Chapter 2
One of the things I’ve learned about business is that there is art and there is money, and sometimes the two things don’t cross. Sometimes you can create the idea that’s in your mind and it turns into something amazing, and people love it and they will pay you for it. That’s the ultimate success right there. Making a career out of what you love doing.
But sometimes, it’s not about the art, but the money. I sit back and look at my drawing, feeling like I’ve perfectly nailed the cartoony look that my client was going for. The dinosaur, a T-rex, is smiling and waving one of his little arms. I drew fun lettering for the words “Mrs. Dinah’s Dinosaurs” and now the whole design is done. The great thing about having a popular online store in your town is that many people buy shirts from you just because they know you. I’m pretty sure every person of my West Canyon High graduating class owns at least one of my shirts. The other side to local popularity is that many people contract me to design specific shirts for them, and I’m too nice to say no. I don’t really enjoy making these T-shirt designs for the local elementary school, but I realize I’ll have to do stuff like this if I want to keep my business growing and earning money. Right now, I’m kind of all about the money and my creative art has to take a backseat. It’s the only thing that supports my argument of skipping college in pursuit of my business ventures. My parents have been on my ass like crazy about going to college, and I’m just not feeling it.
I only charged fifty dollars for this design, but it’s taken me all day since I kept setting it aside to hang out with my girlfriend.
“Are you done?” Ella says, appearing behind me. She’d been in my sister’s room a few minutes ago, and I guess I got so caught up in last minute tweaks to my design that I didn’t hear her come in.
“Yep,” I say, rolling back in my computer chair so she can see the finished product on my computer screen. “Does this look like a second grader’s field day shirt?”
She grins. “No, it looks better than the ones we used to have.”
“Damn right,” I say. I grab her hips and pull her toward me, beckoning her to sit on my lap so that we’re eye to eye. “I might get to design all of the elementary teacher’s shirts this year.”
Ella tucks her hair behind her ears then rests her hands on my shoulders. “I thought you hated doing boring commission jobs.”
I kiss her before answering. “I don’thatethem, they’re just boring. But I need these jobs so I can buy new furniture and stuff.” I grin and wiggle my eyebrows at her, but her smile fades a little.
“Right … your apartment.”
“Why are you saying it like that?”
She shrugs. “I’m not saying it weird. I’m happy for you.”
She doesn’t seem that happy for me. I tuck her hair behind her ears. “This apartment will be amazing. We’ll get all the alone time we want.”
“Is that why you’re moving out?” she asks, her eyebrow lifting skeptically. “So we can hook up more?”
The accusing tone of her voice puts me on the defensive. She’s the reason I’m getting my own place, but it’s not like that. Not at all. “Ella … What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she says, standing up. “I’m going home for dinner. I just came in here to say goodbye.”
I want to ask her to ditch her parents and stay with me longer, but I know that these dinners are important to her. Ella’s parents both work in the medical field with long shifts and crazy hours. When they all happen to be home at the same time, Ella likes having dinner with them. She’s confided in me that ever since the tornado, she’s had the occasional nightmare of that day turning out differently. Of finding her dad dead, of her mother being sucked into a tornado while Ella watched. She doesn’t want to miss any time with them, especially now that she’s about to go off to college. So although I want to hold her tightly and beg her to stay because something is clearly bothering her and I want to talk about it, I let her go.
“I’ll walk you outside,” I say.
The old Corolla she shares with her dad is sitting in our driveway. It was her car before her dad’s truck was demolished. Apparently they didn’t have full coverage insurance on it so they were shit out of luck in getting a new one. I’ve done the math a few times, and I know I could afford to buy Ella a new car and make the payments for her each month, but I haven’t mentioned it. Ella is strong and independent and she wouldn’t take a gift like that from me anyway.
I walk with her down my driveway and then I open her car door for her. “Hey,” I say just before she climbs inside.
“Yeah?” she says, turning to me. There’s something sad in her eyes, but I can’t figure out what. Things were fine earlier. We went to the mall and stopped at a Starbucks and then played foosball with Dakota for a while. This entire day was fine, and now she’s acting weird.
I swallow back all of my thoughts because there’s no point in bringing it all up right now when she has to leave. “I love you,” I say instead of everything I’m feeling.
She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “I love you, too.”
She gets in her car and I hover there in the open door so she can’t close it yet. “Have a nice dinner,” I say. “Call me later if you want.”
She nods. I step back and close her door, then watch her start the engine and slowly back away. Just a few months ago, she’d have walked through the grass to her house next door, but now she lives all the way across town.
Once her headlights disappear, I turn toward to the right and stare at the empty lot that used to have Ella’s house. The contractors did a great job of removing every piece of debris, leaving only a concrete slab where a house used to be. I think about where Ella’s bedroom window used to be, about her front door, where I’d always go over there as a kid, and then the years that passed when I’d pretend she didn’t live there because I thought she hated me. Maybe I shouldn’t worry so much about Ella. She’s been through a lot and she’s handled it really well. She’s stronger than I am, that’s for sure.
My phone buzzes and I take it out of my pocket to find a stupid weather alert. I slide it away without a second thought. There’s a hurricane in the Gulf, but it’s headed toward Louisiana, not Texas. Unlike that freak tornado last year, this storm isn’t my problem.
###
I’m half asleep in my bed, half watching a Netflix marathon when my phone rings. The sound is so loud it makes me jump, and I knock the phone to the floor. Blinking my eyes, I sit up and retrieve the phone, which now has Ella’s beautiful face on it. I answer her call.
