Page 58 of Painted

“I need to move on,” Nancy said, shaking her head and stepping away from the canvas as Rhys continued to stare at it. “I’ve stayed longer than I intended to at any rate. I won’t put a stop to this fundraiser my brother has tricked you into,” she said, dragging Rhys’s attention away from the painting and to her. “I might even attend. But I won’t be happy.”

“You don’t have to be happy if that isn’t what you feel,” Early said, smiling at her. It took a person of extraordinary character to continue to smile at someone who still looked at them with suspicion. “I can show you out, if you’d like,” Early went on, sending a brief glance to Rhys.

Rhys was impressed that Early could sense his need to stay where he was, looking at the painting that had troubled him for so long with new eyes.

“I suppose so,” Nancy sighed, then strode toward the door, almost leaving Early behind.

“I’ll be right back,” Early told Rhys, then followed Nancy out of the room.

Rhys listened to the sound of their footsteps disappearing in the hallway, the hum of voices in the hallway and beyond, and the faint sound of talking from the classroom next to his. He glanced out the window at the view he and Raina had enjoyed so much, then back at the painting.

Raina would have known something was missing from the start. She would have seen that he was fighting against the scene he was trying to conjure instead of working with the story on his canvas to find it. She would have known the truth.

“Are you okay?”

Early’s voice right behind him what felt like only a few seconds later jolted Rhys. He gasped slightly, then turned to face them.

“That was quick,” he said.

Early shrugged one shoulder, then leaned forward, sliding into Rhys’s arms. That made Rhys smile and his troubled heart feel momentarily light.

“Nancy was in a hurry to leave,” Early reported. “Your mum tried to talk to her, but she wasn’t in the mood. I hinted to Janice not to poke too hard and upset the careful balance you created.”

Rhys’s smile grew. “Thank you.”

He dipped down to kiss Early’s warm, soft lips. Something still felt tight and stuck deep within him, though.

Early seemed to know it.

“She brought up a lot of unhealed stuff, didn’t she,” they said.

Rhys sighed and nodded. “Yeah.”

He let go of Early, keeping one arm around their waist, and turned to study Raina’s landscape again.

“She’s right, though,” he admitted, rubbing one hand over his face. “It’s flat. That’s the problem. I’ve rendered the image, but I haven’t put the emotion in it yet.”

“Then that’s what you should do,” Early said, turning to lean into him, wrapping their arms around his waist.

Rhys loved how clingy Early suddenly was. He loved Early’s strength and courage, but if he was honest, he loved their vulnerability and need to have him as a protector, too.

“What would you say to me making you supper tonight?” they asked, peeking up at Rhys with an almost wicked look. “Ireally am a fantastic cook and we didn’t get a chance to really enjoy the fruits of my labor that night.”

Rhys laughed softly and pivoted to pull Early fully into his arms again. “I think that sounds like a wonderful idea,” he said, dipping down to kiss Early gently.

He smiled at the way Early blushed and suddenly couldn’t catch their breath. Maybe this time they’d do it right and talk about things before dinner led to dessert.

And maybe once he got one part of his soul sorted and settled, he’d be able to get the landscape to do what it needed to do. Maybe he’d finally be able to get everything right.

SEVENTEEN

It wasa little bit like déjà vu. Early buzzed around Rhys’s kitchen, seasoning a pair of chicken breasts and nervously checking the couscous side dish that they’d found a recipe for online, all while trying to keep themself calm by singing along to the upbeat pop music on the radio. The only difference between the meal they were preparing for Rhys this time and the one they’d made him on that bittersweet night the week before was that this time, they weren’t wearing silk pajamas and a kimono.

They were, however, wearing their lucky lace thong. But that was something that would only come into play later, if things went the way they hoped they would go.

They tried to squash the feeling of “this has to be perfect” that was stuck on repeat in their brain. It was hard not to feel like everything with their and Rhys’s potential relationship came down to how well they kept their wits about them in the next few hours. Things had been warming up nicely between the two of them for the past few days, but the visit from Nancy Flint had knocked Rhys back several notches, and Early wasn’t sure what Rhys’s state of mind was at the moment.

“Something smells amazing in here.”

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