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“I did the other day. Do you want to see the picture I’m going to use?” Josie asked them both.
Carter nodded and Avery said, “Yes.”
Josie ran to her room and came back down with a piece of paper in her hand that she lifted for both of them to see.
He wasn’t surprised to see a drawing of Dopey and Doc sitting side by side like they always did when they wanted a treat. This time Betty was in front of them sitting the same. He hadn’t been aware of the three of them doing that for a picture.
“Did you draw Betty in there?” Avery asked, laughing.
“I did,” Josie said. “Laine says it’s creative license.”
“Oh,” Avery said. “It really is. I can’t wait to see it when it’s done.”
“Can I go start to draw it now on the wall as Laine taught me to outline? It’s going to take me a long time, but I need to make it bigger than they are in real life and make sure they are...what’s the word?”
“Proportionate,” she said. “Hang on a minute.”
Avery left him and Josie in the living room and went to her room. He wasn’t sure what she was doing. Then she came back with a box in her hand.
“Oh my God,” Josie squealed. “It’s the projector I wanted.”
“Consider it an early Christmas gift,” she said. “That is what it’s supposed to be. I guess one week early isn’t that bad. I know you, you’ll be upset if you start to draw that and then open this up.”
Josie ran to her and gave her a big hug. Avery picked the girl up and gave her a kiss at the same time, then put her down.
“What’s that going to do?” Carter asked.
“I can put this picture on the projector and then it enlarges the size evenly and then I can trace it on the wall. I don’t consider that cheating since I drew the picture first. And this will make it perfect.”
“No,” he said. “That isn’t cheating. Plus you’ll have to paint it anyway.”
“That’s right. But now that I’ve got this, I’m going to draw an outline without the colors and then use that to make it cleaner for the projector. Will you set it up for me, Carter?”
“Of course,” he said.
“I can do it,” Avery argued.
“But you said you were going to make me sugar cookies to decorate today. You can start that,” Josie said.
He looked back and forth between the two of them and knew not to overstep himself.
Avery sighed. “If you don’t mind, Carter, that would be very helpful.”
“I know the perfect spot for it,” Josie said. “I’m going to make room for it now.”
Josie left the room. “That was hard for you to say, wasn’t it?” he asked her.
“It was, but I’m telling myself that it’s not a bad thing to accept help.”
“No,” he said. “Why is it so hard for you?”
“It’s a long story. It goes back to my father that isn’t in my life now. Or I haven’t talked to him much. He never helped my mother at all.”
“You said that before.”
“That’s right. I’ve watched my mother do it all and told myself that I can do the same. It’s not much more than that.”
“But you don’t need to do it all. Colleen did, didn’t she?”
