Chapter 2

Beth

"Maddie, I need to ask you a favor."

"Does it involve some coffee from Darrisha's?"

Beth chuckled and agreed that it did.

"Yes, I will go swing by and get him after work. What are you wasting your talent on nowadays?"

Beth sighed, looking out the window that was tiny and let in only so much light. It felt proper to how she felt about her job. It was holding her back, barely giving her any light, and Beth didn't need the reminder that it all felt like a waste.

"I will have you know that razors are needed in society, or we would all be hairy."

"Well, I guess you can save the world one smooth leg at a time."

Beth scoffed. "I paint and sculpt, Maddie. I'm not a doctor. I'm not saving anyone."

"I don't know, Beth. Some of your paintings haunt me. I felt changed."

Secretly, Beth was trying to move people and when she did, her whole being smiled. It was the whole point, to feel and to make others feel. Art was funny in that way, subjective and so necessary, but hardly ever valued. Beth wished it was different, but it wasn't. She wished she didn't have to stay later, but with a coffee, Maddie would watch Jesep, and she knew he was in good hands.

"Well, I owe you big time."

"Hell, you pay better than my job, so I don't mind. Besides, you know I fell in love with Jesep at first sight."

"He has that effect on people."

"You would have that effect on people too, if you gave them a shot."

Beth didn't want to talk about her lack of a dating life. Maddie and many others thought that she needed to get back out there and date, but it wasn't in the cards for Beth. She'd had enough of men.

"Yeah? I would beg to differ."

"You're talking about Cole I take it."

"He's a troll, banging on my wall this morning."

"He's a hot troll."

Beth had to agree, anyone that saw him would. He had the dark and mysterious thing down pat. She liked the way he looked. Dark, smoldering eyes, strong jawline, insanely well built. The problem was that his eyes were usually looking down on her, and everything that he had said to her was basically incredibly rude. It was hard for Beth to see past those qualities to the hot guy underneath.

Maddie sighed. "I have to go. I will see you in a bit, okay?"

Beth agreed and realized that she was late for a meeting. She felt like she was running in place and getting nowhere, certainly not getting on top of it all.

***

Maddie was excited for her coffee, it was just that good. Beth got one as well and brought dinner with her. Jesep and Maddie were building a fort with blocks, and he didn't want to stop long enough to wash up for dinner. The living room was the start of a small city and it only reiterated how long Beth had been away. It was another late night, and it was almost time for her son to go to bed. She'd missed it all.

Maddie stayed well into the night, the two women switching to wine after Jesep went to bed. Maddie was in the midst of a love crisis and Beth was happy to help. She knew that Maddie loved too hard and fast. She had done the same thing not too long ago, but Beth was learning fast. She'd learned too fast that relationships could sometimes be the worst.

"You know what I'm going to say."

"Single life rocks?"

Beth agreed and really meant it most of the time. There were long nights where sleep wouldn't come, but she would get up and paint, create something until she was tired from the work.

"Something like that."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Most of the time."

"I don't know why you haven't tried to talk to Cole in that way. He is gorgeous and how convenient, right next door."

Beth blew out a breath.

"Yeah, and he's an asshole. Could you imagine being with someone like that? I can, and no thank you. Those broody, tortured types are good in theory, but they will wreak havoc on your life. Cole does mine and he's just the neighbor."

Maddie left a little after midnight. They both had to get up early, but Beth was restless. She was thinking about the past, the present, the eternal rat wheel she was on. She walked upstairs to the loft, a small room with the best window and her own little sanctuary. Jesep was asleep downstairs, and Beth spent another hour or two, working into the night on her latest painting.

It was a painting of a man, who for the longest time, didn't have a face. She knew who she envisioned there, knew who was to be there, but she didn't understand why. Beth could see the finished piece in her mind, which was how she knew what to paint, but it still stumped her as to why it was Cole that she was sketching. Why was he constantly on her mind?

Beth decided that it was just proximity and his looks. He was attractive, she wouldn't deny it, and it was clear that he had gotten into her head. She hoped that once the painting was complete, he would leave her mind, like all her other creative endeavors did. Beth would make it and then be done with it, just like she was done with the man himself.

END OF THE SAMPLE!