“Amazing. I love it.” Audrey grinned as she followed Michelle down the hallway. “Is she your favorite student? I think she’d be mine.”
Michelle glanced at her. “Nuala? Yes, she’s a lot of fun to have in class. A very engaged student as well.”
“What’s her story?” Because Nuala had to be in her fifties, and Audrey didn’t see many other students her age.
“Oh, I’m not sure, other than that she had always wanted to finish her degree and is finally getting the chance.”
“Good for her.” Audrey held the door for Michelle as they stepped outside into a sunny September afternoon. “I’ve barely seen you this week. Did you have a nice weekend after the party?”
Michelle’s expression brightened. “I did, actually. Very nice. You?”
“Mostly working in my studio, throwing some pottery. What did you do?” Because Michelle sounded more enthusiastic about her weekend than Audrey had expected.
“I started a new research project,” Michelle said, sounding almost bashful now. “Got caught up in it and spent almost the whole weekend at my computer.”
“Sounds like you enjoyed it, though.”
“I did,” she agreed.
“I totally get it,” Audrey said. “There’s nothing that compares to getting lost in an exciting new passion project, is there?”
When Michelle looked at her that time, the light Audrey had seen on Friday night was back in her eyes, and she was smiling. “No, there’s not. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
Michelle lingered in the doorway to Audrey’s office, in no hurry to cross the hall to her own. She’d been looking for an excuse to have a closer look at Audrey’s art collection, and there was no time like the present. “Do you mind?” she asked, gesturing toward the nearest painting.
Audrey smiled at her. “Come on in. They’re all done by friends of mine. I like to think I got in early, and these will be in big demand in a few years.”
“You have some talented friends.” Michelle set her briefcase down in one of Audrey’s guest chairs and stepped closer to the painting. It depicted sunlight filtering through a lush green forest, and the play of light and shadow in the piece was quite impressive.
“I do,” Audrey agreed. “And I love getting to fill my office with their creations.”
“Is anything in here yours?” Michelle walked farther into Audrey’s office to examine another painting. This one showed the Northshire campus quad, and she recognized the signature in the bottom corneras belonging to an art student who’d attended during the same years as Audrey.
“A few of the ceramic pieces are mine.” Audrey gestured toward a shelf to her right that displayed a variety of sculptures, ceramics, and other freestanding pieces.
Michelle stepped closer to the bookcase, her eyes drawn to a vase that had been carved with an interwoven floral pattern. The grooves had been filled with paint, creating a rainbow-hued background against the off-white surface of the clay. It was unique, with an understated beauty that Michelle found captivating.
“That’s one of mine,” Audrey said.
“It’s beautiful.” Michelle’s words didn’t begin to express her appreciation for Audrey’s talent. “How did you create that back-filled effect with the paint?”
“Wax.” Audrey stepped beside Michelle, lifting the vase from the shelf. “I coat the vase with wax before I carve it. Then when I brush it with paint, it only fills the grooves, leaving the surface of the vase in its original color.”
“It’s beautiful and so unique.” Michelle watched Audrey trace a finger over one of the flowers carved into the vase. Audrey had such slender, graceful fingers. But wait ...
The turquoise band on her middle finger.
The short unpainted nails.
Michelle gulped air and then felt like she might choke on it. She must have made a sound, because Audrey turned her head, and now Michelle was looking at her honey-brown hair and those rose-hued lips.Oh.Oh no ... surely she hadn’t been fantasizing about Audrey on Friday night. Audrey was her student, for god’s sake! Former student, but still ... Michelle must be at least fifteen years her senior.
It was so inappropriate. What was the matter with her? Only Michelle could manage to screw up even in her private fantasies. She wanted to dismiss the similarities between Audrey and her facelessfantasy woman as a coincidence, but that ring ... the ring was very specific. Michelle’s neck and cheeks felt like they might catch fire.
“Are you okay?” Audrey asked. “You look ...”
“Fine. I’m fine.” Michelle took a quick step backward, banging her leg against the side of Audrey’s desk.For fuck’s sake.
Audrey reached out a hand to steady her, but Michelle sidestepped out of reach. Her heart was racing. She was losing control because of a turquoise ring worn by a woman she’d only just started to think of as a friend. And she needed a friend, dammit.
