Spring
One step, one step.”
“I swear to God, Grayson, it’s enough that you bought me a new camera. But if you got me a new car, I’ll kick your ass.”
“You love my ass, darling. Why would you want to harm it?”
Sigh.
Insufferable man.
The love of my life is currently leading me blindfolded from the main house to his studio. He’s forbidden me from going into his studio for the past two months because he didn’t want me to see what he was working on. He even put a sign on the door in huge capital letters:
KEEP OUT! THIS MEANS YOU, MY BEAUTY!
He stops at the door, taking my hand to brush it against the wood. “Feel something?”
I grin. “The sign is missing. You’re done?”
“Yes. Just a few more steps.”
I hear the door open and sense the cool of the wide space when we walk through together.
“Don’t look!” he warns me.
“Whatever,” I pout.
“I think we need to get rid of that word from your vocabulary. I find it quite tiresome.”
“Fine. Just hurry up, will you, sexy man?”
“Now that term of endearment I think you should keep,” I hear him reply from across the room, which means he’s standing somewhere near his sculpture.
“Count on it. Are you nearly done?”
Without warning, his hand lands on my shoulder, causing me to jump from surprise. He angles my body in a certain direction, probably so I don’t miss anything. “Yes. Ready? One…two…three.”
When he unties the scarf, I blink a few times to adjust my eyes, and that’s when I see it.
Myself. In hardened clay.
I gasp in shock. “Grayson…”
“What do you think?” he asks, his voice shaky.
I step closer to the sculpture. “May I touch it?”
I look back at him. He nods silently.
My doppelgänger looks straight ahead, a grin encompassing her entire face. She’s dressed in a long flowing gown. Her hair cascades down her shoulders. She’s holding a bouquet of roses to her chest. She looks so beautiful. So happy.
I can’t move and I can’t look away.
Grayson comes up behind me and presses his hands to my shoulders.
“Is this how you see me?” I whisper.
He rubs his thumbs across my shoulder blades. “May I confess something to you?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t even realize it was you until two months ago. That’s why I put the sign on the door. You were always in my head and my heart, and it just carried over into my work.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t move,” he orders as he steps away and pulls off the rest of the tarp from the bottom. I spot his signature, familiar to me as ever, but then I see two words written to the right:
MY BEAUTY
“That’s what I’m naming the piece. It’s for you, Lily. For my beauty.”
I start shaking as I rush to him and yank him into my arms. I can feel his heart pounding against me, his body shivering just as much as mine is. I gulp down the sobs that I can’t stop.
“You still didn’t tell me if you liked it or not, darling. An artist needs positive reinforcement now and then, you know.”
I look up into his brown eyes, soft with emotion.
“I adore it, Grayson.”
“Thank God.”
His body vibrates with laughter against my own.
I reach up to wipe the moisture from his eyes. “I want to take you somewhere now.”
“I’ll go anywhere with you, Lily Moore.”
“My sanctuary.”
* * *
Grayson
As much as I love my beauty, she drives like a maniac, which makes me want to obtain my own driver’s license as soon as humanly possible.
“It’s only because you don’t like being driven around by a woman, Mr. Alpha Male.”
I shake my head. “Nonsense.”
“Yeah, right. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.”
And I do. I love seeing the river, the town. I’m slowly coming back to life thanks to Lily’s gentle guiding hand.
We pull into the Ashby College visitor parking lot. I cringe at the squeaking sounds of her car doors opening and closing.
I’m definitely buying her a new car. She can protest until she’s blue in the face, but I want my beauty safe, in a car built in this century.
We take each other’s hands and walk across campus.
I stop a few yards from The Lovers. My breath is taken away by the size of it. It’s so imposing, yet so personal.
Lily nudges me forward, leading me to a bench nearby.
We don’t speak for a few minutes, just to absorb the enormity of this moment.
“When I came here,” she whispers, “I used to wonder about you, what you were like. If you were the one who needed that human connection. It was as if I could look into your soul.”
I wrap my arm around her shoulders. “It’s as if we already knew each other, because when I made this, I felt so alone, and all I wanted was that one connection with another human being who wouldn’t run away knowing what I was truly like, both inside and out.”
She snuggles into my shoulder. “This actually brought us together. Well, that and a house that needed a decent cleaning.”
I lean down and kiss her soft hair. “Indeed.”
Suddenly she jumps from the bench, tugging me with her. She walks me closer to the sculpture. “My turn to say ‘don’t move.’”
“Whatever,” I mock in reply.
She begins to search for something in her purse. “I think I’ve become a bad influence on you.”
“Never. What on earth are you looking for?”
“Aha!”
Lily pulls out her cell phone, dropping her purse to the ground. She leans in closer to me. “Lean down.”
She turns the phone toward our faces, hits a few buttons, and then we miraculously appear on the screen.
“What are you doing, darling?”
“We’re taking our first selfie,” she proudly announces.
I do as she asks, then she clicks a button a few times. When she shows me the results, I’m astonished.
“I want that photo on every wall in my house.”
“Better yet, we need to get you a smartphone so I can send it to you.”
“What kind of phone?”
She takes my face and kisses me sweetly. “Don’t worry, Grayson. I’ll teach you everything. I’m not going anywhere.”
I pull her to me, holding her tight. She instantly wraps her arms around me, settling her head into my chest as I kiss her silky blond hair. “Thank God for that, my beauty.”