Page 24

“What are you doing today?” Otis asks.

“I have two portraits scheduled. I think I’m going to need more canvases soon too. I didn’t expect this many people to volunteer.”

“Sounds like the project is going well. Do you think the grant committee will have a problem with you painting monsters?”

“Artistic interpretation. I’m calling the exhibition More Than Meets the Eye. I want people to see more than horns and fur when they look at my portraits. I want them to see the people I’ve come to know.” I take another sip of coffee and look at Otis. “Can I finally paint you now?”

He shakes his head. “No.”

“Come on. I’ve seen you naked more than once.”

He arches an eyebrow. “You doing nudes now?”

“You know what I mean. I won’t see anything I haven’t seen before, less even, so why won’t you pose for me?”

His phone vibrates on the table, giving him a good excuse not to answer my question. He looks at the screen and frowns. “I need to take this.”

He pushes his chair back and walks to the other side of the kitchen. “Yeah, this is Otis.”

I try not to listen to his private conversation, but he’s right there, and he’s got a loud voice.

“Tomorrow could work,” he says to whoever’s on the other end of the line. “I remember the place. Eleven is fine.” Otis glances at me before turning his head away again, and something about that look makes my stomach tighten. “All right. Thanks. See you then.”

He ends the call and sits back down.

“What was that about?” I ask.

He grits his teeth and crosses his arms over his chest. “A rental became available.”

“A rental? But I thought…”

Did I misread everything? I figured the idea of him moving out had been scrapped now that we’re, well, together. Or maybe we’re not together in the way I thought we were?

“Romy, look at me. You told me to look for a place, and I did. A while ago. I had forgotten about that rental until now.”

“Oh.”

“The previous tenant just moved out. I can go and have a look inside tomorrow.”

My blood runs cold. He’s really moving? I know that I was the one who told him he had to find someplace else. I gave him a two-week deadline. But that was before things changed.

Before I fell for him.

I lock eyes with him. “No.”

“No?” he asks with a frown.

“You can’t leave.”

“Why not?”

I throw my hands up. “Because I don’t want you to go! I don’t want your boots to disappear from their spot beside the door. I don’t want the shed to go quiet. And I definitely don’t want to wake up without your arms around me.”

Otis looks at me for a long moment, his expression indecipherable.

When he finally speaks, his voice is rough in a way I’ve never heard before. “Are you sure?”

I reach across the table for his hand. “I am. I know it’s insane. We’ve only known each other for a short while, but I feel like buying this house and finding you here was fate. It was meant to be.”