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“I thought we'd paint the lighthouse. I'm curious to see a side by side comparison.”
“You want to compare my painting with yours?”
The dare was in his expression before he even spoke the words. “Not up to the challenge?”
He may be the finest artist of our time, but it looked like competition ran in our potential family. An evil little smile spread across my face. “Bring it on, Logan.”
He laughed out loud and added.“But here's the trick, we're going to paint from memory.”
“Oh.”
“Exactly. Saffron has some festival responsibilities today, so I'll set up in town to work so I'm near her if she needs help.”
“Okay, then I'll probably go set up at Broderick's since I want to see what they're doing there anyway.”
“You have everything you need, yes?”
“Yeah.” I started to go but then stopped and asked, “It's the swordfish festival, right?”
A smile spread over his face, clearly there were some really great memories fueling it.“Yeah.”
“Didn't you do a whole series on that festival?”
“Yeah, proving that some people in the art world are just pretentious asses. They went on and on about how I was inspired, a higher power giving me direction or some such shit. My only inspiration and higher power is Saffron.”
I smiled, not just at his obvious affection and love for his wife, but because I understood it completely. “Where are those sculptures?”
“A museum in Paris. I wish I had a camera on the exhibit so I could be a fly on the wall, because really if I saw them I'd be scratching my head thinking what the...”
“Well, regardless of what they portray, I'm sure they're exquisitely done.”
“Coming from an artist of talent, that means a lot.”
***
Walking home for my supplies, I decided to call Bastian to make sure Broderick didn't have a problem with me just showing up. I dug out my phone and dialed his number.
“Heybeautiful.”
“Hi. I need to paint the lighthouse from memory, so I was thinking about coming out to Broderick’s. That way I can see his house too. Do you think he'd be okay with that?”
“He's right here, hold on a second.” After a beat or two, Bastian was back on the line. “Yeah, Broderick is totally cool with that.”
“I'm heading to the house now for my supplies, so I should be there in about twenty minutes.”
“I'll be waiting.”
***
Following the directions Bastian had texted me, I realized that Broderick's place was on the opposite side of town where it wasn't developed. Rugged beauty yawned out before me. I pulled over along a rocky peninsula. In the distance the green conifers hugged the waterline. I wanted to paint this spot, because it was so isolated, with no signs at all that humans ever passed through it. It was nature in the truest sense of the word.
I wished everyone from home was here with us to see this paradise. Thinking about them had me missing them, so I reached for my phone. When Poppy's voice came over the line, my throat got tight hearing that small piece of home.
“HeyLark, I was just thinking about you.”
“Poppy, it's so good to hear your voice.”
“Are you okay, is something wrong?”
