Page 25 of Maggie

Chapter 9

Wylder

Wylder stared at the canvas on the easel in front of him. What struck his fancy today? Landscape? Abstract? Portrait? Animal? He’d previously prepared the surface in white paint. All he had to do now was decide what to paint.

A smile touched his lips when an image appeared in his mind. He dipped his brush into a dob of paint on the palate he held and stroked the first line across the canvas.

Hours passed as Wylder perched on a stool and worked in his home art studio. Bookshelves filled with his favorite books, pictures, and items he’d collected — such as rocks from places he’d visited, statues, and different artistic creations from friends — lined two of the walls. Many of his finished paintings displayed against the other walls — the paintings he hadn’t taken downstairs to sell in his tattoo shop yet, anyway. A drawing table sat in the room, half drawn sketches scattered across it. A cozy couch faced a large bay window, which received lots of light during the afternoon, and completed the comfort of the room. Wylder’s favorite place was this studio. He’d spent more than one night sleeping on that couch when he couldn’t tear himself away from his artistic vision.

By the time he finished with the painting, specks of paint dotted his clothes and skin. The canvas looked alive with splotches of color, which imitated light flashes, surrounding an image of Maggie playing her keyboard during a concert. She looked electric and gorgeous. He’d nailed it. He grinned. He might keep this painting for himself.

Maggie had quickly become one of his best friends. He thought she was a fantastic person. The only thing he regretted about her was how much she traveled with her work. He would happily be “more than friends” with Maggie if she could stay in this town with him — but she couldn’t do that. The same issues he’d discussed with Zeke when he first met her still applied. He wanted to commit to someone he could be with every day, who was there with him for the milestones and memories. Maggie’s life was too chaotic for that. He could only commit to friendship with her because she wouldn’t be in town long, no matter how sexy he found her.

A glance at the window revealed a darkening sky. Shit, what time is it? He pulled his phone from his pocket and looked.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit.” He left his palette and brush on the stool, then rushed off toward the bathroom. He fired off a text to his sister, Aubrey, letting her know he may be late then shed his clothes on the way to the shower. Aubrey would shoot him if he turned up wearing paint.

* * *

Wylder walked into the back of the school auditorium with the last members of the audience. He shifted the bouquet of wildflowers in his hand, which he’d bought the night before. He probably broke every speeding law in the world getting there, but he’d made it before the show started. He looked across the seats trying to find Aubrey, who was supposed to save him a seat. He wouldn’t miss this for anything.

He texted Aubrey that he made it and asked where she was. Quickly, he spotted Aubrey’s brunette head as she waved at him from the second row. He made his way from the back of the auditorium to where she sat with her husband and their parents. He slid into the chair next to her.

“Hey, Aub. I made it,” he said.

“Thank God. Kelsey would’ve shot you if you missed this.”

He barked a laugh. Like mother, like daughter. At least he’d washed the paint off first so only one of them would’ve shot him.

Aubrey looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “What?”

“Nothing.” He chuckled one last time, waved her off, and settled in to watch the stage. He balanced the bouquet inconspicuously on his lap.

A few minutes later, the elementary school’s principal appeared onstage in front of the curtain. She wore a skirt-suit and glasses.

“Hello, everyone,” she announced. “I’m sure you’re as excited as I am to see this performance. Please make some noise for our fourth grade class, performing ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears.’”

The audience clapped, the principal left the stage, and the curtain opened to a scene with Kelsey wandering through a cardboard forest. She wore a green dress, and her brown hair was tucked up into a wavy blond wig. The tresses fell loose around her shoulders. She hummed and sang to herself, meandering from one side of the stage to the other, stopping along the way to have conversations with woodsfolk about the bear family that lived in the woods. One of the woodfolk called her Goldilocks. When Kelsey reached the other side of the stage, she found the front of a house. “I’d better check on these residents and make sure they’re okay. There are bears around, I hear,” she said. She knocked on the door and waited, but no response came. She shrugged, looked at the crowd, and threw her hands up in the air questioningly. The scene ended and the curtain closed.

The audience cheered and clapped, including Wylder and his family.

Kelsey was made for the stage. He’d be surprised if she didn’t become an actress when she grew up. He’d helped her rehearse her lines to audition for this part, and she’d easily snapped up the starring role. They’d practiced together for hours after she got the part.

His phone vibrated once in his jeans pocket. He pulled it out and smiled when he saw a text from Maggie.

Maggie: What’s your favorite food?

Wylder: Spaghetti. Why?

Maggie: Dinner, tomorrow 7:00, your place. I’m cooking. I’ll be there at 6:30

He grinned and couldn’t resist teasing her.

Wylder: You’re planning to poison me, aren’t you?

Maggie: Maybe. *deletes internet history*

Wylder: *screenshots conversation and schedules to email a copy to everyone if no intervention happens by 9 am the day after dinner*

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