Page 95 of The Paid Wife: A Lesbian Romance

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“I mean with a, um, friend. I’ve never been to the beach

with friends. My mom’s taken me here a few times. Not for a

long time, though.”

“So, when you paint, do you just remember things? Or do

you have to look at something?”

Emily thought about how badly she’d wanted to paint Dani.

She’d make herself wait for that. Until she had a perfectly

formed image in her head. She knew she couldn’t ask her to sit

for her and assembling that memory so that the painting was

perfect would take more than just a few days. Emily wanted to

paint not just what was on the outside but bring what was on

the inside to life as well. She couldn’t do that until she knew

Dani better.

“I guess a bit of both. Sometimes I look at things.

Sometimes I paint from memory.”

“Do you draw too?”

“I guess I do.”

“Did you learn it?”

“With lessons?” Emily grabbed up a handful of sand and let

the warm grains run over her fingers. She buried her hand in

them after, digging deeper for the colder, wetter sand below.

She liked the way it felt cool on her palm and warm on the

back of her hand, yet it was only an inch or so difference in

depth. “No. I never had lessons. My mom never would have

agreed to that. I guess I learned what I learned from watching

her. She’d never explain anything. She doesn’t like to be

bothered when she paints. I was never allowed to touch

anything, but she did let me watch if I was quiet. I started

showing that I was good at it in school. Art class. And when

that was obvious, I think my mom was even more alarmed.

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