At long last, we arrived at the solarium. The harsh glare of sun reflected off the gleaming marble, blinding me. Distracting me from when she released my hand and disappeared inside.
“Eliah,” she was calling from somewhere ahead.
I followed, allowing my eyes time to adjust.
The space that once held sturdy chairs and dozens of tables was cluttered with canvas. Each one in varying degrees ofcompletion. Antique tables splattered with paint. Plastic across stone floors.
I lost Lenora through the maze of winding portraits. The most stunning depictions of peace, calm. Hills and mountains. Sprawling valleys. Endless oceans. All captured with delicate strokes so fine, I swear they could have been photos blown to full size.
“Here!” a man shouts back. “I’m nearly done. Come see.”
A grown man with a gruff cadence. And my illusion that my sons were still children vanishes when I round a corner and find Lenora with a giant.
Tall, broad with a head full of dark wisps falling around a chiseled face. He was clad in paint ruined jeans and a gray T-shirt that strained across his torso.
But my eyes were locked on the arms he had banded around Lenora’s middle. She was pulled back against his chest. Both facing a portrait of a sandy beach at sunset. Blue waters kissing the skyline. He had his chin on her shoulder, face turned into the side of her neck.
Intimate.
“Oh, this is perfect,” Lenora cried. “It’s gorgeous. Definitely my favorite.”
The man chuckled and nuzzled her jaw. “You say that all the time.”
She grinned and tipped her face to his. “Because they all are.”
For that single heartbeat, I was an intruder. I had no business witnessing the way he stared into her eyes like she was his only reason for living. I had no business feeling my gut twist and knot when she brushed the side of his handsome face with her fingertips.
“I have something for you.”
His eyebrow lifted, teasing. Dirty. “Yeah?”
I don’t miss the hand that drifted upwards off her stomach towards her breast.
Lenora giggled and smacked his hand. “Stop that. It’s a person.”
The lifted eyebrow was no longer suggestive but curious when he followed her gaze to where I stood. Disgruntled. Sour. Hating myself for both.
Eliah’s face — my face in every line right down to the silver eyes and dark hair — broke into a wide smile.
“Dad?” His hold never slipped off Lenora. Not even when he stood, a palm wet with blue paint extending to me. He realized his mistake and swiped it across his thigh instead. Embedding his jeans with a fresh stain. “You’re home.”
I gesture with a nod to the artwork. “You do all these?”
A faint, pink tinge darkened his cheeks. “I’m still learning.”
“He’s amazing,” Lenora declared for him. “I keep telling him he should sell some.”
Eliah scowled lovingly down into her tilted face. “You keep stealing them, you little thief.”
Unabashed, Lenora smirked — so much like her father my stomach hurt. “Those are my finder fees.”
I think for a panicked second he was going to kiss her, but he seemed to remember me and stopped himself.
“Are you staying?” he asked.
Lenora’s head turned to me, expression far too hopeful.
I should have said no.
