Page 13 of Stuck with the Grump

“It was until this past spring. Everything kind of started at the end of spring and only got worse through the summer. Then September came, and I found her passed out in the bathroom. She had smashed her head on the sink when she fell. Blood was everywhere. I started screaming for my father but he froze. Didn’t know what to do. Tyson was the only one with a half-working brain and he called the ambulance.”

“Leigh, you don’t have to tell me this if you don’t want to.”

She nodded, tears starting to slip down her cheeks. “It’s okay. It feels good to talk about it. Like I’m not the only one with the weight to bear, you know?”

“I know.”

“Anyway. Tyson called the ambulance, and we rushed her to the hospital. They ran a bunch of tests, but nobody could tell us what was wrong. It was only after she started telling the doctor about the last six months that the doctor said cancer for the first time. After that, everything seemed to click.”

The tears started streaming freely. She tried to wipe them away, but they kept coming. I moved closer to Leigh, wrapping my arms around her, and pulling her into my lap. She buried her face in my chest, her hot tears searing themselves on my skin.

“It’s okay, baby, let it all out.” I ran my hands up and down her back, holding her close as she let it all out.

“I’m such a mess,” Leigh said, sitting up and wiping the tears from her eyes. “And I’m tired and cranky.”

“You’re not a mess, Leigh. You’re going through a shit time, and you needed to cry about it. I’m not going to think any less of you for showing emotion.”

She stared at me for a moment, her lips pressing together. “Other men would be pretty uncomfortable with a girl sobbing on them.”

“Other men are insecure and only care about themselves.” I pushed the hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ears. “Those kinds of men are never going to be enough for any woman.”

“Could you tell that to my ex-boyfriends? The last one thought that when we got married—we weren’t even engaged by the way—I would quit my job to stay home and take care of our children. Don’t get me wrong, I want to spend as much time with my future children too, but I’m not about to give up on my career either.”

“So that business you were planning, what was that?”

She blushed, turning her face away to look out the window. “I want to open an art gallery.”

“Interesting choice. Why art?”

Leigh slid off my lap and crossed her legs, sitting beside me as her entire face lit up. “Have you ever really considered what draws people to art? Why some people like a piece but others absolutely hate it? I like seeing people’s faces as they try to figure out if they like a piece or not. Sometimes they know immediately and other times they stand there and stare at it like they’re seeing something they can’t comprehend.”

Her passion was clear to me as she rambled on about the moment people saw a particular piece of art for the first time. Leigh’s hands were flying as she spoke, the tears drying on her cheeks as she continued talking. I didn’t understand half of what she was talking about but seeing her so excited was attractive.

“And then there is getting to showcase new artists on the scene. Many people are looking for a place to start and I want to be the one to provide that for them. I want to have a monthly feature where two or three artists submit their work and get chosen to have an opening night to their exhibit.”

“You’ve given a lot of thought to this.”

“I have,” she said with a big smile. “I went to university for business, but I minored in Art History. I’ve always wanted to build a gallery from the ground up, but it was always one of those things that seemed just out of reach. Now that I’ve lost my job and my boyfriend, it seems like a pretty good time to start going after what I want for once.”

“I could help you,” I said, not considering the words before they were out of my mouth. “If you want an investor, that is. I have connections too. Not necessarily in art, but my public relations team is better than most and I know people who are interested in art.”

Leigh wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “I don’t want your money or your connections.”

I exhaled as if I had been holding my breath. In a way, my subconscious had given her a test. Would she be like all the others and only want me for what I could provide, or did she just want me? It was a relief to know that she didn’t want my money.

“If I wanted Crestwood Capital to invest, I would have started bothering Tyson. This is the kind of thing I want to figure out for myself though, you know? I don’t want my big brother to come swooping in to my rescue and trying to figure out everything for me.”

“I understand,” I said, leaning back against the pillows as my eyes started drifting shut.

“Tired?” she asked.

“We have been up most of the night.”

“I’ll head back to my bed then and let you get some sleep.”

“No,” I said, my eyes opening as I reached for her wrist to pull her down beside me. “Please stay.”

A slow smile spread across her face as I wrapped my arm around her waist and held her close. Leigh nestled into my side and closed her eyes, the worry lines from her face disappearing as sleep took over. I pressed a kiss to her temple before closing my own eyes and letting sleep take me.

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