“Thanks,” I say.
When we get to the top of the stairs, I can already see what she’s been chattering about.
It’s a new painting, something utterly different from what she usually does.
It’s wild and free and exploding with color and texture.
I smile as I step closer, almost feeling intimidated. “Is it even dry yet? Don’t you have to let it, like, cure or something for a few days before you move it?”
She nods. “Yes, but I really think this needs to be at the gala. Daphne and my uncle are already on top of it and are sending people with the equipment to move it without smudging it.”
“Is that fabric in the paint?”
She nods. “Mixed media. It’s got a bit of everything.”
“Wow.”
“What do you think?”
I study the canvas, and I’m not sure what to say.
Other than the silent vow that I’m going to marry this woman as soon as possible.
“This has been inside you for a while, hasn’t it?”
She nods. “You drew it out of me.”
Riley’s cheeks are flushed and her eyes sparkle. I pull her to me and give her a slow, lingering kiss that has her melting into me.
“It’s fucking incredible and I’m so proud of you. Now, it’s time to get ready to go.”
I wait on the sofa while she gets dressed. Curious, I sniff the blanket, just wondering if…but no. She laundered it since we did the deed on this sofa. Of course she did. What’s wrong with me?
Several minutes later, Riley comes out of the bathroom in a draping floor-length dress of silk, the color of pale lavender. The plunging neckline makes her look like a movie star. She wears her hair pinned up, with a few curly tendrils falling down, brushing her bare shoulders. She adds a colorful wrap for warmth, sparkly heels and a funky clutch. None of these items match, but they all make sense together.
“Wow…Riley…you look…”
“Different? Uncomfortable? Out of my depth?”
“Like an angel.”
She lets me kiss her on the forehead and we leave, with me helping her down the stairs arm in arm.
“This is starting to feel like a real date,” she says.
“No comment,” I say, and she laughs.
I help her into the car just as Hodges drives by in his patrol car, and he’s eyeballing me pretty hard.
I smile and wave, waiting for him to be out of sight before I get behind the wheel.
The gala is at the ballroom of a sprawling, Gilded Age mansion deep in the woods.
“I think I took a field trip here when I was in school,” I say as we pull up.
“Yeah. We all did.” Her laughter is tinged with nervousness. Sometimes I forget Riley was only a couple of years behind mein school. It’s crazy to me that we never knew each other until now. I really had my head up my ass back in high school, or I know I would have noticed her, for sure.
The valet takes my car keys at the front entrance, and I help Riley out of my truck, careful to make sure her long dress doesn’t drag on the ground.
