paint it green

Lon loved the idea of painting the room.

"When we get this done, we should really think about painting our room," Lon said while he was helping her with the little room.

"Sure."

"You know, maybe we could bring Leia down some weekend. This could be her room." Lon nodded.

"I guess." Ellie smiled she liked that idea. She told him about how she thought Leia was improving. She was walking a little now. And she talked so much better than before. Ellie mentioned the purple hat she'd made her.

"You don't think she'll have a problem with green, do you?" Lon asked.

"I might have to make her a new hat." Ellie laughed.

Ellie asked about Charlie then. Had he called Charlie's grandmother to find out where Sarah was?

"No, I haven't." Lon shrugged. Maybe he didn't have the nerve to do it. Possibly, he had no business trying to find Sarah now. After all, he didn't want to start anything up with her. He just wanted to know about Charlie.

"He's not mine. I should leave it alone." He told Ellie. "But I can't help to think-" It made him teary eyed to think Charlie would never have a father at all. "I just remember wanting to know what he'd look like months from now, even years to come. That's all gone." He thought about how happy his father was that Sarah was out of the picture. It seemed all his Dad could think about was what a burden Charlie would have been. And now all Lon could see was what a burden he'd been to his own Dad. Yet, still, he didn't see having Charlie around would have been anything like that. He was this bundle of happiness that Lon had wanted to nurture.

Lon had to get back to painting. He didn't want to think about what could have been because it wasn't. He resented the fact that his Dad had made sure of it. As he painted the walls the cool green, Lon knew he wasn't going back to Texas.