Page 97 of Break Your Fall

“Oh yeah.” Dad’s eyes gloss over as he stares off with a half-smile as if picturing his wife right in front of him, reliving memories I’d love to see myself. I wonder if he’s painted some of them. If he’s painted her.

“Your mom, too,” he adds after shaking himself from his off-gaze, thinking I would’ve taken offense to her being left out. He’ll understand more soon that I won’t be. “You think I could create all this beauty by myself?” We share a laugh, my eyes rolling through mine. “Now this beauty.” I let him guide us back to my sketches, seeing how much he needs the reprieve, my body straightening to attention with how much I need an answer now. My breath is bated as he looks up from my work to glance toward the back area of the gallery. “This could work.”

My mouth slowly parts, my body braced. “What?”

“This could work,” he repeats, still looking toward an area at the back of the gallery. “We’ll make it work,” he assures me with a confident nod, decision made, but I need the words. I won’t be able to trust this until I hear them.

I’ve scooted closer to the edge of my seat, urging him on. “So, you’re saying. . .”

His smile is slow, a twinkle in his eye that shows how much he’s enjoying dragging this out. “I want you to showcase.”

All the air leaves my body, my fingers curling around the skirt of my dress. “I’m gonna be on the wall?”

“You’re gonna be on the wall,” he repeats with a laugh, confusion bending his brows for why I’d be so surprised.

I squeal. I’m squealing between the walls of my father’s art gallery, I’m sure drawing the attention of whoever else is here, waving my fists in the air and stamping my feet against the floor like I’m running in place. He doesn’t even look around to see if we have an audience, his stare filled with amusement and pride as it stays on me.

“You’re a natural, Reyna,” says the man who has just made one of my longtime dreams come true as he now flips through the extra pieces I brought along while I’ve settled to internally flipping out, my body bouncing in the chair. “They don’t teach your talent in school.”

“That’s why I didn’t pursue college,” I hear myself explain, in awe that I can even follow the shift in conversation when my mind is busy picturing the moment my art will be on the gallery walls. “Mrs. Wright—my counselor—told me the same thing. I’ve submitted to other places and you’re the first to accept me.”

My father shakes his head with a look in his eyes I recognize as pity—not for me, but for them. He motions around the gallery and smiles. “Our gain.”

I jump up. “Okay, well, I need to go freak out some more. Somewhere else,” I add with a quick glance around, my hands reaching to gather my artwork and escape with my energy spike that’s too much for this quiet space.

“I need to keep these,” Dad rushes out on a laugh as he reaches to claim my sketches, trying to keep up with the speed of my grabbing. “Bring the canvases and we’ll talk details.”

“Okay, yeah, I will, and thank you.” I’m beaming as I back up—straight into the wall. I wince at thethud, the sound loud enough to make my father stand from his chair.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m perfect,” I say through another beam, unable to feel anything but ecstatic. But if my back starts hurting later, I’ll know why.

“Breathe, girl,” my dad says through a small laugh. “It’s gonna be great.”

It’s gonna be everything.

“Thank you, thank you,” I tell him again as I round the wall, shifting my work to be more comfortable in my arms as I bounce-walk toward the door.

A change in one of my paintings catches my eye and I halt my steps. It’s my painting of that night, of the stars, of the first time I’ve felt kinship with the dark, of all the negative words that filled my head faded into the sky.

But now there are new words painted lightly over them, a new shade, a new brushstroke.

STUPID is now SMART

DRAMATIC is now REAL

SENSITIVE is STRONG

NOT GOOD ENOUGH is TALENTED

My eyes blur and I blink, a sob-like noise pushing up from my chest, tears falling down over my gaped smile as I make out more added words.

KIND

BEAUTIFUL

BRAVE

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