trip if this is all you show her.”
“I also have this,” she said, holding up a badly drawn lizard. She pointed at Skyler. “Unless you want to draw it for me, shutup.”
“I said nothing.” He put her phone down. “Fine, it’s terrible. Hand it over.”
She slid the book across the table to him, along with a pencil.
“Have you written anything for the pictures you took?” I asked. “That would help.”
“I figured I’d google some facts about them later.”
“You’re such a procrastinator,” Skyler said.
“That’s how creatives work best,” she said. “By waiting until the adrenaline sets in.”
His pencil moved over the lines she had already drawn as if just his bit of added graphite would magically fix it. And it was working. His smooth strokes and steady hand were making it look like an actual lizard. And seeing Skyler drawing again was doing something to my chest, making it tight or expanding it or something. His eyes flicked to mine for a moment as if he knew I was staring. I looked away.
Paisley put the back of her hand to her forehead. “Who knew saving a damsel in distress is what would reignite your drawing flame. When’s the last time you held a pencil, dearest brother?”
“This is why you ace drama and fail science,” he said.
“Thisis why? Wow, another mystery in my life solved.”
I laughed.
“Are you going to help or just laugh?” Skyler asked.
I bumped his elbow, sending a line across the middle of his drawing. “Oops,” I said.
“You did not,” he said.
Paisley found this hilarious.
“I took a few pics you can use,” I said to her. “And of course I’ll draw you a few as well.”
“You’ve both given up on my drawing skills so fast.”
“No, it’s not—” I started.