The play area was a little bigger than I was comfortable with, but now that the kids were older, I felt a bit better about everyone keeping an eye on each other. Theo was my main concern, since he was smaller and had an infuriating affinity for talking to strangers. He stood off near the small merry-go-round now, watching as kids took turns propelling it forward.
Penn sat at my side on one of the benches, munching on a mini bag of Cheetos I’d packed. “We didn’t have to come all the way to Biscayne Park,” she said with hermouth full. “We could’ve gone to our park. There’s an ice cream shop a few blocks away.”
I had my sketchbook open and propped on my bent leg, working on a new sketch.Notof Kit-slash-Jamie, but on a drawing of the playground, sans kids. The castle structure of one of the towers was all hard lines softened in the sun, and I tried to capture that essence. “They don’t have Superman ice cream,” I answered, lifting my gaze to do another scan. Ivy stood on the tallest wooden structure, waving her hand like she was a princess in a tower. “And more kids come to this playground. It’s more fun for them.”
Penn shook her Cheetos bag. “But it’d be easier for you.”
“For me? How so?”
“Less of a walk. I don’t know.” She scowled. “You do realize you’ll have to carry Theo on the way home, right? Sun, play,andsugar? It’ll knock him right out.”
“Look at you.” I smirked down at my sketchbook. “You sound like a little mom.”
I sketched a few more lines, glancing up for another reference of the tower. As I looked, I did another quick scan. It took me a few seconds to spot Junie, but she was on the swing set, twisting round and round until the metal chains cinched together. Then, she let go, and her hair flung out as she twirled.
“I’m glad you didn’t stop drawing,” Penn said suddenly.
I jolted a little. “What? Why would I have?”
Penn popped another Cheeto into her mouth,speaking around the crunch. “I was afraid you’d get all depressy and say, ‘Oh, NYU doesn’t want me, I’ll never draw again.’”
Her words hurt, but in a bruise-like way. Maybe because it wasn’t like the thoughthadn’tcrossed my mind. That first week after getting the waitlist decision, I hadn’t picked my sketchbook up once. The thought of drawing had made me sick. Like an imposter.
I could remember sitting in the cafeteria, right hand holding my sandwich, left hand idle. I’d normally sketch and eat at the same time. Not then. At that time, my left hand had twitched, empty and useless.
Then Jamie had pushed a piece of paper in front of me.Draw an octopus wearing glasses for me. With one arm chopped off.
So I’d drawn a seven-armed octopus wearing glasses on a torn piece of a homework worksheet. And that mindless, lame drawing had jump-started me like a car.
“I’d go crazy if I didn’t draw. Speaking of.” I flipped the pages of my sketchbook. Penn might not have been the most sensitive person to show my art to—her criticism had no constructive qualities to it—but I at least knew she’d be impartial. I flipped to the drawing of Kit from Wednesday night, except I’d erased his glasses. “Does this look like anyone to you?”
Penn’s eyes flicked down to the page. She barely scanned it. “The lame character you always draw.”
I briefly imagined smacking her. “Anyone else?”
“Who do you want me to say?” She seemed to give itmore thought, a corner of her lips turning down in concentration. “Tanner Hagen?”
“Huh? Who?”
Penn rolled her eyes. “Sorry. I forgot you’re old. Harry Styles?”
Now I actually did smack her. “Forget it.” I flipped back to my playground page, bitterly sketching more lines that were way too dark.Harry Styles. This doesn’t even look like Harry Styles. Psh.
“Wow, crazy running into you here.”
Both Penn and I jumped at the sudden voice. I craned around, finding Dalton standing by our bench. He had on a pair of khaki shorts and a loose ASU tank top that exposed his tan skin and muscular arms. The sun backlit his warm brown hair, giving it an almost golden glow and making my heart hiccup in my chest.
“What are you doing here?” Penn demanded coldly, which made my brows shoot up. Sure, she copped an attitude with the kids and me sometimes, but I’d never heard her talk to someone else like that.
Dalton just smiled. “In our angsty teen phase, huh?” he asked, even going as far as to try to ruffle her hair. She ducked away before he could touch her. “It was Tony’s last day, too. He wanted to come to the park.”
I turned back to the playground, looking for Dalton’s little brother. He was the same age as Junie, and I hadn’t seen him since the breakup.
Penn suddenly crumpled her bag of Cheetos and stood. “I’m going to go check on Theo,” she said to me,shooting Dalton a not-so-discreet death glare before walking away.
Dalton inhaled through his teeth. “Yikes. I thought she liked me.”
I nearly saidI thought she did toobefore it hit me. “That was before you dumped me.”
