After we finished eating, I got to work.
I put music on and started painting, and he opened his laptop in the corner near the window and handled his own business while I handled mine. Every now and then I looked over, and he’d already be looking at me.
I pointed my brush at him after the third time. “Why do you keep staring at me?”
He didn’t even look ashamed. “Because I can.”
I rolled my eyes and went back to my canvas, smiling so hard I had to bite my lip.
Hours passed with me painting, him working, and us talking in between. He’d ask me what I was thinking about, and I’d ask him what he was typing so fast over there. He took a call at onepoint and stepped outside so he wouldn’t interrupt me, and even that did something to me. It was little things, but little things added up.
At one point he came over behind me while I was mixing color and kissed my neck. I turned too fast with a brush in my hand and got paint on his shirt.
I froze. “Damn. I’m so sorry.”
He looked down at the smear, then back at me. “So, this how artists treat their guests?”
I giggled as I put the brush down. “I said I was sorry.”
He stepped closer. “How you plan to pay me back?”
I put my hands on his shoulders and looked up at him. “In kisses.”
He grabbed my chin, tongue kissed me, then pulled back just enough to say, “That’s the only currency I care about from you anyway.”
I stared at him for a second after that and shook my head. “You expect me to get work done with you flirting with me all day?”
He laughed and kissed my forehead before going back to his laptop.
By the time the sun started setting, I had paint on my hands, on my shirt, and somehow on my cheek.
I set my brush down and stepped back from the canvas. My newest piece wasn’t finished yet, but it was close. I turned and saw Sincere watching me again, laptop closed this time, eyes on me in that way that always made everything else fade.
“What?” I asked, smiling.
He stood and came over to me. “I’m proud of you.”
I swallowed and looked around my studio, then back at him. “I’m proud of me too.”
He grinned. “As you should be.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist and laid my face against him for a second. I thought about all the years I spent trying to make something out of scraps, arguing with Kodi over bills, praying over my kids after they went to sleep, that car accident, the explosion, and how close I came to losing everything. I thought about how scared I used to be to want more.
Then I thought about where I was standing now.
Myown studio.Myown money. A man who loved me out loud.
I leaned back and looked up at him. “Thank you for seeing my potential before I saw it myself.”
He touched my face and shook his head. “You always saw yourself, baby. I just met you at the right time.”
I smiled, and my eyes got wet anyway. “I love you.”
His expression grew softer as he replied, “I love you too. And this is just the beginning.”
I believed him, wholeheartedly. Without a doubt, I knew this man loved and adored me. I felt it in everything he did, from the big gestures to the smallest ones. He made me feel seen, protected, and wanted in a way I had never known before. With him, I didn’t have to question where I stood. I was his, and he made sure I felt that every time he looked at me.
I was finally standing in the life I asked God for, and I wasn’t simply trying to survive anymore.
