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Immediately, my cheeks heated, and I couldn’t meet Eli’s eyes. Even after a year together, sometimes he still made me blush like a schoolgirl. Eli had seen every part of me, and he didn’t shy away from them.
“I love you,” I told him, feeling overcome in this moment.
Eli smirked. “I love you too, but don’t think that that is going to get me out of telling you how awesome that I think this is.”
Again, the blush in my cheeks started to deepen as I looked at the piece of art in front of me. “It’s kind of incredible,” I felt a giddiness overcome me. “Isn’t it?”
Eli wrapped an arm around my waist. “It’s fucking amazing.”
Tonight, there was a gallery opening in town. It was small. Really small. And most of those being spotlit were students, but still, as a sophomore with no formal art training, getting in meant a lot.
A year ago, I would never have shared my art, and now, I was on display. There was something exhilarating as well as terrifying. I felt like my entire heart was out for everyone to see.
“Carla?” My father’s gruff voice called out behind me.
“Papa!” I pulled away from Eli, excited to see my father walking towards us. Things between the two of us were still strained, but I’d still wanted to invite him to see this. “I’m surprised that you came.”
He wrapped his arms around me, pressing me into his chest. He smelled like Cubans and bergamot, and I allowed the scent to comfort me. “Of course I came. I wouldn’t miss your first show.”
“It’s not my show. I’m just one of the featured artists.”
“But it’s just a moment of time before she’s filling the whole gallery.” Eli walked up behind me, and his presence comforted me.
“Eli.” My father’s voice was gruff.
Though my father had no issue with Eli, even a year later, Eli was pissed at how his father and my own worked together to keep the two of us apart. My father didn’t get it. The way he perceived it, Eli’s skin had been saved while I took the fall. The thoughts made me roll my eyes.
I’d invited Ivy and Marco to the show, but Marco declined. I suspected it was because he knew his son was still pissed. Eli was not the type who forgave and forgot easily.
“Is this your piece?” My father ignored Eli and walked towards the large canvas that was hanging. He inhaled sharply at the painting—a portrait of my mother. For months after everything, I hadn’t been able to draw anything but abstractions of what had occurred.
After therapy, I’d taken a new approach. Neither Caleb or Callum deserved to live in my head, and instead, I wanted my art to reflect the light of the family that I’d once belonged to.
“It’s beautiful.”
There were tears in my father’s eyes, and I felt my breath catch in my chest. The last time I’d seen him cry was when I’d said goodbye to him as I was led away in handcuffs.
“I did a whole series. I wanted to think of them as they were.” I smiled up at my mother’s face. It was lovely and unmarred, and I’d painted her looking off into the distance. “I like to think she’s looking out at Carina.”
For a moment, neither my father nor I said anything as we stood before the painting quietly. Eli was kind enough to take a step back, allowing us to have this moment.
“She would have loved it,” my father said, breaking the silence. A small, sad smile overtook his face. “She always said you had more talent than you knew what to do with.” He turned to me, cupping my cheek as he had when I was a child. “She’d be proud to know you’ve figured it out.”
His words caused tears to well in my eyes. I didn’t want to cry, not because I didn’t want to feel both the pain and happiness that his words brought me, but because I didn’t want to ruin my makeup.
“I’m in the city for the week. Can we get dinner?”
I nodded. Though I didn’t want to do anything with the cartel or the mob, I could not just cut my father off. We were the only real family either of us had left.
He reached out and placed a soft kiss on top of my head. “I love you.”
“Love you.”
My father looked over at Eli and tipped his head in greeting before stepping back into the crowd.
“He’s like smoke,” Eli said, resuming his place at my side. “He disappears just as quickly as he rolls in.”
There was a scowl on his face, and I reached up and smoothed my fingers against his skin. “You are going to have to let go of your anger towards him.”
