Page 51 of Inflict

Connor simply watched her go from the doorway.

Like a feckin’ fool.

• • •

“All right, I’ll see you in a few, mate.”

Connor hung up the call, and went in search of his hiding companion. Well, he assumed Evelyn was hiding from him after her wee show, earlier in his walk-in closet. He had said that he would be making a phone call to his friend, but she hadn’t even come down for breakfast.

He figured she was probably embarrassed about what had happened, though he didn’t know why. She certainly didn’t have a reason to be, as far as he was concerned.

Connor wanted to make sure that Evelyn knew that, before he left her alone for the day.

Soon, he found her hiding out in the studio. Connor wasn’t all too surprised to find her in there, of all places, given her talents. He was surprised to see her sitting in front of an easel, while she overlooked the oil paints on the table beside her.

Evelyn seemed to prefer pencils or charcoal when she worked. Connor had given her full access to anything in his studio, if she wanted to use it, but she hadn’t gone to anything except what she knew how to use.

“Find something you might like to try?” Connor asked from the doorway.

Evelyn stiffened in her chair, shooting him a look. “Um …”

“The paints, love.”

“I don’t really know where to start, but they’re very colorful.”

“It’s not any different from the pencils or charcoal, they’ll still make a picture just the same, it’s simply a different medium and tool used to get the end result.”

Evelyn nodded. “Yeah, but where do I start?”

Connor pointed at the blank canvas sitting on the easel. “With that, Evelyn.”

“I meant—”

“I know what you meant, and I know what I said. You start with that—same as your mind and your paper. Figure out what you want to put on that blank canvas first, then you can choose your colors respectively, and after that—depending on the different textures you might want to show up—you pick your brushes.”

“The tools.”

“Right.”

“I don’t think it’s that easy.”

Connor chuckled, and took a few steps into the studio, coming to stand still behind Evelyn. “You’re right, it isn’t. It’ll take practice. But you already have the talent, and I know you have the image you want to put down, so go from there.”

“So, a lot of messing up and starting over.”

She hadn’t even posed it as a question.

Connor placed his hands to the back of her chair, leaning down so that he could talk quietly into her ear. “That’s the beauty of it, love. You get to make a mess, or create something that isn’t entirely perfect, because it’s not supposed to be. Feck it up a wee bit, even. Whatever you need to enjoy what you’re doing.”

“Okay.”

“I called my friend, and he’ll be here in a short while. You should head down and grab something to eat,” Connor suggested.

“I will.”

“Or will you continue to hide in here until I’m gone?”

Evelyn couldn’t hide her wee grin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”