Page 55 of Sawyer
An official-looking person cleared his throat and directedthem inside. Phoebe laughed, and into the gallery they went. Its basic structure was unimpressive with its wooden cabinets and squeaky floors. But the glass cases held treasures, the larger stones displayed horizontally with decent back lighting while smaller stones were arranged vertically. The meteorite with small euro coins magnetized to it by the window was totally cool, and both he and Phoebe added a coin to the mix.
“Ah, the laws of science at work.” She gave him an enchanting grin. “The unseen things that govern our lives. Doesn’t it make you feel safer somehow? Knowing these little pieces of magic are going on, and we’re doing nothing to make it happen?”
He almost kissed her again then and there, wanting to be the coin to her meteor.
God, they fit, he thought yet again and reached for her hand as they continued down the aisles, stopping every few feet so Phoebe could cry out in delight over another colorful stone. The bright yellow ones, which the name tags said were sulfur, looked like they’d captured the sun’s essence while the beryl stones seemed to be composed of pure aqua water that had solidified. She loved a blue and white stone called halite he’d never heard of, but then again, most of the stones were like that. He’d been to his fair share of metaphysical bookstores, as date venues as well as for the interesting books, but he’d never seen stones like this.
Then he gasped out loud when he reached a display at the back of the gallery. Inside were pigments, ones painters had used since the beginning of time to paint things like the fresco on the ceiling over the entrance or the great works at art museums.
Dean would have cried out, “Kismet.”
Sawyer’s heart rate only beat faster. Because…paint! The lapis lazuli stone was next to the pure blue pigment it had been famous for since Egyptian times. He suddenly hated the glass between him and the pigment. He wanted to run it through his fingers. Watch it turn his skin blue. He wanted to find poppy seed oil and mix it. Take it home with him and go to town on his canvas! Because painting with real stone pigment would be like going back to the cave painting days or the early Egyptians depicting deities in the Valley of the Kings. Those pigments lasted the test of time.
He wanted his work to last that long.
“Wow! So this is where all those pretty paint colors come from.” She peered closer until her head was in his vision. “Your pupils are dilated. Is your mind racing with possibilities?”
The ability to nod was beyond him. “And immortality.”
“Aha, I finally discover a facet of you that isn’t so humble.” She made a satisfied sound. “I believe you are coming into your own, Dr. Jackson.”
What she didn’t know—what he couldn’t say—was that her coming into his life, being his muse, had taken his work to the next level. “I love that pigments aren’t technically part of our art embargo. You know…when I officially set the date of my first show, we can throw down those walls of Jericho, so to speak, and talk about art all the time.”
Or perhaps before, even. He got all giddy thinking about it. Beverly would have to send over photos of his work to Phoebe for the show, he imagined. Of course she could swing by the studio to see the originals; she’d already seen the ones at Nanine’s. Beverly would guide him on that little dance, and he was happy to let her. He didn’t want to get in the middle of Phoebe’s conversations with Beverly, especially before everything was hammered out. His new powerful agent and his girlfriend needed to talk without him being in the middle. Less complicated. More professional. Win-win for everyone.
She bit her lip, the light in her eyes waning a little. “Not all the time, I hope. I cannot tell you how much I’m enjoying the way things are. I think this is the longestperiod of my life where I have never spoken of art. I kinda love it.”
Given what she’d shared with him about her upbringing, he understood what she was saying. “Good. Then we will continue to enjoy it.”
She sent him a wink. “Besides, it’s not as if I don’t know your art career is going well. You beam like the sun.”
“So do you,” he said pointedly.
They shared a conspiratorial smile.
“You might want to come over here, Dr. Jackson,” she called, wandering a little ways away. “There is a very informative note about turquoise and its use in painting. In French only. Good thing you know it.”
He wandered over with his blood racing. Sure enough, the museum’s note mentioned the stone’s use going back to Egypt. Like he’d just thought. They did know their paints. Those colors were still intact in the Karnak Temple and others, which Sawyer hoped to see someday. “You ever think about going to Egypt?”
She put her arms around his back, resting her cheek against his shoulder as they both gazed at history. “Since I was a kid.”
He lifted his head, feeling a moment of certainty. The greats talked about epiphanies arriving. He didn’t need a mountain. He only had to listen to the cadence of his heart, as Nanine always said.
Phoebe’s gorgeous, dancing eyes were waiting for him, more lustrous than the best green stones around them. “We should go sometime. I’d like to see the paintings that used those pigments.”
He realized it wasn’t only Thea’s wedding he wanted to attend with her.
Her smile swept across her face, so radiant and powerful she could have banished all darkness from the land. “I’d love that.”
He knew her voice. At times it contained staccato enthusiasm. Droll humor. This was the voice of a soft romantic, a dreamer who feared being disappointed but still hoped. “It’s a date. Maybe after my first gallery show when I can take some time off.”
Because his mind was already leaping to make plans for their future. He could see them going to Egypt together. In fact, he could see them doing everything together. She was becoming his person, that single special being he wanted to cling to forever. Again, he thought of the meteorite and the coin.
“I’ll figure out a way to take some time off too,” she said quietly, if a little hesitantly, as if the moment’s full force had arrived for her as well and her emotions were still trying to catch up.
The promise was struck. As if to seal it, she tipped her head up and kissed him softly. He fell into the lushness of her mouth. When she drew back, he wrapped his arm around her waist, still wanting her close.
“By the way,” he began, realizing it was easier to ask this than he could ever have imagined. “What are your plans for the holidays?”
