Page 37 of Art of Love
In the handful of days that I’d known her, I’d guessed two things about her. The first was that she was the kind of woman who had fire and sass. The second thing was that she looked like she’d been through a lot. Like the years hadn’t been kind to her.
Of course, I didn’t know the full details, but it wasn’t hard to see. It was in her eyes.
“Life. I worked so hard to get to this point, but the truth is, I don’t know if I have the mental strength to be here.”
I wouldn’t pry, but it made me wonder what had happened to her. “But you’re here.”
“It just feels like there’s always something to set me back and make me work a hundred times harder than I have to. I’m tired of it.”
I didn’t have to do that. I guess my hindrance was down to wanting to please my family. That was it. For her, it seemed and felt like more had got in her way.
“Maybe this is the last thing.”
She smirked. “You do realize that if I get the job, it means you didn’t.”
“Yes, it would sadly mean that, but job aside, I think we both know that John must respect you a lot and love your work to want you here.”
“He respects you too.”
“Thanks. What’s your work like?” I noticed that she hadn’t exactly spoken about art yet. I’d talked for the both of us, but she’d barely said anything.
“My work?”
“Yeah.”
“Well.” She straightened. I liked the glint in her honey-colored eyes. It was the first time I’d seen it. “I didn’t have a style until I went to college. It was then that I came across your grandfather’s work. My work is inspired by his... um, methods.”
That was interesting since my work was too.
“So, you like abstract art?”
“I do, but my style is abstract dark fantasy.”
Okay... she’d got my attention before, but now she had it in a completely different way. I loved dark fantasy. It wasn’t my style but I had a very deep appreciation for it. I could do a few pieces if someone gave me a topic or theme, but most dark fantasy abstract artists came up with their own themes and topic. Pretty much like what I did in my own work.
“Wow. Tell me more.”
She smiled and pointed over to the river where it dipped down a set of rocks, so there was a ripple. “Over there. It looks like something’s in the water. It’s flowing, but the rocks are creating a wave as it ripples by. In my head, as the ripples swirl and splash, it looks like a person rising out of the water and reaching up to the sky.”
As I looked, I saw what she meant. It was the way the water bounced and splashed.
“It looks like a woman.” I smiled. Her full lips parted, and she smiled wide.
“You see it?”
“Yeah, a little like the lady of the lake, but the image of her is water and she’s reaching up to the sky. That little splash above her head looks like a... star.”
I pointed. When I looked back to her, she was already looking at me. Surprise suffused her fine features.
“You’re the first person to do that, to know and see what I mean just from my description.”
“Well, does that get me into your good books and possibly gain some forgiveness for being an ass?”
“Yeah, it kind of does.”
I smiled and looked out to our little water fantasy. As I did, an idea came to my mind.
“Jia, I have another idea.”
