Page 1 of Painting Him Mine

Chapter One

MAURICIO

“Here’s your change.Have a nice day,” the barista said with a bright smile.

I accepted it with a word of thanks before heading over to wait for my coffee by the pickup area.

Diego laughed as I pulled out my wallet. “I can’t believe you still pay for stuff with cash. It’s so much easier to tap your phone on the reader.”

“This feels like I’m spending real money and not just moving fake numbers around in the ether.” I had a thing about having all my bills face-up, so I flipped my backward ten-dollar bill. To my surprise, there was something unexpected on the front.

Someone had transformed the portrait of Alexander Hamilton into Vincent van Gogh. In the empty space around him, there was a spectacular color pencil sketch ofStarry Nightin the background that was exquisite enough to make my jaw drop. The blue, purple, and yellow swirls of the evening sky were quitestriking. As a fellow artist, their talent amazed me. Down in the bottom margin, there was a tiny message in neat handwriting:

Love what you see?

555-652-8745

Diego made a surprised noise when he saw what I was holding. “Whoa, they gave you fake money?”

Having worked in retail during college, I could tell the feel was all wrong for a counterfeit. “No, it’s real, but someone defaced it in the most artistic way possible. How incredible is that?” I was in complete awe of the impressive artwork. Who would do such a thing?

“Isn’t that illegal?” He laughed before picking up his drink from the collection counter with a word of thanks to the staff.

“Yeah, but who cares when it’s this good?” The longer I looked at it, the more I noticed the little details. It impressed me that the cypress tree wasn’t one shade of black but made of dark blues and greens like the original painting.

He sipped his coffee as he continued studying it. “How did they get away with someone accepting that? If someone tried to pay me with that, I wouldn’t have accepted it.”

I turned the bill over to show him that the back was untouched by the artist’s skill. “If they handed it over this way, she probably didn’t notice before she slid it into the register.”

Another barista calling out my order interrupted us. I put the ten into my wallet and pocketed it so I could grab my coffee and two vanilla cake pops. As soon as we sat down at a table by the window, I pulled the bill out again to continue inspecting theartwork. “Seriously, this is incredible.” I held the money up for him to look at again. “Why are you not blown away by this?”

“For the same reason that good sound editing doesn’t rock your socks off when it gives me life. Art doesn’t make my soul sing like it does for you. But I’ll admit, it’s pretty cool.”

I had to swallow down my urge to fuss at him for insulting something so wonderful by calling it “pretty cool.” My eyes strayed back to the phone number at the bottom as I took out one of my cake pops to eat. “Do you think it’s weird if I tell the artist how impressed I am by their work? They put their contact info on here, so maybe that’s what they’re hoping for?”

My friend laughed at me. “You can’t actually be considering doing that.”

“Why not? They wouldn’t have written their number if they weren’t interested in hearing from whoever received this, right?”

“Okay, so let’s say you reach out to tell them you think they’re an awesome artist. Then what? You become friends? Start sexting? What are you hoping happens?”

I shrugged as I finished my delicious cake pop. “Anything could happen. That’s the fun of it.”

“Feel free to do it later. I need your help on my project.” Diego pulled out his laptop so we could get to work.

I tried not to sigh in disappointment as I slipped the magnificent ten-dollar bill back into my wallet again. I’d give my friend my attention now, but I would indulge my curiosity once I was alone. Who had created such an astounding piece of art?

Chapter Two

EZRA

I tooka step back from my easel to assess my progress on my masterpiece. Painting a view of the Brooklyn Bridge in the style of Vincent van Gogh’sStarry Nightwas an ambitious undertaking, but I loved that kind of thing. I was still in the early stages of the work, but it was already coming together beautifully.

My phone alerted with a text, so I set my brush and palette down to check it.

Unknown

You’re amazing.

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