“Where are we?”
“The opening night of Gregor Ees artist’s exhibit.”
“What?” She turns to me, eyes wide. “I didn’t even know he had something going on.”
“It was kind of low key. I had to dig to find it.” I shrug. “But I remember you really liked his work, so I made sure we got here opening night.”
She looks at me like she’s trying to decipher something.
It feels like more than I deserve, but I’ll take it.
Her smile stays on her face, like she can’t help it. She’s practically buzzing next to me as we walk toward the building.
We fall into line, and after a second, she reaches for my hand. I take her hand carefully, because I know better now than to grab for more than she’s giving. It isn’t everything. It’s her hand in mine, and that should be small, but it doesn’t feel small to me.
Her mouth falls open when we step inside. There’s so much to look at, and his work is layered in a way that pulls you in. It’s hard to focus on just one piece when you’re surrounded by all of it.
She drops my hand.
I miss it immediately, but I get it.
She moves to the first painting near the entrance and just stands there. I step back and watch her, taking in the way her body responds to the art. She leans in, head tilted, studying it like she’s trying to pull something out of it instead of just looking at it.
She stays there so long I start looking too, trying to see what she sees.
I can’t.
I’m not about to interrupt her though. Tonight isn’t about me understanding the art. It’s about her having space to feel it.
When she finally steps back, she looks at me. Her eyes are a little glassy, and then she smiles.
It hits me right in the chest.
She turns and moves on to the next piece, and I follow her through the exhibit. We don’t talk. Three hours pass like that. Walking. Stopping. Looking.
Lily takes art in quietly. She seems to absorb it and hold it somewhere inside herself until it settles.
I can’t stop watching her.
We’ve never done this before, which doesn’t make sense when I really think about it. This is who she is.
How did I miss something like this? How did I never think to bring her somewhere like this?
The more I watch her, the clearer it gets. Where I fell short. What I didn’t see. What I didn’t give her.
I swallow it down, standing there behind her as she studies another piece.
I see it now.
I just hope it’s not too late for that to matter.
Chapter 14 Lily
Stepping out into the night air feels like waking up again.
I didn’t realize how quiet I’d been until we stepped outside. I didn’t say a single word the whole time we were in there. When I check the time and see we’ve been inside for three hours, I blink.
I look at Javonte.
