The way he said it made Brody sound more like a boyfriend than a boss, and my cheeks heated. “Me, too.”
“You guys should come into town and hang out. You know Caelyn and the crew would always love to have you over for family dinner.”
I knew he was right. Caelyn had extended the invitation more than once, but I couldn’t say yes. For so many reasons—no matter how much I wanted to. “Thanks. I appreciate that. You should tell Brody, too.”
“I will. Have a good rest of your day.” He reached out as if to give my shoulder a quick squeeze and then stopped himself, turning it into some sort of wave.
It was the perfect metaphor for every pseudo-relationship I had at the moment. Awkward and unsure. If I couldn’t truly let anyone in, that would always be the case. And how sad and lonely was that?
10
Brody
The doorbell rang, abruptly cutting through the quiet of my makeshift studio. I’d always preferred to work without music, the only soundtrack to my work the noises of the city around me. I’d swapped honking and loud voices for wind, sea, and birds. It showed in my work. The images were slightly softer somehow.
I took one last look at the painting in front of me before shucking my mask and gloves and heading for the front door. I pulled it open to find Hunter and someone I hadn’t expected.
“Lara? What are you doing here?”
Hunter scowled at my petite art dealer. “She said she knew you, but I wasn’t about to let someone I didn’t know traipse all over the island.”
I swallowed a chuckle at the indignant look on Lara’s face. Not a lot of people told her no. “She’s fine, but I appreciate you keeping an eye out.” Everything on Harbor was unlocked for the most part. I hadn’t considered how anyone with a boat could simply come ashore. I needed to think about a security system.
“Brody. Is this really how you greet your closest friend?”
My gaze snapped back to Lara, and I bent to give her a kiss on each cheek. “You know Carson’s my closest friend.”
She huffed as she pushed inside. “He’s barely human, so he doesn’t count.”
I chuckled and gave Hunter a wave as I closed the door. “What the hell are you doing here, Lara? It’s not like this is a day trip from the City.”
Lara clasped her hands in front of her as she surveyed the downstairs of my house. “Did you really think you could tell me that you’re not sure you’ll ever show again and I wouldn’t have something to say on the matter?”
I let my eyes fall closed for a moment, hoping I might open them, and she would simply be gone. I knew it had been too easy. I hadn’t heard a word from Lara since our video call. I’d thought I was off the hook, but I should’ve known that she was simply getting her ducks in a row for an ambush. “There’s nothing to say. I need time. Space. And I need you to give it to me.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I let you move across the country. That isn’t space enough?”
“Not when you show up at my door. Send emails asking when I’ll be sending pieces your way.” It stifled every creative flare. Made me feel as if I couldn’t breathe.
“I care about you, Brody. From the minute you started with our old crew, I knew you would be the one to go the distance. I’ve fought to make sure you were recognized. If you disappear off the face of the planet, you might not have an audience to come back to.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face, a hint of guilt squeezing in. “Then so be it. Better that than being miserable.” I had enough money to live comfortably for the rest of my life. I wouldn’t be buying private jets and houses around the world, but I could live here on my island without worry. And no matter what Lara said, I knew there would always be at least a handful of collectors still interested in my pieces. Whenever I was ready.
Lara stepped closer to me, gripping my arms. “You have too much talent to throw it away. They caught him. Mosely will rot in a cell for the rest of his life. His actions are on him, and him alone. You need to release that guilt.”
I shrugged out of her hold. The people in my life could tell me time and again, but it wasn’t their creations that a madman had turned into his blueprint. “I don’t blame myself.” It was true, but I wasn’t ready to put any piece I had created out into the world either.
Lara sighed. “Fine. At least show me what you’re working on since I came all this way.”
I couldn’t resist the temptation. It was too much of a rush to talk art with Lara. We’d always had a dialogue that seemed to spur me forward in my process. I started towards the sunporch and inclined my head for her to follow. Despite the many false starts I’d had over the past few weeks, I thought I might be finding my way again. And that path meant exploring a lot of new expressions. Some of it was dark, but a lot more was peaceful. Serene. My new surroundings had made their way into my work.
A variety of canvases lined the wall, and Lara made a beeline for them. She didn’t utter a word as she studied them, only issuing the occasional hum or another obscure sound. In all the years we’d worked together, I never could figure out what those sounds meant.
Lara paused in front of the third landscape. A scene of my beach where the surf had risen and looked about ready to swallow a figure whole. “This one. It’s a mixture of the old and the new.” She glanced up at me. “Maybe this place isn’t so bad for you, after all.”
“I told you.”
She looked back to the landscape. “I can sell this.”
“Not so fast.”
“Brody. Let me keep your career alive. I’m not asking you to have a show or do interviews. Just give me a few pieces to slowly dole out over the next year. It will keep collectors’ interests piqued. It might even work to our advantage. Limited supply. Then you can come back with a big splash when you’re ready.”
I was silent for a moment, taking in her offer. A year of freedom for a few paintings. And I owed Lara something. She’d been with me forever, and my career was largely thanks to how fiercely she’d fought to secure opportunities for me. “You can take the landscapes. I’m not ready for anything else. And if you take them, that means you can’t ask for anything else for a year.”
Lara’s lips thinned but she nodded. “Fine. You have a deal.”
I grinned at her. “Was that so hard?”
“You’re my most difficult client.”
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “But you love me.”
She scoffed. “You’ll be the reason I meet an early grave. All the stress you put on—” Her words cut off as she slipped out from under my arm and strode towards the piece I’d just finished. It was another of Shay. I’d probably painted half a dozen in the last week alone. Apparently, I was a man possessed. “This, Brody. This is magnificent. The landscapes are good. Interesting. Compelling. But this is transcendent.”
I followed her to the canvas. This one was of Shay in the greenhouse, the way she’d frozen when I asked her to sit for me. Instead of growing from the soil, the plants in the space grew from her. The vines of her secrets and everything she kept hidden from the world. One branch exploded from her heart, winding around her neck and reaching into the air. Everything that she needed to let free but wouldn’t. “I’m still working on it.”