Page 146 of Love Among Vines

She dropped to her knees and took a moment to tearfully hug Penny. She let her outside, breathing in the crisp fall air like it would be the last time. And maybe it would. Maybe it would hurt too much to come back here. Every inch of this town was going to remind her of Rett.

Steven skittered past them, but Penny barely gave him a passing glance. Jade put his evening snack on the porch and closed the door behind her.

She unzipped her dress and let it slide down her shoulders, a mess of sequins on the floor. She grabbed a clean palette from the drying rack and angrily squirted colors onto it. Back to the deep reds, the blacks, the indigos. A canvas slammed onto the easel.

There was something primal and angry waiting to burst out of her. She took a moment to turn her focus inward, to embrace and accept without judgment the feelings that waited for her.

And then she painted.

The next morning,Jade woke with a start when something rapped on her front door. She sat up like she had been struck by lightning. The colors of sunrise still bled into the sky.

Her heart raced. If that was Rett, she was going to answer the door with a can of Mace. But a quick inspection revealed only Cindy, who stood on the porch with a casserole dish covered in foil.

She whipped the door open, and Cindy’s eyes bulged out.

The casserole dish hit the wooden floor with a clunk, and Cindy immediately started checking Jade’s vitals.

“Hey—what are you doing?”

“What happened? Did you cut yourself in the kitchen? I have my kit in the car. We’ll stop the bleeding, and then I’ll take you into the office and?—”

“What the hell are you talking about? I’m fine.”

Jade looked down at herself and noticed for the first time that not only was she wearing only her beige strapless bra and panties, but she was also covered in splotches of red paint from her angry painting session the night before.

“It’s paint,” she said hurriedly. “Not blood.”

Cindy deflated in relief. “Thank god. I’m a little hungover from last night, so I was not looking forward to suturing any surprise gaping wounds. What happened to you last night? I saw you go outside with Rett and then you disappeared. You didn’t answer any of my texts.”

The memories flooded back, and unwelcome tears formed in Jade’s eyes for the millionth time in the past twenty-four hours. She had thought for sure she had cried them all out the night before.

Guttural screams and grunts had exploded from her for hours as she aggressively dragged the brush across canvas after canvas. Shreds of newspaper, splinters of a vinyl record, even pages torn from books joined the fray.

It was mixed media at its most unhinged. A return to her roots. It was probably all garbage, but at least it meant that she hadn’t lost everything again.

Even if there wasn’t hope for love, at least there was hope for her future.

Jade stepped back and let Cindy inside.

While Penny greeted Cindy, Jade slipped a sweatshirt over her paint-covered body.

Cindy set the casserole dish on the kitchen island and turned to look at Jade, arms crossed. “So?”

“He yelled at me and he asked me how I was going to ‘fix this when I can’t even fix myself.’”

Cindy’s mouth dropped open. “No, he fucking didn’t.”

Jade smiled sadly. “It’s better that I know. I always kind of figured he felt that way under the surface. How could he not? I am pretty pathetic.”

“You shut that beautiful mouth. You are not pathetic. Do you see what you’ve overcome since you’ve come here? What you’ve created?” Cindy pointed at the stack of canvases drying in the kitchen. “You have such power, Jade. No one can take that from you. No one.”

Jade sniffed and crossed her arms. She stared out at the silent gray form of the lake. More than half the leaves were missing now. It was time for her to go.

“I have to go back to the city. There’s no future for me here.”

Cindy shook her head and ripped the aluminum foil off the dish. “I’m going to murder him. I meant what I said before. No matter what happens, you will always have us. Even if you purposely move five hours away. Now why don’t you go take ashower? You look like a homicide victim. I’ll brew some coffee and take Penny out.”

“Thank you,” Jade said. The kindness was almost enough to bring her to tears again. She needed to get it together. She wasn’t going to be able to take her driver’s test tomorrow if she stayed a weepy mess.

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