Inferno Part 2

~45~ Painting Disaster

Emma's POV

I'm at the gym, working with Jake. He's trying to help me with footwork.

"Keep it up, Emmy, and you're going to give your mom a run for her money" he jokes.

"Nah, I'm sure she will forever be able to kick my butt" I smirk as I try to get through his block.

"Well, you should probably act that way, but I wouldn't be so sure. You're getting pretty badass."

I roll my eyes. I'm not interested in being a badass. Kick-boxing just makes me feel good.

"How are you and Trace doing?" He asks as he does an uppercut to my gut, which I block. He shakes his head in both frustration and admiration.

"Good. He's starting on his Gen Ed classes in the fall.

"He still going into firefighting?"

"Yup" I say as I roll and dodge a jab.

"How you feel about that?" He asks, doing some fancy footwork, trying to get me in a corner.

I tuck and do my own footwork, getting out of the corner and back in the middle of the ring.

"It's fine. I mean, I wish he was doing a safer job, but I'm proud of him for wanting to do it."

He nods and we continue to kick-box in silence.

When we're done, he grabs me a Gatorade from behind the concession stand.

"I feel pretty privileged that I don't have to pay" I smirk as I take a big drink. I'm so thirsty.

He laughs. "If I can't afford to give my niece a Gatorade, then I'm definitely doing something wrong with my life."

"Ok, I've got to get out of here. I'm supposed to help mom with painting, and she's going to be annoyed if I'm not back soon."

"What's she painting?"

"The foyer...again. She gets so bored."

"I bet your dad is thrilled. Isn't this the fifth time she's painted it in the last ten years?" He laughs.

"Sixth time. Yeah, he isn't thrilled." I chuckle as I wave bye to him and leave.

When I get home, mom has already started.

"Momma, I told you I would help."

"I know you did, darling. I'm just getting a head start. I decided to do the living room too." She says, giving me a kiss.

I chuckle as I run upstairs to shower real quick. Dad is going to be super annoyed she is destroying the living room now.

I go downstairs and start working on cutting in with her.

About an hour in, she looks at what we have done and scrunches her face. "Emmy, do you like this color?" She asks, really studying it.

"It's beautiful"

I know her look. We're about to go to the hardware store and buy a different shade. This hour of work is for nothing, guarantee it.

She shakes her head and sighs. "No, it's not right. I should have went with this shade" she says, pointing to her swatch.

"It's going to drive me too crazy. Wanna come with me and get more paint?" She asks with a grin.

"Mom, what about all of this paint?"

She shrugs. "I'll give it to Wes. He's always painting something." She says as she puts her brush in the sink and grabs her keys.

"Mom, can I drive?" I ask. Her driving is getting even worse somehow. She rolls her eyes but silently hands me the keys.