Page 63 of Fight

“Yep,” Kyle responded immediately. “Do you have any experience with teaching or kids?”

“No,” Lena answered honestly with furrowed brows.

“We could give you training, classes, and certification,” he responded cryptically.

There were a couple beats of silence as Lena tried to figure out what he was getting at. “Are you offering me a job?” she asked confusedly. Seriously, what was happening here?

“Yes,” he said in a slow, deadpanned voice. “Do you already have a job?” His dark eyes looked down on her skeptically as if he couldn’t believe she actually would.

“No, I was just…let go,” she inexplicably explained to him. She wanted to throw her hand over her mouth as his eyes narrowed in on her suspiciously.

“From where?” he barked out.

Lena sighed. She didn’t even know what this job was, but she’d already screwed it up. “The resort,” she grumbled.

Kyle’s eyes lightened and he nodded understandingly. “Ah, Cynthia Deveres. That woman’s got a stick up her ass. And this is coming fromme,” he said with an almost imperceptible chuckle. Lena looked up at him in surprise. Was that humor from Mr. Serious?

“Look, I like your painting, but you can’t do the mural,” Kyle said plainly.

Lena felt her heart collapse inside of her.“What? Why not?” she asked in a loud, high-pitched voice.

“Because my cousin Louis is doing it, and my grandmother would kill me if I didn’t name him the winner.” Kyle said this like this was the most obvious thing in the world and she would be crazy not to gladly accept this very strange, very unfair piece of news.

“Well, that’s…” corrupt and dishonest… “cool,” she finished lamely with a short nod. “Why did you even advertise it? I worked really hard on that,” she said accusingly, pointing to her painting where he still held it in his right hand.

Kyle let out an impatient sigh and rubbed his fingers to his temple. “We advertised it for the perception, and I really didn’t expect anyone else to turn in a submission. Today is the deadline and yours is the only submission we’ve received.”

Lena’s mouth dropped open at that news. Sure, Conrad was more centered on the type of people who enjoyed specific types of athletic activities, but there was art and artists everywhere.

“The only place I advertised this was the elementary school, and that was really as a way to gauge my potential hiring pool for the teaching artists I want to hire. Conrad is unfortunately not known as a haven for artists. I want to change that though, which is why I pressured the Civic Association to invest in a theater and art house. I like art,” he finished simply.

Lena felt nonplussed as she nodded and digested the onslaught of information. “So what exactly does a teaching artist do?”

“Work with the community, school groups, and adult groups to create art and cultivate appreciation of art. Also, since we’re just getting this theater and art house off the ground, we need someone to make a name for it in the community. It’s all right there on the flier,” he noted nonchalantly, pointing to the paper in her hand.

Lena looked down at the blue flier again, but all the words blurred together. Different feelings swirled around inside of her: disappointment that she wouldn’t get to paint the town mural, disbelief that she was seriously being offered a job in this strange little room by this bizarre man, and trepidation towards Kyle’s brash and blunt personality.

For all that he was seeminglynotan emotionally intelligent person, Kyle apparently picked up on some of this and he sighed heavily as if this conversation was really,reallyputting him out.

“Why don’t you come back tomorrow at…let's say ten o’clock? Maybe bring a resume and some more samples of your artwork with you? My sister Sasha will be here. She’s better at all this bull—stuff than I am.”

Lena nodded, relieved that she wouldn't have to make a decision about this right now—which he’d seemingly been expecting her to do.

“Okay,” Lena said with a relieved sigh. “That sounds like a good plan. Can I bring this with me?” She held up the blue flier with a little wave.

“Yeah, sure,” he said, giving her a dismissive wave as he turned around and started walking down the dark hallway. Lena stood still and watched him, in a bit of shock, her thoughts discombobulated.

“Oh! Mr. Bear…Kyle?” she suddenly called after him. “Don’t you want to know my name?”

‘It’s on your portfolio, Helena Harlowe,” he called out in a muffled voice, not turning around as he lifted her portfolio in the air.

After he disappeared into a doorway, Lena shot out of the freezing room like a rocket, pushing the heavy glass door open and rushing down the steps to the Square. She let out a relieved sigh as the hot, dry air washed over her and her freezing limbs started to thaw out.

As she stepped past the western wear store where a herd of tourists were standing in the doorway causing the door dings to go crazy, Lena realized that in addition to keeping her portfolio, he also kept her painting.

Chapter 20

“So,hewouldn’tgivethe painting back to you?” Jake asked incredulously from where he lay on Lena’s bed, his arms crossed under his head, which rested on her lilac-colored pillow case. The room was bright from the overhead lights, but the window was cracked open a bit to let in the cool evening breeze.

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