Rough Heart | ethan dolan

[forty one - first time in a long time]

After about an hour, I say goodbye to Ethan despite his efforts to try and get me to spend the night, and walk down the familiar large stairs of the mansion.

As I walk down, I hear Anne and Robert out on the back patio and decide to walk out and tell them I'm leaving.

As I approach the back door, I glance through the glass window on top of the door to see Anne laughing with a paint brush in her left hand, Roberts hand in the other. Robert sits obediently in a chair next to Anne's large canvas, and I smile as I watch him laugh along with her. I suppose that Anne is painting some type of portrait of Robert.

I slowly creak the door open and wave at them.

"Hey, I was just on my way out."

Anne turns around and smiles widely, placing her paintbrush on the side table next to Robert.

She is wearing her usual bandana around her head, which only she could pull off. It looks great on her.

"Oh, well, I was just painting a picture of Robert! Come check it out," she suggests, waving me over.

I smile at the both of them and don't hesitate to trot over to their little paint setup.

I gasp when Anne's painting comes into my full view. The amount of detail and precision of each stroke of Anne's paint brush on the canvas is absolutely amazing. It looks exactly like Robert.

Anne notices my face and chuckles.

"Do you like it?"

I remain speechless for a second, walking closer to the painting to glance at it a bit harder before responding.

"Anne, that's incredible. It looks just like him!"

"Oh, please, let me see it already!" Robert nags Anne.

"No, I already told you. You have to wait until I'm completely finished!" Anne replies, hitting the top of Robert's thigh playfully.

Robert jokingly rolls his eyes and straightens his posture to continue posing for the portrait.

I giggle at their interaction.

"It's seriously really good. I don't know how you do it," I continue to give Anne the praise her talent deserves.

Anne's cheeks turn a bright red, and she closes her eyes for a brief moment to take a breath.

"Thank you, Jessica. You're too sweet."

I continue to gawk at her painting. It's almost as amazing as the large one in the front room of the roses on the table. That painting is for sure my favorite.

"Anne told me that you used to paint with your mom," Robert kindly makes conversation.

"Yeah, I did, actually. We used to paint a lot, but we haven't in a long time." I smile at the memories of my mom and I.

Anne's face seems to light up, and she immediately rises from her seat in front of her canvas and rushes over to the side of the porch.

I can't help but laugh when she picks up another blank canvas in her right hand, and excitedly rushes back over to me.

"Why not start again?" Anne smiles.

"Oh, I don't want to intrude-" I say, although I would love nothing more than to pick up a paintbrush.

"No, no," Anne and Robert say at the same time, "please! I didn't buy all of these paints for nothing. I would love for you to join me. Only if you want to, of course." Anne finishes.