Page 44 of Finding Romance
I swirl the amber liquid in my glass. “No,” I say quietly. I don’t elaborate. Would I love drawing for books? Yes. Would I love to paint for galleries? Yes. Heck, I would do any job that involved my artistic talents, but those jobs are hard to find.
Kasen walks around the counter and sits down next to me. “What do you want in life?”
I feel my eyes widen and eyebrows rise involuntarily as I react to his big question. “That’s…uh…gosh, I don’t know,” I stumble over my words as I rack my brain for an answer.
He sets his glass down and takes my hands in his, our gazes locking. “Think about one year from now. Just a single year. If you could choose what you’d be doing, what would it be?” he asks, his eyes searching mine. He’s so sincere.
I’d want to be here with you. God, I’m an idiot. It’s probably for the best that I’m leaving in another week or two. My father reached out last week and offered up his guesthouse for me to stay in for a while. I’ve seriously been contemplating going out to Seattle to stay with him. I could clear my head of these delusional cobwebs I have about a future with Kasen where I illustrate books and sit in the park drawing frogs on lily pads.
“Well?” he prods.
“I, uh, maybe illustrating books or making book art?” I reply, but it comes out more of a question than a statement.
He’s still for a few seconds and then hops off his stool.
“Come on, we’re going to see Roxy,” he announces as he holds out his hand to me, a motion I’ve become all too familiar with, a motion that brings me immense comfort. After a lifetime of wanting that from my parents, it’s like he senses I need it even when I don’t realize that myself.
“OK,” I say in a voice that sounds completely unsure.
We walk downstairs, hand in hand. He ushers me into the bookstore and waves to Roxy who’s sitting behind the desk, her feet are up on a nearby chair. She’s reading a book.
“Hey, you looking for a new read?” she asks him as she sets her book down.
I look at Kasen with a raised eyebrow.
“No, we’re here about Piper,” he says, quickly deflecting attention onto me. But my curiosity is piqued. I need to know what he’s been reading.
“Yeah, any good books you can recommend Kasen here? Or me?” I ask innocently.
Kasen narrows his eyes, and I smirk.
“Of course, let’s find you both something,” she says excitedly as she gets up and walks toward a shelf.
“Jocelyn? Did the new inventory get shelved yet?” she calls out as she surveys the shelf.
“Yep, it’s all out there,” Jocelyn’s disembodied voice says from behind another shelf.
“Actually,” Kasen starts and Roxy stops to look at him. “We were curious if you know any authors who would want to hire Piper to do…what did you call it the other day?” He pauses and then snaps his fingers. “Character art.”
Her eyes look from me to Kasen. Roxy and Jocelyn had come up near the end of happy hour when I was drawing people. I follow her gaze as she looks behind her desk and I see my drawing of her sitting out with some other book-related things.
“Well, funny you should mention that. The other day, an author friend of mine popped in to chat about an upcoming release she’s having and she saw your drawing and really liked it. I’ve been meaning to ask you if you did character art, but I keep forgetting to text you. So, do you?” she asks.
“Like, what exactly do you mean?” I question.
Roxy walks over to a table and picks up a few items. “This,” she says as she points to a cover. “And this.” She holds up a postcard with an illustrated couple. “And also this,” she says as she picks up a magnet and a sticker with illustrated characters.
I walk over to her and examine each item. Can I do this? Yes. She hands me some more postcards. Yeah, I could do that.
“Yes. I can draw things like this,” I say as I flip through a stack of illustrated character art.
“Really?” she asks, her voice rising an octave.
“Yeah. I’d just need character descriptions,” I explain as I place the cards back down into a basket on a table.
“Then, I have some clients for you. I’ll send out an email, but first, do you have a portfolio or a website?” she asks.
I shudder. I do have a website, but it’s super out of date and also is more focused on the graphic design stuff I did in college since I thought that would be the easiest career to obtain once I graduated.
