Page 29 of Becoming His Muse
She furrowed her brow because she knew there was more to this story. If for no other reason than he’d told her, it was embarrassing.
“I was feeling like the world was at my fingertips. Why I felt that way after selling some pieces, I don’t know, but I did. I approached this artist who was having an exhibit and looking for others to go into it with him. I tell him my last two sales because they weren’t exhibits, sold out, and he adds me to the roster.”
When he paused again, Olani held another strawberry out to him. She was genuinely sharing with him, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t want to see him bite it again.
“Not one of my pieces sold at this exhibit,” he continued after swallowing. “Other artists sold out; some only had a piece or two left. Then I overheard a patron saying my sculptures looked like a child made them. Naturally, I was pissed, but I looked at them for the first time and realized it was true. I’d made them all in two weeks, not caring about the piece’s finishing or integrity.”
She knew that was extremely fast, regardless of the size of the pieces. Not that she had any sculpting experience, but it made her wonder how he’d sold all those other pieces if they were of the same quality, or if the people that bought them just wanted something eccentric.
“It’d stopped being about the craft I loved and became about the money. The pennies I’d made compared to what I make now, but I couldn’t reconcile how the others sold so quickly, and these were worthless.” Elion chuckled, and Olani tilted her head, wondering if he would let her in on whatever inside joke was swimming around in his head.
“A few weeks later, I’m going home; my grandparents were celebrating their fortieth anniversary. I walk into their house and see all the pieces I’d sold the first two times.”
Her eyes widened, and she placed her hand in front of her mouth. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Not at all. The person I was using to sell them was a family friend who knew they were shit. So, she voiced her concerns to my grandmother, who bought them all. How’s that for embarrassing?”
“Wow. Well, at least you learned something from it.”
“I did. I learned at twenty, that I did not have enough business sense, so classes on it were needed, and to always take my time regardless of how long a piece took me. People pay for quality, not quantity. After that debacle, it took me almost two years to put on my own exhibit, but I sold every piece, caught a critic’s eye, and started making a name for myself.”
They spent the rest of the drive going back and forth telling each other stories, Olani occasionally feeding him pieces of fruit. When the exit for Roswell came up, she pulled up the address of where they would stay and gave him directions to get there.
When they pulled up, she was taken by the outside. She’d seen the pictures before she booked it, but in person, it wasbreathtaking. It was a two-story house—the bottom half housing cobble. The driveway was short, leading to a garage that sat next to a cobbled archway.
They stepped out of the car, Olani grabbing the bag she’d repacked the fruit and yogurt containers in. She went to the trunk where Elion was taking out their suitcases. When she reached for hers, he moved it away from her.
“You get the door; I’ll get the luggage.”
She decided not to protest and led the way to the front door. She rechecked her phone, got the code for the keyless lock, and put it in. They walked into a living room decorated in muted blues and gray. It was warm and inviting. From the entrance, Olani could see the dining table in an alcove she assumed led to the kitchen and stairs to the left of it.
She walked over, sticking her head in to see the kitchen. It was small, but she doubted they’d be doing any cooking while they were there. On the off chance they did, it would be fine.
She followed behind Elion up the stairs into a small hallway. There were three open doors. The one in front of them was a full bath; she knew the other two were bedrooms. She knew the house contained a half-bath downstairs but hadn’t seen it. Elion looked into each bedroom before placing her suitcase into the one on the right.
“I’ll give you the bigger room,” he told her, putting his suitcase just inside the door of the other one.
She stepped into what would be her room for the next two days and found it was a standard room that housed a king bed with a fireplace across from it. Which she knew from the pictures was just for show. Rolling her suitcase further into the room, she placed it in front of the closet door. When she turned around, she found Elion leaning on the doorframe.
“Why don’t we go get some lunch?”
“Lunch sounds good,” she responded, walking over to him. “Then we can go to the museum?” She phrased it as a question because she wasn’t sure he’d want to do anything after lunch until they went to dinner that night since he drove.
“We can do anything you want to, Sweetheart,” he replied, leaning down and kissing her. He took her hand when he pulled away, and the two headed out of the house. Olani was looking forward to this weekend.
14
Elion sat across from Olani as they had dinner. After lunch, they’d gone to the museum and art center. They’d spent a few hours there, taking in the pieces and exhibits before going to a grocery store to buy snacks and drinks, then returned to their rental.
The restaurant they’d chosen seemed to be a local favorite. It was almost full, but the tables were spaced out enough to have some semblance of privacy.
“So,” she started, pulling his attention from the steak he was cutting. “I thought we could go to Bottomless Lakes State Park tomorrow morning. We can scuba dive and have lunch while we’re there, and tomorrow night we can walk the historic district if you’re okay with that.”
“I already told you, Sweetheart, we can do anything you want to,” Elion responded.
“You know if you keep saying that, I’m going to get spoiled, and the first time you tell me no, I won’t like it,” she told him with a teasing smile.
“Who said I planned on telling you no?”
