Page 43 of Damon

She wasn’t sure if Elias would go out with them or not, but she suspected he would.

“Okay,” he said, “but there are ground rules.”

“Of course,” Suzette said in a voice Olivia recognized as overly agreeable. One of the benefits of being nearly blind was that she could pick up on other details better than most. She barely knew Suzette, but she did know exaggerated compliance when she heard it.

Olivia fought the urge to giggle. She had to lower her face to hide her expression. She definitely hadn’t mastered the art of the poker face.

Elias cleared his throat. “Not one foot off the deck, understood.”

“Yes, Sir,” they all said in unison.

“If someone needs to use the bathroom, you all have to come in together, so you better use the potty now before we go out.”

“Okay,” Suzette agreed.

There was a long silence. Olivia suspected Elias was staring at the three of them, trying to come up with more rules. Finally he sighed. “Fine. I’ll fix drinks and snacks while you three go potty.”

Suzette grabbed Olivia’s hand. “Yes, Sir.” She led her back down the hall, and they all entered the bathroom together.

Jezebel immediately started giggling.

So did Suzette. “I hope you’re not mad that we’re being naughty.”

Olivia smiled and shook her head. “Not at all. I’ve been here like ten minutes, and already it’s the most fun I’ve ever had.”

“We are so totally going to get into trouble,” Jezebel whispered conspiratorially. “When Daddy finds out we hoodwinked Elias into letting us go outside…”

Olivia couldn’t help but cover her mouth and giggle with them.

“Does anyone need to use the toilet?” Suzette asked.

Olivia shook her head. “I went right before we left the house.”

“Me, too,” Jezebel added, “but I do think we should drink all the juice he gives us so that it becomes a problem in about half an hour.”

“It’s a plan,” Suzette agreed. She squeezed Olivia’s hand. “The two of us get kind of naughty when we’re together. I apologize in advance if you end up getting your bottom spanked when the Daddies get back.”

Olivia’s face heated, and she licked her lips. “I guess I’m not the only one who secretly likes getting spanked.”

“Definitely not,” Jezebel informed her. “I think it’s in our DNA or something. My day never feels complete if I haven’t been face down over Daddy’s lap at least once getting my naked bottom swatted.” Another giggle.

Olivia knew she was going to love these women to pieces.

“Here?” Olivia asked.

“Another inch to the right,” Suzette said. “Yes there.”

Olivia had presumably painted the stems for a bouquet of flowers on the bottom half of the paper. Suzette had set a small rock at the top of each stem to use as a guide for Olivia to start the flowers.

“Blue?” she asked, holding her brush out to where she thought she remembered they’d told her the blue paint was. She had six jars of paint in front of her. Each was sitting on a different slat of the picnic table wood.

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. She repeated the order in her head. The colors of the rainbow. Left to right. It was a great system.

“Yep,” Jezebel responded, “and can I just say your stems look much better than mine. I’m never going to be an artist.”

Olivia giggled. “That can’t be true. Are my leaves anywhere near the stems?”

Suzette spoke next. “Yes. They’re perfect. I can’t believe you’ve never done this before.”