Page 105 of Beautiful Lies
“Nobody will be looking at the art,” he muttered, casting sideways glances at me as we walked through the gallery space, to the start of the exhibit. Eden and Killian were deep in conversation with what I guessed was a potential buyer.
“Where’s Keira?” I asked, scanning the room but not seeing her.
“You just missed her. She went to hang out at Tate’s garage. Wanted to check out a Charger he just bought at the auction.”
“That’s an interesting way to spend a Saturday night.”
“She’s an interesting girl,” he said with a smile.
“She’s pretty great. But I expected nothing less. After all, she is your sister. That automatically makes her cool.”
“Really.”
“Yup.”
“Almost as cool as you. You invited Mr. Santos. For me.”
“I thought he should see the success you’ve made of your life. He told me you were one of his most gifted students. Teacher’s pet,” I teased.
He huffed out a laugh. “How’ve you been?”
“Great. Busy. How about you?”
“Yeah. Busy. I…yeah, I’ve been busy.” He took a deep breath and let it out. We were acting like acquaintances, overly polite, right back to the way it was that day in the coffee shop. Except that this time I wanted to be with him and he was the one holding back.
Connor guided me through the exhibit and I stopped in front of each painting, marveling at how amazing they looked, the canvases stretched on frames on the white walls with spotlights trained on each one.
“You’re the star of the show,” he said as we stopped in front of one I hadn’t seen before. It was me, a black mask with purple feathers hiding my face, bars of music swirling across the canvas. “That’s the first one I did,” he said. “I tossed it in the trash, but the next day I found it in the break room. Claudia rescued it.”
“Why would you ever toss this in the trash?”
He shook his head but didn’t answer. It must have been the night I was at the hospital after my mom had asked him to leave. Before he’d gone to The Candy Store. He must have thought it wasn’t good enough. How wrong he was. I’d have to thank Claudia for rescuing it.
“Come on. There’s something I want you to see.” He led me around the corner and we stopped in front of a dividing wall with only one painting on it, bigger than the others.
“Connor…it’s so beautiful.” And it was.
“Remember when you said we’re all made of stardust?”
I nodded. “I remember. I remember everything,” I said softly. It was the night sky filled with stars, shimmering above a moonlit ocean. Shades of deep blue and purple and stardust scattered across the sky. Without thinking, I reached for his hand and it clasped around mine. “Look at what you’ve done, Connor. You took blank canvases and you created beautiful works of art. I’m so in awe of your talent. I can’t even…you amaze me.”
He squeezed my hand. “You like it then?”
“I love it. And Connor, I know you said that you need time but—”
“Excuse me, are you the artist?” a woman asked.
Connor dragged his gaze away from me and focused on the woman. “Yes, I am.”
“Hey. I’ll leave you to do your thing,” I said, giving him a little smile.
He opened his mouth as if to speak but closed it again and nodded.
“I love this piece,” the woman said. “It would be perfect…”
I took a deep breath as I walked away. This art…it was far too personal to belong to anyone but us. Good thing it hadn’t been left up to me. I would have put round orange stickers on all of them to let everyone know they’d already been sold.
“Hey, you made it,” Eden said, pulling me into a hug then holding me at arm’s length. “You look amazing. If that dress doesn’t get Connor crawling back to you, then he’s an idiot.”
