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I look at Lucy, who’s wearing a huge smile. She loves these events and can spend hours walking through all the booths.
“You ready to go paint?” I ask her.
“Yes!” She bounces on her feet. “Are we painting the sunset and trees?”
“Yep. That’s the one you liked the best, and I think it will be an easy one to teach.”
A light breeze passes over us, and I close my eyes, breathing in the fresh air. May is coming to a close, and while it’s not too hot, the sky is clear, and the sun is bright. It’s a beautiful day, but I’m glad the event coordinator could secure a covered area for the classes. It will make it more comfortable for everyone.
“You guys go have fun.” Jayla surveys the area before she turns her smile to me. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. I’ve helped you enough at these things that I can almost pretend to be you.”
I snort. “You’ll have to work on your frown more to pass as me.”
“Or …” She nudges my arm. “You could work on your smile and be less grumpy.”
“Never gonna happen,” I say in a low, grumbly voice. I give her a wave before I pick up the tote full of art supplies. “I’m heading over. Come on, Luce. Let’s go have some fun.”
We make it to the pavilion at the same time as Sharon, the event coordinator. She’s setting out paperwork and a case of water bottles at the end of one of the tables.
“Hey, Lina. We’ve got a full house for you. Every slot is filled in both classes,” she says with a huge grin.
I can’t hide my smile at this news. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a class like this, especially at twenty dollars a pop. That’s not a lot for a one-hour class that includes all the supplies, but I can never tell with these small-town people. It’s not like any of us are swimming in cash.
“That’s great, especially for the first year.”
“I have a feeling the community is going to ask for more of these. I had to turn people away.”
“Really?” I look at her with wide eyes. “And here I thought we’d struggle to fill half the class.”
“You underestimate how well known your skill is, Lina. You’re a local artist. Everyone who loves art, and even a lot that don’t, knows who you are. Parents jumped at the chance for you to teach their kids.”
My frown deepens. I’d never thought about whether people knew who I was. I’ve been doing these street fairs for years. Some of my artwork is even hanging in local businesses. But to know me by name? That’s mind boggling to me. I’m nobody.
“Aunt Lina, can I set up the stations?” Lucy asks, dragging me back to reality.
“Aunt?” Sharon asks. “I didn’t know you had a niece.”
“Well, not by blood. This is Lucy. She’s my best friend’s daughter.”
Sharon turns her smile to Lucy. “Are you an artist the same as your aunt?”
“Yep. I wanna grow up and be just like Aunt Lina.”
Her words send a chill through me. I’m glad she loves art, but the last thing I want for anyone is for them to grow up and be just like me.
“Well, Lina is a great role model. You couldn’t have picked a better person to want to be like.”
I visibly cringe at Sharon’s words. She notices and laughs it off. “Looks like we’re making your aunt uncomfortable with all this praise.”
Lucy rolls her eyes. “She’s always like that.”
Before either of them can say anything else, a voice calls out over a walkie talkie on the table. Sharon lets out an audible sigh. “That’s my cue to leave. Grab one of the staffers to hunt me down if you need anything.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Sharon takes off to deal with whatever emergency she was called to away for, while Lucy and I set up the table.
I’ve done a lot of prep work to save time. The watercolor paper is already taped to a board, and I made up small palettes of paint with each color they’re going to use. All we really have to do is set everything out and wait.