Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(138)

I walked on eggshells when I was near her, trying to not freak the stressed woman out. And it didn’t take much to stress her out. I didn’t entirely blame her for that, her situation was scary and daunting, plus she was being flooded with mood-altering hormones on a daily basis, but I did snap at her to back off when she rudely snarked at me that the smell of coffee made her want to hurl, and I needed to stop bringing it into the house.

She cried when I barked my response at her and I instantly felt bad and stopped making coffee in the mornings. I guess I could suffer 387



through a few days of caffeine withdrawal to help her. Especially if it helped to convince her that she could be a mom. And I knew she could.

Under all the carefree playfulness was a woman with a great well of love in her. She may not have found the right man to share it with yet, but I knew it was there.

I even invited her to another one of Jenny’s six week long art courses.





Why I kept signing up with her, I still had no idea. Pity, I guess, since I still felt bad about the whole Boise trip.

Anna grudgingly came with me, sulking and moping the entire time as she sat beside me. Jenny raised an eyebrow at the woman who was generally bubbly and happy, but didn’t ask about it. Maybe she figured Griffin had been an ass to her. And…he definitely had, he just wasn’t aware of it yet.

Nobody was. Anna still wouldn’t let me tell anyone, not even Denny, and he’d noticed her mood right away. Probably because he’d come over to pick me up for a movie and Anna hadn’t given him a dirty look. She’d barely even glanced at him as she’d muttered, “Have a good time. One of us should…”

She was always saying things like that, like she’d just received word that she had a fatal disease and only had nine months to live. I told her repeatedly that she had a great support system and she could still have a life after a child, but I was pretty sure she didn’t believe me. She was still pregnant, though, seven weeks according to an online due date calendar.

I kept my fingers crossed that I’d be holding my niece or nephew by the end of November.

Looking a little green, Anna watched the teacher explain the object of today’s lesson. Anna groaned loudly, when she saw what is was. Today we were drawing people, and not just any people…today we were drawing children.

Rolling my eyes, I cursed fate and wished today had been an abstract day. Anna seemed to agree with me and partially stood from her stool, like she was going to leave.

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Her perfect pony tail swishing along her back, Kate tilted her head and asked Anna, “You alright? You look like you’re going to be ill.” Anna’s eyes widened, but she sat and picked up her pencil. As two cute-as-a-button ten-year-old kids sat down to be our models for the afternoon, Anna sighed and muttered, “I’m fine.” I took a second to at least thank fate for not having our model be a sleeping infant. I think that would have driven poor Anna over the edge.

Jenny was already busy working on her project when the rest of us finally started. I sighed, watching her flawlessly draw out the basic shape of a human head. Mine looked like Mr. Potato-Head. I still couldn’t quite get the hang of realism…and this was my umpteenth class.

Jenny smiled over at me when I sighed morosely. “You’ll get there, Kiera,” she said warmly, any trace of a fight lingering between us gone.

Jenny didn’t hold grudges for long, which was a good thing. Plus, she’d gone to see Evan while I’d been on break. She’d called to ask me to go to Texas with her and Rachel, but I’d had to stay with Anna, to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid while I was gone, and Anna did not want to see Griffin yet. Hating that I was missing out on spending a week with Kellan, I’d told Jenny that I couldn’t go. I don’t think Jenny understood why, but any resentment she’d had towards me had faded when she got back.

Sighing again, I erased part of the line I’d just drawn. “I don’t know why I keep coming to these classes with you. I’ll never be good at this.” Jenny laughed a little and I joined in with her. “I guess I’m trying to be well-rounded.”

Giggling, Jenny pointed at my misshapen person. “Well, I think you need the practice, cuz that looks oblong to me.” I smacked her on the shoulder, then watched, amazed, as she went back to her incredibly lifelike drawing. I was horrid at this, and Kate was okay, but Jenny…she was amazing.

By the end of the class, I had something that could possibly pass for a mammal. That beat my sister, though…she had a stick figure. Kate’s was 389



good, a little un-proportional, but good. Jenny’s took my breath away.

She’d decided to not draw the offered models. Well, maybe she had drawn them, but she’d chosen to draw them as babies.

I wasn’t sure if Jenny was just having an, I love my man and I want to have his kids someday moment, or if she’d maybe subconsciously picked up on something, but the infants she’d turned the models into were perfect. Almost real.

“Wow, Jenny…wow.” It was all I could think to say.

A scraping noise on the other side of me brought my attention back around to Anna. She’d scooted her chair away from her easel and was staring at Jenny’s picture with her jaw dropped. One hand was resting on her stomach as her eyes slowly glassed over.