All of these kids had a story, and I didn’t doubt for a second that this kid needed some cash. He had the eyes of a person who had seen shit. They weren’t wide or innocent, but dark and deep and exhausted.
“How much?”
The kid paused for a second. “Fifty bucks.”
“Make it a hundred and you have a deal,” I said, pulling out my wallet.
The kid scoffed. “That’s not how things are supposed to work.”
“Sure it is. You have something I want. You want money for it, but I want to pay you what I think it’s worth. And to me, it’s worth a hundred bucks.” I pulled the money out of my wallet and handed it over to the kid, who took it with a look of shock and awe on his face. Then he pocketed the money and gently took the canvas off the wall. It was only about five inches square, and I already had the perfect place for it to go.
“Thank you so much,” I said to him, “What’s your name? I can’t make out the signature on the painting.”
“Everyone calls me DJ.”
“Well, DJ, it was a pleasure to meet you.” I shook his hand, then Rex and I excused ourselves so we could keep looking at the art. Rex’s arm was still around my waist, and I found that I liked having it there. He was warm and smelled like cinnamon. Being around him was easier than I’d thought it was going to be.Maybe because we weren’t really dating, there was no pressure. The whole point of going out wasn’t to find love or make a good impression, it was simply to get to know each other well enough to pull off an elaborate ruse. Before long, the wedding would be here, and when it was done, we would be too.
But in the meantime, I got flowers, art, and the attention of an attractive man.
SEVEN
REX
Of course thiswas one of the best first dates I’d been on in a long time. Hanging out with Perry felt natural, and we were never short of things to talk about. At first, I’d panicked a little at the idea that I had to figure out where to take him on a first date. I opted out of the usual dinner date. Dinner dates were fine, but they could be awkward when you were trying to get to know someone. It seemed like I’d just get the conversation going and there would be another interruption.
The art show at the community center had admittedly been an idea born out of panic and desperation. With a dinner date off the table, it was up to me to find something else to do. Movies were good if you wanted to hold hands in the dark, but they were bad if you wanted to get to know someone. Which was the whole point of this venture.
Perry didn’t mind when I put my arm around him and basically followed him around the room, going from piece to piece, giving each one a thorough look before moving on. Perrywas a thoughtful person, and it pleased me to know that Blue had such nice friends.
Perry took his time with each of the different pieces. Whether they were large or small, good or bad, he gave each piece his undivided attention. I wasn’t surprised when he lingered on the painting of the cat.
With his new painting in hand, we eventually left the community center and headed back toward our cars, but I wasn’t ready for the date to be over yet.
“Let’s go for ice cream,” I suggested. “We can drop your portrait of Gumball off at your car and continue our walk. There’s a little supermarket around the corner that has an ice cream bar.”
“No kidding?” Perry sounded excited. “I haven’t had ice cream in… I can’t remember the last time I had it.”
“No offense, but that’s kind of depressing.”
Perry tipped his head back and laughed. “None taken. It is depressing.”
“It’s also easily fixed.”
It might have been my imagination, or Perry might have drifted a little closer to me. I’d worried that it would be awkward to try and do things a boyfriend would do, like hold his hand or slip my arm around his waist, but so far, being with Perry was as natural as breathing.
“I’d love to have ice cream with you.”
“I keep waiting for you to saybut.”
“No buts. Well, just the one that’s going to benefit from all this ice cream I’m about to eat.”
“Your butt is perfect, whether or not you have ice cream.”
“Well, I wasn’t fishing for compliments, but I’ll accept them all the same.”
As Perry grinned at me, his gaze flicked to my mouth, and I wondered what it would be like to kiss him. How soft were hislips? Was he a leader or a follower or a guy who gave as good as he got?
We dropped the painting off at his car, an older model Mazda that looked well cared for, and continued on, hand in hand, toward the supermarket. Ted’s was a family-run business, one that had been a neighborhood staple for well over forty years. It was practically an institution around here. The high school was a few blocks away and during the school year, Ted’s would be flooded at lunch time with teenagers getting their ice cream fix.
