Page 44 of The Heartbreak Hotel

Riley chuckled, tucking her hair over her shoulder. “You know, I could think of worse ways to earn a living.”

“Deal.” Their eyes locked, and Ella arched an eyebrow. “You’d also have to worship me three times a day.”

“I don’t see that being a problem, either.” Riley’s gaze swept over Ella’s features, fanning heat inside her navel. Her mouth parted, pink tongue darting out to wet her lips, and a strong tug behind Ella’s sternum almost took her breath away. It seemed as though Riley was going to say something more, but then her mouth curved, and her hand jumped back to life, swiping blue across the canvas.

Ella watched her work for a little while, soaking up the feelings swirling around her like watercolour paint. Every second they spent together was multi-layered; she loved that. But she couldn’t understand why Riley, with all her positivity about life and her encouragement of others, couldn’t see her own talent.

“So you’ve seen my day,” Riley started, lifting her eyes above the canvas to find Ella’s. “What about you? What does a day off in Ella’s world look like?”

Caught off-guard, Ella went blank. She pulled a bottle of water out of Riley’s bag and had a sip. Her old life felt like a disjointed memory. She couldn’t even remember the last time she really had fun. She and Winnie always had a good time, but truthfully, Ella always had work or Maeve or her parents to complain about.

What did she actually do for fun?

There must be something.

She felt Riley’s gaze land on her when she didn’t say anything.

“I hang out with my best friend Winnie a lot, and…” She didn’t want to talk about their nights spent getting wasted, or the time she’d spent stalking Maeve and Annabelle on social media. Other than that, all she could think of was late nights at the office, followed by watching Netflix in bed. She used to play netball at school, but she always preferred watching it to playing. Ella and her mum still liked to watch the Netball Super League together, but she’d cancelled a lot in the last few months. Work had sucked up so much of her time, like a boring old vacuum cleaner.

“And…erm.” Ella sighed, chewing at her lip. “I don’t know. My family are always doing something. Mum loves to cook for us.”

Compared to Riley’s daily life, hers had all the excitement of a rusty fax machine. That left a sour taste in her mouth.

“That’s sweet, actually,” Riley said. “Are you close with your family?”

“Yeah,” she started. But then her mind wandered. When was the last time she didn’t cancel plans on her mum or make excuses not to see her brother? There were only so many times she could fend off unwanted questions about herself.

They were always pressuring her. Weren’t they? She sat up a little straighter, trying to recall her mother’s words. I just want the best for you. Ella had assumed she was being patronised, implying “the best” was “to be like Devin”. But the more she thought about it, the more she wasn’t sure. Her mum had never pushed her to change careers or relationships. She just asked a lot of questions. A lot of questions Ella didn’t have the answers to.

Huh.

“What is it?” Riley asked, looking up from her painting.

Ella swallowed, then had another swig from the water bottle. “I…just realised I need to put in some more effort with them.”

Riley nodded. “This place has a way of doing that to you.”

Didn’t she know it. Ella was one more epiphany away from a brain haemorrhage. “Are you close with your family?” she asked tentatively, remembering their conversation about Ireland.

Riley hesitated before saying, “No.”

“What happened?”

She continued to paint, her eyes focused on the canvas. “My mum left when I was young, and my dad…he’s a drunk.”

That surprised her. She reached for Riley’s thigh and gave it a squeeze, the urge to comfort her overpowering any overthinking about first-date etiquette. “Riley, I’m sorry… Do you wanna talk about it?”

“He’s always been the same. For as long as I can remember.” The birds singing in the trees around them filled the silence while Riley chewed at her lip. “The house was a mess. His friends were constantly around. We didn’t speak for a long time, and then…” She furrowed her brows. “Well, I thought he might change. But he never will. Leavin’ was the best thing I did.”

Ella’s heart pulled, imagining a young Riley having to deal with that on her own. “You deserved much better than that.”

“Thank you.” Their eyes met, tingles running along Ella’s skin. She realised her hand was still on Riley’s thigh, burning heat through the touch. “Senhor Arenoso gave me an alternative,” Riley went on. “He showed me that there’s more to life. That’s why my family here are so important.” She offered Ella a small smile and gave her canvas one more look over before announcing, “It’s done.”

Ella wanted to ask more, but she turned her attention to Riley’s canvas. “Can I see?”

After a little more encouragement and some batting of eyelashes from Ella, Riley spun the painting to face her.

“Riley…it’s breathtaking.”