Beach Rental(36)
“What?”
“This wall of art.” Juli touched the empty nail holes. “It’s growing and changing.”
Anna laughed and nodded. “Yes. That’s the essence of creativity, isn’t it? I couldn’t have said it better. Now, how about a glass of tea or cup of coffee?”
“I don’t have any experience, not really.”
“Of course you do. You couldn’t go into rapture over my art wall if you didn’t feel it in yourself. You can’t tell me that feeling has never found expression.”
“Back in school I practically lived in the art classroom. Mostly pencil. Some acrylic. But it was so long ago I don’t think it counts.”
Anna gazed somewhere over Juli’s shoulder deep in thought, before she spoke. “We’ll start with pencil.”
She picked up several sheets of paper. “Take a look. I conduct several classes a week. I have a beginner class on Wednesday afternoons. The first page lists the classes. The rest are recommended supplies for each type of medium we study.”
“A class? With other students?”
“Or you can start with private lessons.”
Juli knew Anna could see her relief. Her cheeks grew hot. “Down the road a group might be okay.”
“I’m glad Ben found you. That you found each other.”
Juli was caught by surprise. Anna seemed so nice. So open. What did she know about the arrangement with Ben?
“I know I’m overstepping, but if I’m gonna step in big, I might as well go all the way.” She leaned toward Juli. “Honey, I’ve known the Bradshaw family forever and Luke for about as long. I don’t doubt your whirlwind courtship and marriage knocked ‘em silly at first, but they know as well as I do that Ben—that special angel of a man—hasn’t really been alive in many years. He never got over his first love, Miss Deborah Driver. They fell in love as kids. Everyone knew they’d end up together.”
“How did his wife die? He didn’t seem to want to talk about it.”
“It was fate. Or chance. Who knows? Deborah went to the mall at the same time a delusional man off his meds started shooting a gun at everyone he could see. She died there on the sidewalk, along with her unborn child.”
Anna continued, “Ben seemed to take it well. Too well. Everyone put it down to his faith which, make no mistake, helped him through it, but I don’t think he ever grieved properly. It grew up like a wall around him. Oh, he was open to the church and found comfort there, but when it came to his personal life and finding love, the joy of living died within him.”
They let the silence settle around them for a moment.
“When you’re ready for the group, you’ll know. You’ll discover there are all sorts of ways to learn.”
****
The next time Juli saw Frankie, she was coming out for an early morning walk. Frankie was half-hidden in the dark area around the base of the steps. She considered confronting him. She looked at her hands remembering how they’d trembled when she knocked on his door. Only a few weeks earlier, right? How quickly she’d lost her survivor’s edge. Her new role was intended to fit a softer Juli. Julianne, maybe. The girl she’d never been.
Juli stepped quietly back into the house.
She would have to ask Luke for help.
Maia and Juli had plans for lunch. When she got to the gallery, Maia was busy with a customer who looked like a serious buyer, so Juli signaled Maia to ignore her and strolled about, looking at the paintings on the walls. She found Anna’s small, vivid, inspiring sunrises and flaming sunsets. Framed in black, they were grouped like panes in a nine-light window.
Juli browsed along the wall until she reached Luke’s office, then stopped short of the open doorway. No noise, not even a rustle. Her heart thumped faster and her breathing quickened.
How could she consider asking Luke for anything? Especially something like this. She stepped back, away from the door.
Asking him for help would only confirm his bad opinion of her. She wasn’t afraid of Frankie for herself. She wanted to protect Ben.
Everyone was temporary in this life she was living now. Once Ben was gone, she’d move on and never see these people again. She stepped forward.
“Mind if I speak with you?”
He looked up. His expression hardly changed, but a barrier whooshed into place between them. It amused and annoyed her. What did he have to fear?
“What do you want?”
She tried to appear cool and composed, but her pulse thrummed in her neck. “I hope you’ll help me.”
Luke stood, motion tightly contained. “Come in.”
Juli pushed the door almost closed behind her, but not totally. She didn’t want full privacy, not with Luke. There was a chair near the front of his desk. When she sat, he sat.