Walking around the room, she deposited both items along with two cards for the students to record their results. She had a feeling that the card would become a staple in their artistic toolbox. Her cheat sheet from years ago had fallen apart, but the information lived forever in her mind.
Max looked up as she stopped at his table to leave the equipment. “Proportions tonight?”
“I guessed you’d had this lesson before. Will you let your partner discover the information that’s helped you?” Saylor asked pointedly.
“Definitely. That knowledge is a game-changer. You got my text?” he asked, changing the subject.
“I did. Thank you.” Saylor moved on to the next table without adding anything else. He never could know how much she’d struggled not to answer when his message had popped up on her phone. A conversation once started with him would be difficult to end.
Discreetly, Saylor watched Max from the corner of her eye as she set up. This fascination she had with Max was irresistible. While she had to maintain her distance, Saylor couldn’t resist watching and eavesdropping.
“Hey, Max. How are the ribs?” Sara asked, walking toward him.
While Saylor had already publicly corrected her own misinterpretation of Sara’s gasp as Max undressed, Saylor made a mental note to apologize privately for suspecting the worst from Sara when the female student had reacted to Max’s injury. The two seemed friendly.
Great, they’re bonded now,Saylor thought cattily before rolling her eyes at herself.Max isn’t for you. Sara seems nice. Be happy for him.
“Hey, Sara. I’m better. Thank goodness I don’t have to take my shirt off tonight. The green camo my skin has become wouldn’t make pretty pictures.”
Sara laughed easily. Glancing over, Saylor noted the laugh lines around her mouth and eyes. Sara must lead a happy life.
“Want to be my partner tonight?” Max asked Sara.
“Oh, we’re doing something fun, I see,” Sara said, waving a hand over the items on the table.
“Yeah. That’s what I figure too.”
“Thanks for the invitation. I’d love to work with you. I’m crossing my fingers that Saylor isn’t going around the room clockwise. That would make me next. I’ll be honest that my husband wasn’t happy to think I’d be naked in front of a bunch of people.”
Saylor controlled her desire to do a happy dance.That’s why Sara looks happy. She has someone at home who cares deeply about her.Saylor tuned back into their conversation.
“It took all week to explain that it wasn’t the same. We weren’t looking at a hot guy,” Sara waved her hand up and down to indicate Max, “but we’re working on the artistry of how bodies are put together.”
“Exactly. That’s a great way to look at it,” Max agreed.
“With that said, I’m super nervous,” Sara admitted. “After two boys, my body isn’t in supermodel shape.”
And she has two children. She’d finished her setup, so she walked back toward Sara, forcing herself to stop pointing out to herself how unavailable Sara was for Max and joining the conversation.
“I couldn’t help but overhear. I think we’re all out of supermodels on the roster,” Saylor said. “Realistically, we all have flaws and pleasing features. That’s the challenge of a class like this. Everyone has to look different, or we don’t have to adapt and learn a new technique. If it puts your mind at ease, I’llask for volunteers each evening. Alice, over there, already asked if she could be tonight’s model.”
“Oh, that does help. Thanks,” Sara said.
“Of course, and I wanted to apologize to you privately—well, somewhat privately,” Saylor said, looking at Max.
“I can leave,” he volunteered, not budging an inch.
“Of course not. You were involved. I’m afraid I’m a bit of a guard dog at protecting students. My concern was stopping comments on people’s bodies immediately. You had a natural reaction to Max’s injury, and my intervention wasn’t called for,” Saylor said.
“I like that you’re watching out for your students. And you apologized earlier in front of everyone as soon as you spotted what had concerned me. Thank you for that,” Sara said.
“Maybe I should apologize for showing up with a booboo,” Max suggested, with an entirely straight face that made both women laugh and completely wiped away any tension remaining.
“With that, I should start class,” Saylor said, excusing herself.
As she called the class together and introduced the quick lesson on proportions, Saylor fought hard to keep her gaze from centering on Max. She introduced the standard proportions recognized by artists worldwide. Simply based on the length of a person’s head, artists could keep a body they drew looking like it was one person rather than ending up with a Frankenstein-like figure that had arms from a different person attached to a mismatched torso. She encouraged them to take notes on the card she’d left for them and to compare their measurements and those of their partners to the guidelines she posted some of the proportions for theEight Heads Ruleon the board for them.
Torso—3 heads
