Page 41 of The Singing Trees
Jackie pulled Sharon away from the five people peppering her with questions about her work. She looked to be Annalisa’s mother’s age—if she were still alive—probably early fifties. It wasn’t exactly intimidation she felt at all, Annalisa realized. Being close to Sharon was more like being around someone who’d been blessed with superpowers. Annalisa was in awe.
Jackie clasped her hands together and introduced them. “Annalisa has real talent, Sharon, and she’s moving to Portland this summer. Are you still doing those classes? And more importantly, are they full?”
Annalisa held her breath as she watched for a tell on Sharon’s face, any hint that she had a chance, a ticket to the rest of her life.
Sharon put her hands on her waist and looked into Annalisa’s eyes as though she were interviewing Annalisa’s soul. She looked at Jackie and then back at Annalisa. “I just so happen to have one more spot available.” Even the way she spoke was magical, her voice like the sound of an angel. “If Jackie says you’re good, that’s all I need to hear.”
Annalisa froze. No more jokes about what she’d do to get into this class. This was a very serious moment. A wave of chills ran up her arms.She couldn’t believe what was happening as she swallowed a flood of emotions rushing up her throat.
Unsure how much time had passed, Annalisa came to her senses as Jackie waved a hand in her face. “You in there? She has a spot available.”
Coming to, Annalisa nodded like a woodpecker going after a spruce tree. Finding Sharon’s silver eyes, she said, “I want that spot.”
“I’d love for you to come with me,” Annalisa said, finally taking the leap into love.
They’d stopped on the way back to Payton Mills at a secluded beach Thomas knew about on the shore of Maquoit Bay. Pulling on jackets to fight the wind, they’d left his car along the road and hiked with two beers through a patch of woods until it opened up to the still water. Other than their talking, the only other sound was the birds calling to each other from their hiding spots in the trees.
He sat cross-legged, facing her. “Wait, really?”
Annalisa lay on her side a few feet away, sketching him. She was still high from the show, thinking she’d just met one of the most interesting people on planet Earth and that she had the chance to take lessons from her and that she’d one day show her pieces on that wall, no matter what it took.
There was something else too. She was high on Thomas.
“If you’re still interested,” she said, thinking he was the only man she’d ever want to walk through an art show with, the only man she’d ever love. She’d be crazy not to give him her all.
He pushed his beer can into the sand. With severe seriousness, he said, “Actually, no. I’ve decided to stay at Weston. Sorry to bust your bubble, but I love living with my parents, and my dad sure has come around.”
Catching his tone, she inclined an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”
“You betcha. He and I played a round of golf yesterday. Said he was proud of me and profusely apologized for threatening to cut me off. In fact, he asked about you. Wants you to come by for tennis and dinner soon. Says he wants to commission one of your works.”
No one could make her smile like him. Even when his jokes were corny, his smile was as sweet as the candy at Harry’s General Store.
With her pencil, she shaded in his eyes on the page, wondering if the two of them could go the distance, if those eyes might be hers forever. “Then I guess I’ll find some other guy to go to Portland with. I was never into sculptors anyway.”
He crossed his arms. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“I guess we’ll see.” She shrugged as she worked on the rest of his face. He was easy to look at and even easier to draw.
Jumping right ahead, he said, “So you really want me to join you?”
Her walls crumbled as her subject in this drawing she might call life waited for her to show that she was serious. He didn’t have to wait long. “I’m in if you’re in.”
“Hmm, let me weigh my options.” He lifted his hands like they were a scale. Jiggling his right hand, he said, “More years with my pain-in-the-ass, closed-minded father here.” He jiggled his left hand. “Or an adventure with you, my dreamy, brilliant, creative, funny, Elvis-loving girlfriend. Who do you think’s winning that one?”
Her heart suddenly sprang geysers of pure joy, rising out of her in a smile that melted all her doubt. This was the splash into the water after the leap, and it was everything she’d imagined and more. Forget all the reasons they couldn’t be together; forget all the worries she’d had about holding one another back. This was it, the reason for living.
He looked at her with a Buddha-like smile as she said, “You know what it is about you, Thomas Barnes? I can’t remember what it was like to be sad anymore. It’s like you came in and wiped it all away, and I feelvery grateful and lucky to have met you. Why in the world wouldn’t I want this to continue?”
He looked genuinely touched by her words. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me. That anyone’s ever said to me,” he added.
“You’d better bottle it,” she suggested, “because it doesn’t come easy.”
He started to push up and go to her, but she held up a hand. “Nope, I’m not done. Don’t move.” Using her finger, she shaded in his shadow cast by the setting sun, locking in this moment forever.
Her only reservation suddenly goaded her. “We’ll have to make it easy on your sister, make sure we include her. You know this will break her heart.”
“Yeah...,” he said, “but I can’t always be there for her. I have to live my life too. And you’re right; we’ll make sure she knows we still care about her. She can come down whenever she wants. I’m happy to pick her up.”
