Page 27 of Neat
I rolled my eyes, thinking the subject would change, but Logan still watched me, waiting.
“Let’s just say I had an eye-opening experience that summer, one that showed me my family’s true colors.”
“And you didn’t like them?”
I stopped walking, and Logan followed my lead, facing me in the middle of the sidewalk at the corner of Main and Ivy.
“Your entire family hates mine,” I reminded him. “Is it really so hard to believe that I share the sentiment?”
The comment came out more of a bite than I intended, and Logan softened, his eyes searching mine.
“I’m sorry, I feel like I overstepped.”
“It’s okay,” I assured him on a long exhale and a gentle shake of my head. “It’s been a long day, as you well know. I think it might be time for me to get some sleep.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I think that’d probably be best for both of us.” I watched the thick Adam’s apple in his throat bob on a swallow, and I wondered how I never realized how hot his neck was before.
Wait — did I just think hisneckwas sexy?
“Let me walk you home?” he asked.
I smiled. “Alright.” We took three more steps, and I stopped again. “Welp, this is me. Thank you.”
Logan’s brows bent together, and he looked up at the last shop in the brick building behind me. I didn’t have signage up yet, and when his gaze fell to the windows — to the empty spaceinsidethose windows — his eyes doubled in size.
“You livehere?”
I chuckled. “I live upstairs, above the shop.” Following his gaze, I smiled at the empty building behind me — a blank canvas — before I turned back to him with a beam of pride. “This is going to be my art studio — the first one in town.”
“Wait, really?” He stepped past me, framing his eyes with his hands and pressing them to the windows to see more inside before he turned to face me again. “This isyours?”
“Mm-hmm. Well,technically, it’s in my father’s name for now… but we have a deal and…” I shook my head. “Anyway, yes — it’s mine.” I swallowed, not sure why my stomach sank to my feet when the next words rolled off my lips. “Want to see it?”
“Like, go inside?”
I nodded.
Logan smiled enough to show that little dimple in his left cheek, which somehow made my stomach flip even more. “I’d love that.”
It was definitely the cold Tennessee night that had my hands trembling as I unlocked the doors. It was absolutely the fact that my leather jacket was more of a fashion statement than anything that could actually keep me warm. That’s what I assured myself as the bolt unlocked and I pushed inside, Logan following close behind me.
It definitelywasn’tbecause I was nervous, or because I hadn’t shown my studio to anyone other than my parents and my best friend, and surely it wasn’t because showing someone my naked studio felt a lot like showing them my naked body.
Which meant I was stripping down bare for Logan Becker.
I kept my jacket on, hoping it would calm my tremors as I pulled off to the side once we were in the studio, Logan walking past me, his eyes wide as he looked around the space. I tucked myself into the corner, as if I could hide, as if I could disappear and not watch him dissect the space.
Does he hate it?
Is it stupid?
Is he thinking no one will ever pay to take classes here?
Is he thinking art is a waste of time, just like my father?
I shouldn’t have cared. I didn’twantto care, but thoughts like those raced through my mind as I watched Logan from the corner of the room. He traveled the space quietly, slowly, eyes roaming, hands reaching out to trace the walls, the windows, the exposed brick on the back wall. Not much had changed since Chris was there on Saturday. We’d painted the walls, cleaned the brick, swept and mopped the tile floor, and cleaned out what was left in the back storage. Where it was a dusty blank slate before, at least now it was a clean one.
But it was still blank, and I wasn’t sure anyone could see the vision except for me.
