Page 51 of The Art of You

When I finally pulled back, she gestured toward the canvas. “As beautiful as this drawing is, what I think you might need is a blank canvas to start with. You can always come back to this one. And when the time is right, you’ll know.” She met my eyes, and I had to fight back the tears.

“A clean slate?” I murmured more like a question.

“And no rules holding you hostage. Give yourself some grace. If what you create is sad, then it’s sad. Maybe you have towork through your emotions to get to the place you were before.” She let go of me, her tone soft as she added, “And maybe you’ll find yourself somewhere different. Better, even. But you’ll never know if you don’t try.”

I turned toward the window, catching sight of Hudson back on the property. “Thank you,” I finally managed to get out. He was back, and I wanted—no,neededto get to him. “I, um.” I faced her.

“It’s okay. Go to him. I’ll handle Malik so you two can be alone. I’ve got your back.”

“Thank you.” I pulled her in for another hug, forging past the remnants of pain lingering in my limbs. “If I do draw again, you’ve gotta let me sketch you one day. Cowgirl boots. Guitar in hand. My brother would pay good money for that.”

She chuckled, then waved her hand, reminding me I had places to be and all that.

I looked over at my sister on the easel, then to Callie. “Maybe it’s possible I can help Hudson the way you helped my brother.”

“What do you mean?” she asked softly.

“Revive his heart so he can love again.”

“Not possible.” Callie shook her head, then held up her hand between us. “Hudson’s heart isn’t dead. You can tell in the way that man looks at you. You’re the definition of a masterpiece in his eyes. You’re like livin’ art to him.” Her soft Southern accent flowed through her words. “I mean, really. The man has it bad for you.”

“Really?”

“Easy to discern as an objective outsider.”

“Well, you’re no longer an outsider. You’re family. You’re my . . .” I’d said this before, but standing in front of the drawing of Bianca made it feel that muchmore. “My sister.”

She flicked a tear from the corner of her eye,trying not to get choked up, same as me. “You better go. You’re ruining my mascara,” she laugh-cried. “Go help that man understand he’s allowed to feel what he does and that you both deserve happiness.”

“I’ll do my best, but he’s stubborn.”

“Your brother was also a serious pain in the ass, but I didn’t give up on him. And you’re a fighter like me. I have faith you’ll knock some sense into him eventually. Then you can draw me, and I’ll write a song about you two. A fair trade from where I stand.”

“Got a title?” I teased. And then the reality of what happened sank in. Callie had managed to do the impossible. She’d helped me take that polar plunge, washing away my anger without ever having to get cold and wet in the freezing Atlantic.

“Work in progress.” She winked. “But aren’t we all?”

“Touche´.”

A devious smile crossed her lips a beat later. “It’s close enough to bedtime, right?”

Barely seven.“For a toddler,” I said with a laugh.

“Maybe you should change for the night before talking with Hudson.” She lifted her brows up and down suggestively, waiting for me to get her drift.

I went to the doorway and stole a look at Malik in the hall. His back was to the wall, one booted foot propped up as he read something on his phone.Hopefully not the rumors about my family.

I quietly shut the door. “You want me to put on PJs before I talk to him? Hudson will lose his mind with me walking around like that in a house full of security.”

She slapped her hands together, then focused on my dresser. “Precisely.”

“It didn’t work before,” I said as she opened up a dresserdrawer. “I wore a bikini around him at his apartment in June, and he didn’t so much as give me a passing glance.”

Callie continued to rummage through the drawers filled with clothes she’d packed for me, seemingly unsatisfied. Tossing me a look from over her shoulder, she shared, “And did you know he spent almost all of his time at the office or hunting assholes with Alessandro because he couldn’t handle being near you that weekend? At least, that’s what Alessandro told me.” She punctuated that bit of info with a devious wink.

“Wait, really? Iwasdriving him nuts? Like in a good way, I mean?”

“So nuts he had to release his tension by chasing down jerks with my husband. And for a man who is allegedly a one-night, non-committal kind of guy, you’d think he’d have handled his pent-up energy in a different way.”

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