Obsessed With You by Jennifer Ransom Read Free Book Online

to
do the cutting in,” Neil said. “Got a stool?”
    Cathy retrieved a stool from the
pantry. Neil poured the Sandy Shores paint into a plastic container
and stood on the stool. He could reach the ceiling with ease.
    “ Now, a lot of people believe
in taping everything off,” he said. “But with this angled brush,
you can just pull the paint along and keep it in a straight line.”
He pulled the sand-colored paint along at the edge of the ceiling. It
stood in stark contrast to the dingy white walls. She couldn’t wait
to get those walls all covered in paint.
    Neil moved along with the brush,
scooting the stool down when necessary. He reached the first corner
and turned to her. “Wanna try?”
    Cathy pulled her dark hair back
with a clip. Neil handed her the brush and pail and she stood on the
stool. She couldn’t reach far enough.
    “ Looks like you need a ladder,”
Neil said with a laugh. “I’ve got one out in the truck, but why
don’t you let me finish cutting in for you? It’ll be a lot
quicker. You can roll.”
    Cathy didn’t argue with him. In
what seemed like just a few minutes, Neil had gone around the
perimeter of the room and around the doors and windows before he
started over with a second coat. He poured some paint into the pan
and showed her how to load the roller. He rolled the paint onto the
slats horizontally.
    “ Normally, I’d be all over
the wall with the roller, but these slats force us to go sideways.”
He handed her the roller and she loaded it up. It dripped onto the
drop cloth as she moved it to the wall.
    “ Got a little too much on the
roller,” he said.
    She returned it to the pan and
rolled it some more to squeeze the extra paint out. Then she started
on the wall. It was cumbersome work, at first, but she finally found
a rhythm with it. When she started the second wall, Neil ran the
brush between the slats on the first wall. After two coats, they
stepped back. The room was completely transformed into a cozy and
inviting space. The late afternoon sun glinted in places off the
semi-gloss paint.
    “ We’ve got time to do the
baseboard today if you want,” Neil said.
    Cathy got the can of cream paint
and handed it to Neil. He poured it into another plastic container
and dipped another angled brush into it. He expertly painted all of
the baseboards and doorframes without getting a drop of paint where
it shouldn’t go.
    “ You might want to use tape
when you do that, if it makes you more comfortable. And you’ll want
to tape the windows, I guess.”
    “ I guess you don’t have to
tape them,” she said.
    “ I don’t use tape much,”
Neil said. “But I’m an expert.”
    She laughed. “I don’t know
how to thank you, but I can offer you a beer.”
    He followed her into the kitchen,
giving a low whistle when he entered the room. “This is a real
vintage kitchen,” he said. “Don’t see ‘em too much anymore.”
    He ran his hand along the red
Formica countertops. “This stuff’s still in good shape. Are you
going to keep it?”
    “ Definitely,” she said. “I
have a lot of good memories of making cookies with my mother on those
counters.”
    “ The cabinets look like they’re
in good shape, except they need a paint job, of course.”
    “ I’m going to paint them
cream,” she said. “And the walls that blue color. Then I was
thinking of replacing the hardware with some of those glass knobs,
maybe green ones.”
    She handed him a beer and they
went out to the pier. The sun was setting now in the November sky. It
would be Thanksgiving soon. She recalled last year’s Thanksgiving
when she had worked all day to make turkey and dressing and several
side dishes. Aaron told her it was better than his mother’s, and
that was saying a lot.
    Cathy blinked her tears away,
hoping that Neil didn’t notice. If he did, he didn’t say
anything.
    “ Do you ever fish out here?”
he asked.
    “ I used to, but not for years
now.”
    “ Lindy would love it out here,”
he