Page 19 of My End
Adam’s eyes went wide. “Is that…”
“Don’t say it.”
“Is thatJake Style?” he whispered.
I groaned and dropped onto the couch. “Don’t make it a thing.”
He blinked slowly. “How on earth did you manage to paint a portrait of that guy from memory?”
I rolled my eyes and pushed my hair out of my face. “It was easy, actually. Jake has one of those faces.”
Adam stared at me like I’d grown another head. “You think it looks likeJake?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t know you had a thing for Jake,” I added, teasing.
“I’d have to be dead not to notice that man,” Adam said flatly. “And it looks likeyounoticed, too.”
I gave a theatrical sigh. “I paint portraits, Adam. Is it really that strange that I met someone interesting and painted him?”
“No,” he said and set the tray down finally. “Whatisstrange is that you saw that man for, what, five minutes? And then you went off the grid for five days and birthed this? That’s what’s strange, Tilly.”
I wasn’t ready to unpack that.
Not even close.
“I would buy this one from you if I had the money,” Adam said as he still stared at the canvas. “God knows the only way I’ll ever get my hands on a Tilly X is if I buy one of those overpriced animal notebooks from Target.”
That made me laugh. “You say that like you didn’t already buy six.”
“I bought them asgifts.”
“Sure you did.”
I gestured toward the painting. “How about I commissionyourportrait next?”
He wrinkled his nose. “Hard pass.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to look at my face on a wall. But this hunk?” He pointed at Jake’s portrait. “I’d hang him on the ceiling.”
My eyebrows lifted. “The ceiling?”
He raised a brow back at me and grinned. It dawned on me what he meant, and I wrinkled my nose.
“Oh, now she gets it.”
I held up both hands. “Forget I asked.”
Adam barked out a laugh and moved toward the door.
“I need to get back to the kitchen. Boone’s back this afternoon, and I want his favorite dinner ready by seven sharp.”
My stomach flipped. Not in a good way.
Right.
Boone.
