It's Only Paint

Andrew

In the Maserati’s center console, my phone blared with an incoming call. Slowing down at a yellow light, I shot it a glance. Kyle.

Instinctively, I went to pick it up, then thought better of it, and silenced the phone instead. From the passenger’s seat, Raven watched me with interest.

“I’ve already left work for the day,” I explained.

She just turned to look back out the window. Kyle’s call went to voice mail. Whatever the issue, it couldn’t be that pressing. The matter of the missing twenty thousand in the Houghton Graham account had been resolved. I’d gone to work earlier than usual that morning, cutting my predawn laps in the swimming pool by half, so I could get more shit done and leave the office sooner.

There would be work to do later, but at that moment, I was right where I needed to be.

“I should have gotten tan instead of khaki,” Raven sighed.

“What? No. Khaki is a perfect base coat.”

“I don’t know,” she mumbled.

“Trust me.” I pulled into the edge of the drive an