“Hot day out there, huh?” he drawled.
“Yeah, it’s suppose to reach hundred degrees today.”
“Your the only woman I have met who makes the heat look good.”
My mom laughed as she rang up his order. “Is that so?”
The cowboy watched a bead of sweat travel from the hollow of her throat to the v of her cleavage. Aware of his interest, she caught his eye and blushed.
“That will be three dollars and five cents,” my mom said.
He slid the money across the counter and winked. “Keep the change.”
Before, my mom had a chance to utter another word; he strolled out of the convenience store. Dejected, she glanced down and saw his number written on the five-dollar bill.
The ending was the part I hated because that was when my mom reminded me of how nine months later I was born and her dream had died. Of course if my dad had worn a condom and they didn’t act like horny teenagers, an unwanted pregnancy could have been avoided. As far as fairy tales went, my mom’s was short-lived with the moral of the story being the definition of Sex Education 101. Nonetheless, it was the only shred of evidence I had my dad existed. Throughout my life, I always wondered if my other family was somewhere out there looking for me. If they were caring, salt of the earth folk who had Sunday dinners of fried chicken and mashed potatoes. If so, would they welcome me with open arms and fold me into their daily routine? Leaving behind a city filled with my mother’s mistakes for the wide-open air of the country.
I threw the envelope into the trashcan and stepped outside. Sitting on the curb, I felt overwhelmed by my sister’s fate resting on my shoulders, angry with my mother for leaving this mess for me to deal with, and furious for letting it overshadow Andrew’s big night. For once, I wished the curveballs would stop getting hurled at me. My elbows rested on my knees, then switched to a more lady like position. Otherwise, the cars driving past would get a view reserved for Andrew. I needed five minutes to gather my thoughts before I ventured back into the party. A light rain drizzled on my bare shoulders.
“Hey, what are you doing outside?” Andrew opened an umbrella over our heads and stretched his legs out next to mine. “I have been looking for you.”
“Sorry I….” My sentence broke off as my mind whirled.
He peered closer at my face and whatever he saw sparked concern. “Are you ok? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Do ghosts have criminal records and nicknames like Gums, because if so then yes I did.”
“Explain.”
I rubbed the chill from my arms, which prompted Andrew to drape his jacket around my body. Curling tight into the warmth, my mouth opened and the story spilled forth. “Big Ted’s goon paid me a visit tonight. He brought an envelope that contained an used heroin needle and the message I had twenty-four hours left to pay.”
“What does the heroin needle signify?”
“It’s a threat. If I don’t pay, Sumiko will end up dead the same way as my mother.”
“Overdose?”
“Yeah.”
Andrew’s breath hung like a white cloud in the frigid air. He scrubbed his face with his hands and cursed. “Somebody should stick a needle in Big Ted’s arm and do the world a favor.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
Huddling closer to me, I wrapped the jacket around both of us. His presence slowed my heart rate to a normal level. Without Andrew, this situation would have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“One second.” He lifted himself off the curb and patted his pockets. He made an a-ha noise when he found what he was looking for, a checkbook. “Is there a pen in my jacket pocket?”
There was. Handing it to him, he sat back down on the curb. Pen poised over a fresh check, he looked at me. “How much do you owe?”
“This isn’t your responsibility, Andrew. I’ll figure out a way to pay back the debt without your money.”
“Yeah, how?” He sighed. “Look I have done it your way. I haven’t called the cops and reported Big Ted for assault or battery but things have gone on long enough. Your sister, your only family, might die tomorrow because of a stupid mental block you have about taking money. There are no strings attached. I don’t think of you as a project and I certainly don’t view you as weak. Please, for once in your life, lean on somebody else for a change and let me fix this.”
Although it went against the very essence of who I was, my brain screamed at me to accept Andrew’s offer. I had no other options. “Fine. I owe seven hundred dollars, but I’ll find a way to pay back every penny of that money.”
Visible relief reflected in his gaze. “Yeah, whatever, that’s fine.”
He quickly scribbled the sum and handed me the check. I tucked it into my wallet for safekeeping.
“Do you want to come back inside?” Andrew wondered.
Big Ted had ruined whatever happy vibes I had by sticking Gums on me. However, I wouldn’t let him completely destroy Andrew’s show.
“Sure, I would love to,” I said.
“Good. There is something I wanted to show you.”
He hauled me to my feet and didn’t let go of my hand as we walked into the art gallery. The crowd had thinned since my brief departure.
Andrew gestured to the space around us. “This show has been a compilation of six months of blood, sweat, and tear—yet there are two pieces of artwork I started once we met.”
It sounded as if he wanted me to guess. “Andrew if you don’t want to stand here until we are old and gray, I suggest you tell me.”
Grinning, he led me to the canvas I saw earlier when Gums cornered me. My gaze swung from Andrew back to the painting.
“I don’t understand.”
“The day we met at the coffee shop, I ran home and stayed up till four a.m., painting the girl with the troubled eyes.” He pointed to a streak of purple on the horizon. “That’s how much you let your happiness show, only enough to know that it existed.”
Before I could process, he tugged me to the next painting, broken into three separate canvases.
“It’s called a triptych,” he explained.
Unlike the previous painting, orange, pink and yellow streaked the canvas in parallel lines. Flecks of gold bended the light.
“This was painted two days ago,” Glancing over at me, Andrew’s eyes shined with warmth. “This is your soul, the soul that I see when I look at you now.”
My hand flew to my mouth in disbelief. “No.”
Every tragedy I’d gone through, every moment that had threatened to tear me apart was worth it because it all led to Andrew. A man who saw the beauty inside me when I couldn’t.
Our discarded clothes formed a path down the hallway as we stumbled into the apartment. Buttons were ripped off and pants were shoved to the ground until our underwear was the only barrier between us.
Andrew’s eyes took in my hot pink bra with satisfaction. “I love a woman in pink.” His fingers teased the crest of my breast and I shivered. “But I especially love what’s underneath.”
He slid the straps over my shoulders, placing hot kisses against my bare skin. Overcome with a need so fierce I felt as if I was swimming underwater, my hand dipped below his waistband.