Page 33 of Who's Playing You
As we walked from the first entry room into the back room, I stopped dead in my tracks. Taking up almost the entirety of the back wall was one painting.
It was huge.
It was dark, with two solitary rays of light. One at the center top, while the second was to the bottom right.
I stood, dumbfounded, in the doorway. Blocking it almost entirely.
Just staring.
Scottie had moved on and was examining the smaller paintings that aligned the wall to the room’s right. She caughtsight of me halfway down the right wall, when she noticed she was alone.
From the corner of my eye I had followed her moving down the row of paintings, stopping slightly at each before moving on, so I caught when she looked to her right and when she didn’t immediately see me, she stopped and searched me out.
When she did that, I too faced her, but the painting had me entranced and my attention shifted back to this vast and imposing piece of artistic history. Scottie’s eyes went from me and followed my line of sight, and when she saw what I was looking at she said, “Oh, I see,” almost to herself.
She turned to face the room before looking to me again. She then walked to the center of the room and sat on the bench that faced the massive painting. “Come. Sit. Let me introduce you to the wonder that is George.”
I moved quickly and sat beside her, eating up the remainder of the bench. “George?”
“Oh yes, Mr. George Inness. What you see here before you is George’s painting calledThe Valley of the Shadow of Death. It’s quite imposing, isn’t it?”
I could feel my jaw just dropping in continued awe as I couldn’t help but stare at this mesmerizing piece. I briefly shot a look at Scottie who was looking at me, looking at the painting.
“It is spectacular. It moved me as soon as I laid eyes on it. Or rather…” I chuckled. “It didn’t move me, itstoppedme. It literally stopped me dead in my tracks. I wasn’t even sure what I was looking at - I’m still not. There’s so much to see… the detail… the depth.”
As I looked at her, her smile just grew. “You’re right. George Inness’s work is quite extensive and is fraught with meaning where each brush stroke is done with intent.”
I was so in love with this woman. I was in total wonderment of her and her beauty and brain. I wanted to see the worldthrough her eyes, and just sitting here with her and getting the privilege of hearing her talk about art was like a little slice of heaven.
My left hand moved of its own volition. It sought out her right hand and I intertwined our fingers. Now that I’d done it once, on our walk to the museum, it just felt natural.
It might be one of the first steps to the development of our physical relationship, but it just felt so fucking natural. Holding Scottie’s hand while sitting in something that felt like greatness before us.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Scottie look down at our hands, my thumb gently stroking her soft skin. “Tell me more about George Inness,” I almost whispered, not wanting to disturb the sanctity of what felt so precious.
16
SCOTTIE ANDERSON
It had been almost a full week since I last saw Nicholas. Not that I was counting.
But it was hard tonotnotice considering he would message me multiple times a day. Well, in all fairness, it wasn’t like he was the only one texting. Every time my phone pinged with an incoming text, my heart would jump. My butterflies would start drilling into the sides of my stomach and my stomach would drop every time.
And if it wasn’t him texting me, great disappointment would flood my body.
Fortunately for me, most of the incoming texts were from him though.
We had ended up spending all of last weekend together. Starting with our first workshop, even though I don’t know if we can even call it that since it felt like so much more. But then that led to us going to the Loeb the next day. After we took our time looking at every single piece of art at the Art Center, hours had slipped by. Once we exited the Loeb and began traversing the campus back to where Nicholas had parked his car, he diverted our path and we ended up a block over where there were numerous restaurants that lined the street. He had insisted ontaking me out to an early dinner, considering it was almost five in the afternoon.
We sat at the restaurant for over two hours, enjoying a three course meal and amazing conversation. He was incredibly easy to talk to. He made me feel so at ease, and our conversation flowed freely. I’d truly never experienced anything like it with anyone else. Not even Earl.
It was as if we could talk about anything under the sun. Some of our topics were deep and personal, while others were surface level. By the end of our meal and the drive back to New Hope, I felt like I had really gotten to know Nicholas. Sure, I still didn’t know his last name or other random details, but I felt like I knew his soul.
It felt like we had one of those instant connections that you only hear about in fictional stories. I still wasn’t sold that that was actually what we were experiencing, but every time I felt that, the ever-present butterflies would drill my stomach so hard. And that instant connection had me very confused while also so excited.
He had parked his Bronco and walked me to my door, where he hugged me, kissed my cheek and thanked me for the best weekend of his life. I told him ditto.
He had asked me if it would be okay that he texted and called me this week because he said he’d be busy at work all week, but he didn’t want to wait to talk to me until this weekend when we’d have our second session. I had just smiled and told him I’d like that.
