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“Uh huh. It wasn’t any good. Most of it was just stick figures and childlike drawings of butterflies and dragons that looked more like blobs. But at the end of it, I was so proud.”
“Were you sad when they painted over it?”
“What makes you think that they did?” Zach asked, grinning. “When I got older, I told them that I wanted to paint my room. They wouldn’t let me. Instead, they had me switch rooms entirely. The room that I had been in and painted became the new guest room, and I took over the much less childish other room. The paintings on the walls are still there to this day.”
Colette smiled at him. “That’s incredibly sweet.”
“Isn’t it?” He nudged her shoulder with his own, an easy, affectionate gesture, and the last bit of Colette’s melancholy left her.
An idea struck her, and she immediately pushed herself to her feet. Zach watched her with open curiosity as she bent to set down her mug of cider, turned off the heater, and placed her blanket on the chair.
“Wanna see something?” she asked, still grinning.
“Sure. What is it?” Zach’s brow was furrowed in a question, but Colette just shook her head.
“You’ll see. Come on.” She waved her hand, motioning for him to follow her as she walked off the porch and down into the yard.
After only the briefest pause, Zach followed after her. She could hear the faint crunch of his footsteps across the snow. His stride was longer than hers, and she could hear it as he got closer to her with each step that they took toward the main house. By the time they reached the front porch of the large building, he was right on her heels, and she tried not to get distracted by his proximity.
“It’s unlocked,” he said as they reached the door, and she nodded as she reached forward to push the door open and head inside.
“Seriously, where exactly are you taking me?” Zach asked, kicking off his boots at the door and following after Colette.
The old wooden stairs creaked under their weight, and she threw a look over her shoulder and smiled at him.
“The attic.” She waggled her eyebrows at him, and he laughed. “Have you been up here yet?”
“No. I haven’t really had a reason to.”
Colette nodded as they reached the door that led to the attic stairs. She pulled it open, her heart suddenly pounding with nerves. The attic was where she had stored everything from Emma that she wanted to keep, and she hadn’t shared this space with anyone.
There was a half wall at the top of the stairs blocking the contents of the attic from their view. Colette blew out a final anticipatory breath before she stepped off the top stair and onto the landing. Zach’s sharp intake of breath at what he saw before him had her smiling softly to herself.
Pressed up against the walls—some up there for so much time that they had long since begun to gather dust, others only added after Emma’s passing—were paintings. Emma had been quite the collector. Local artists, artists who were well known, it was all the same to her. Just as long as the content of the painting made herfeel.
Zach took a few steps farther into the room, getting close enough to crouch in front of a few paintings as he began studying them intently.
“May I?” he asked, reaching out a hand so that it hovered in front of the first painting in the row.
“Go ahead.” She nodded, and he began moving the paintings around, getting a better view of the ones in the back.
Colette stood in the background, watching as he made appreciativeoohsandahhswith each new painting he came across, rattling off names of artists that she hadn’t heard of but whom he seemed to be well familiar with. She could tell which ones he found particularly moving by the sounds he made and the way his eyes lit up as they roved over the canvases. She had never seen anyone look at something with such appreciation and such passion before.
She had found Zach handsome before. But now? The way excitement danced over his features and untold emotions flashed in the depths of his bright green eyes transformed him in a way that made her heart flutter.
Colette had no idea how long she stood like that, watching him with a smile on her face. She felt as if she could watch him for hours, just like that, overcome by the excitement of all of the art in the attic room.
Zach glanced over his shoulder at her after a while, and her cheeks flushed warmly from being caught observing him.
“Sorry,” he said with a sheepish grin, pushing himself up to standing and walking toward her. “I nerd out a little about this kind of stuff sometimes.”
He gestured at the paintings around them, but she shook her head, dismissing his apologies.
“Don’t be sorry. I like that about you. It’s nice, seeing someone this excited over something.”
He ran his hands through his hair, mussing it slightly, and Colette laughed when a stray lock fell over his forehead.
“What?” He tipped his head to one side, making another clump of auburn hair fall across his forehead.
