Page 56 of Beautiful Exile

You said you got rid of that!!! TRAITOR!

Fallon

Sorry. I lied. This is too golden not to keep forever.

Kye

Fal is tiny but fierce. And she has way too much blackmail material on all of us.

Fallon

And it would do you all good to remember that when I ask you to volunteer at our back-to-school event in a few weeks.

There were some texts of protest, but everyone mostly agreed. When your sister worked for Child Protective Services, how could you say no?

Shutting off my engine, I slid out of the cab and motioned for Brutus to follow. Since we were heading straight into the gallery, I didn’t bother with a leash and swore my pup looked up at me with gratitude.

The moment I slammed the door, a familiar head of dark hair poked out of the back door. Isaiah grinned as he stepped outside. “How’s the love of my life?”

I made a face. “Just fine, heartbreaker.”

He strode over to me, crouching to give Brutus some scratches. “I don’t know. I hear you’re the heartbreaker. Had Daddy Warbucks at your place this morning.”

Isaiah waggled his eyebrows to accentuate the point, and my face flamed. “It’s not like that,” I muttered.

“Suuuure, it’s not.”

I flipped him off, and Isaiah just laughed.

He pushed to his feet, and I saw the clay smeared across his worn tee. “Heard you were bringing in a new piece. Need help?”

Gratitude swept through me, not at the offer of help, but because Isaiah was letting it go. He might like to needle me, but he also always had my back. “That would be great. It’s not fully dry yet, so we need to be careful.”

Isaiah gave me a two-finger salute and headed toward the back of my truck. I’d had a cover designed for the bed for situations just like this one. There were times I needed to transport pieces I couldn’t risk getting wet in snow or rain—or in this case, getting dirt or other debris on a still-tacky surface.

Isaiah started the dance we’d done countless times before, rolling back the cover and reaching into the bed. But he stopped just shy of the painting, glancing up at me. “Ardy. This is incredible.”

My face heated again. “Thanks. It’s, um?—”

“Different,” he finished for me.

I nodded. “Makes me twitchy.”

Isaiah grinned over at me. “If it makes you feel like you’re standing naked in front of a crowd, you know it’s good. Important.”

“Says the man who loves being a nude model.”

He barked out a laugh. “Fair enough. Come on. Let’s get her in to dry. People are going to freak over this baby.”

That had my stomach flipping. I hoped people would connect to it, but I also wasn’t sure I wanted to give the piece up. And that was a problem.

We navigated our way to the back door, careful not to run into any vehicles or other roadblocks on the way. When she saw us, Hannah hurried to the screen door. “I’ve got it.”

“Thanks,” I said, glancing over my shoulder to make sure I didn’t run into anything.

We got the piece inside and onto an easel Denver had left out.I was sure he wanted to photograph it before he moved it into one of the studios to dry.

“Wow,” Hannah said, her voice going soft. “This is stunning.”

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