Page 60 of The Sweet Life

“Your mother is incredibly talented. It’s beautiful.”

“You think my mother…” Sage picked up the lantern, inspecting the painting more closely. “It does look like her style, but look at the signature.J.R.”

“J.R. is the street artist who’s been painting murals around Sunshine Bay.”

“The one Carmen was complaining about the other night? The artist who painted a mural on Surfside?”

“One and the same.”

“My mother wouldn’t…” Then again, maybe she would. She’d streaked her hair purple, bought a red Camaro with racingstripes, and was having sex with her sister’s ex-boyfriend, so hey, turning into Sunshine Bay’s Banksy wasn’t that big a stretch.

“The timing fits. You told her Alice was being cremated today, and then this appears. It’s her gift to you.”

“A gift to both of us,” she said, her heart bursting with pride and love for her mother. She took her phone from her pocket.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling my mother to thank her for the painting and to tell her how much we love it, of course.”

“You might want to hold off and think about it before you do. For whatever reason, your mom obviously wants to remain anonymous.”

“But why? Look how incredible this is.”

“I don’t know. Possibly because your grandmother is trying to have her arrested for destruction of public property.”

“I hate when you’re right.”

“I love hearing you admit that I am.”

She rolled her eyes. “The last thing we need is to give my family something else to fight about. I’ll just pretend we have no idea it was her. It doesn’t mean I can’t let everyone know about this incredible piece of art the street artist J.R. gifted us with and how much we love it, though.”

“It doesn’t, and it sounds like you plan on rubbing your grandmother’s nose in it.”

“You know it. I just wish I could rub my sister’s and my aunt’s noses in it too. All you have to do is look at this to see how much love and thought my mom put into it. How Cami can believe that same person could do anything as despicable as what she accused my mom of doing is beyond me. I think I’ll start a campaign to have J.R. given a communityachievement award in recognition of their art beautifying Sunshine Bay.”

Jake smiled. “There you go. Something else to add to your keep-busy list.”

“How did you know I have a list? Were you snooping on my phone?”

“Your phone won’t open with my face, but I didn’t have to snoop. You made lists for everything as a teenager, and you haven’t changed much.”

“I guess you’re not always right, because I don’t make lists for everything anymore.” Just for important things, and she had a lot of important things going on in her life, including defending street artist J.R. to her grandmother and her mother to Cami and Willow. It was just a happy coincidence that they would both fit nicely on her What to Do While in Six Weeks of Purgatory list.

His lips twitched. “Do you know that when you lie, you scratch the right side of your nose?”

“I do not,” she said, surreptitiously lowering her hand back to her side.

“Okay, prove it. Show me your phone.”

“I wish I could, but I can’t. I have highly confidential emails on my phone.”

“Like what?” he said.

“Lawyer-client types of things,” she said, and glanced at her screen. “Oh wow, I didn’t realize it’s getting so late. Poor Max. He must be lonely with us gone for so long. You should take him for a walk,” she said, and with one last look at the mural, she headed for the farmhouse.

“Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“No.” Dammit, she moved her finger from the side of her nose to her ear and then realized he wouldn’t see. Her back was to him. “I’m just thinking about Max. Look, you see, he’s waiting for us.” She nodded at the window as they reached the front porch.

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