Page 49 of Full Tilt
A young woman with caramel skin and dark eyes approached us. She wore jeans and an athletic runner’s tank top. Her hair wasa burst of dark ringlets held at bay by a colorful headband. She was gorgeous.
“Tania King,” Jonah said, “this is Kacey Dawson. She’s a…friend.”
“So nice to meet you, Kacey,” Tania said, offering both her hand and an easy, friendly smile. “And where do you know each other from?” she asked, her eyebrows arched almost to her headband with curiosity.
“Kacey’s in town for a few days with her band,” Jonah said. “She’s staying with me until Tuesday.”
Now Tania’s eyes looked ready to burst from her skull. “Really? That’swonderful. And unexpected...”
“I was just giving Kacey a tour of the hot shop,” Jonah put in.
I bobbed my head. “It’s amazing. Jonah made a piece for the gallery opening to show me how it’s done. He’s incredibly talented.”
“I agree,” Tania said. “And I love to tell him how talented he is because he can’t take it. At all. Look at him.”
Jonah was rolling his eyes and shaking his head as the blush crawled up his neck. His modesty was genuine and therefore sexy as hell.
Shit, nowI’mblushing…
“So which piece did you make?” Tania asked him. “I’ll scratch it off the list.”
Jonah scrubbed his hand through his hair. “Um, it’s…”
“A perfume bottle,” I said. “It’s beautiful.”
Tania wrinkled her brow. “A perfume bottle. I don’t recall that—”
“I have to drive Kacey back to my place,” Jonah said quickly. “I’ll come back to finish out the day.”
“Sure, sure,” Tania said. She held Jonah’s eyes a moment, then turned to me. “Will I see you again before you leave?”
“No,” I said. “We fly out tomorrow.”
Again, Tania’s eyes met Jonah’s. A silent conversation seemed to pass between them, reminding me of the one betweenJonah and Theo in the kitchen yesterday.
“Well that sucks balls,” she finally said.
“Tania doesn’t express herself very well,” Jonah said dryly.
“And aren’t you lucky I don’t?” she said. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Kacey.”
She offered her hand again, but I hugged her instead. “You too, Tania. Maybe I’ll visit sometime soon.”
“Yes,” she said. “I think that would be a very, very good idea.”
“Tania’s awesome,” I said as we drove back. “Has she been your assistant long?”
“Since I began the installation,” Jonah said. “About two months ago. She’s a senior at UNLV. Industrial arts and all kinds of talented. I’m lucky to have her.”
“She seemed so happy to see me. That felt nice.”
Jonah shifted in his seat. “She’s like that. Friendly.” He glanced at me then back to the road. “The truth is… I’ve sort of walled myself off to a lot of people since I began my installation.” He spoke slowly, as if inspecting each word before he let it out. “I have Tania, Theo, my parents, and my best friends, Oscar and Dena. They’re all I have time for. I think Tania was happy that I brought someone new to the hot shop.”
“Oscar and Dena are the friends I saw in your photos? The cute guy with a wide smile? Pretty girl who looks Middle Eastern?”
“That’s them. Dena’s parents are from Iran. She and Oscar have been together for ages. I’m actually supposed to hang out with them tonight. We get together every week. It’s part of my routine, like dinner with my folks.”
“Oh.” I twisted my hands in my lap. “That’s cool. I thinkI’ll—”
