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“No, that’s alright. You paint. I’ll color. I like that just as much. Besides.

I bought it for you.”

“But what are you going to do? Aren’t you bored here too?”

Christina laughed. “Not really. Unfortunately, adults have to work.

Yesterday was a long day making calls to people, which wasn’t very fun,

but it did make the time go fast. Today is going to be a lot more fun. I get to

draw things.” She pointed to her tablet, which was in the bag. “I can show

you, if you want.”

“Sure!”

Christina guided Chloe towards the back room. They could shut the

door there, cut down on noise, dust, and any dangers that were inherent

with construction. She’d gone too far yesterday. She really was worried

about a child being around dangerous equipment, but she realized that she

wasn’t being rational about it. Chloe did listen. She behaved and never left

the room. Christina had also kept a close eye on it, and between her check-

ins with Taylor, there was absolutely nothing that could have happened.

Taylor took Chloe out for a walk when she had time, the two had lunch

together, then they went back to doing the regular check-ins while Chloe

had a nap.

Christina had no idea how someone could sleep through all the noise in

the place, but she realized that with the door closed, the room was quite

soundproof.

She spread out the paint book and poured some water from her water

bottle into the plastic cup she’d brought. Chloe had to paint on the floor,

since there wasn’t a table, but she didn’t look like she minded. The air

mattress, pillows, and blanket were still there from the day before. Chloe sat

on the edge of the mattress. Christina got out one of the coloring books and

sat down beside her. She hadn’t picked up a crayon in years but found a

strange satisfaction in taking out a crisp new one from the box.

Chloe painted silently, taking care not to ruin the paints by mixing