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“Pep, we’ve got two and a half hours before we depart.”
“There might be traffic.”
“We live fifteen minutes from the airport. We could walk and still make it.”
“The Uber is already here and if we aren’t out there in five minutes they’ll leave,” she argued. “And I’ll still have to pay!”
I groaned. I overslept and missed one flight to Rome one time, and she never let it go. Two years ago, she’d gotten an opportunity withNational Geographicto work in Pompeii. She spent three months in Italy. I’d been there most of the time with her but we had a gallery event I couldn’t miss so I had to come back to L.A. for a few weeks while she was gone. My real mistake was going out with Dom the night before I was flying back. I woke up in the hallway outside mine and Penelope’s apartment. My phone was dead, and my plane had left an hour before I woke. Penelope never let it go.
Now, she’d demand we be at the airport well before we needed to be. She would insist on packing for me because she thought I’d delay us if I packed for myself. Except, on this specific trip, Ireallyneeded to pack my own things. Her getting in the way was the true cause for the delay because I had to inconspicuously make her leave the room in order to finish gathering everything I needed. As she rushed me from the other side of our bedroom door, I couldn’t help but grin.
I patted the front zipper of my backpack, reminding myself I had what I needed as I swung it over my shoulders and made my way to the front door. She was standing there, hip out, arms crossed. HerI’m-about-to-throw-a-fitstance. Her auburn hair was thrown into a knot at the top of her head, her green eyes simmering with beautiful annoyance. My lips found hers in a tug of gravity that was outside of my control. “We’ll be perfectly on time, Dr. Mason.” I kissed her and whispered, “I love you,” as I pulled back.
Her nostrils flared before her face settled. “I love you,” she murmured as she swung the front door open. I locked it behind us, falling into step with her as we walked down the hallway and into the stairwell that led to the first floor of the building. The Uber was parked out front, so we had to walk through the gallery to get there.
Macie stood behind the reception desk, furiously typing away at something on her phone. It was a Thursday afternoon in June, so things were slow. Not that I operated the gallery for profit, anyway. Most people came inside to get out of the heat, but stayed to look at the artwork. That alone made it worth it to me, I didn’t care if I sold a damn thing.
We did well enough to keep it operating. Anytime we made profit from a show or a particularly large sale, we’d donate it to a different charity. Normally a charity of either the buyer or the artist’s choosing.
I stopped briefly at the counter to check-in with Macie and ensure things would be handled while I was away for the next few days. She ran the gallery operations in my absences while the apartment building’s operations were handled by Dom. I was away enough that they were used to it, and we’d fallen into a rhythm, but I knew Penelope would want to tell Macie goodbye again anyway.
As Penelope rounded the reception desk, Macie looked at me with raised brows. A silent question. I nodded quickly before Penelope could notice either of our expressions, and Macie shot me back a sparkling smile.
Penelope squatted to her knees in front of Macie. “Bye, Allie. Don’t go making any grand appearances until I get back, okay?” She pressed her lips to the swell of Macie’s ever-growing belly. Macie was due in about three weeks, and even though we would return in five days, Penelope had been terrified of Macie going into labor while we were gone.
“Oh,” Macie scoffed. “I assure you that will not happen. I refuse to give birth to a Gemini. Nope, I’m holding this little sucker in until Cancer season.” She rubbed her belly affectionately. “If I had things my way, I’d make her a Leo like her mom.” She sighed. “But at least she won’t be a Capricorn like her dad. They aresoincredulous.”
Penelope snorted. “Well, maybe you can try planning the next one to ensure they have the astrological sun sign of your choice.”
As they bickered amongst themselves about astrology before we said our goodbyes, I couldn’t help but pause briefly to take in the piece that hung above the desk. Penelope hated that I hung that painting of her there. It was the first thing anyone saw when they walked through the door. Anytime a customer recognizes her from the painting above the wall and comments on it, she blushes and then later begs me to change it out. And every time, I refuse.
I’d line the entire gallery with canvases of her if I could. In fact, I insisted that she let me take photos of her in every destination we’d ever traveled together. Every place we went. My office that sat behind the front desk had an entire wall filled with photos of her. Photos of her in Egypt, her and my mom in Hawaii, her and Maddie in Spain, the two of us in Italy, and Indonesia, and the Oregon Coast. My favorite, a photo of her flipping me off on the beach in Malibu, sat framed at my desk. I kept another copy folded up inside my wallet.
I’d made many of them into artwork too.
Even still, I’d never been able to replace the first piece I ever made. The same piece that had been hanging above the desk since before the gallery was ever opened. No matter how much my skills grow, I’ll never move it. It’ll always stay there. The reminder of my inspiration.
After all, that’s what I named the gallery for. For her.Muse.
Penelope
“GOODMORNING,MAHINA,”hewhispered against my shoulder.
“No.” I rolled over to face away from him as his laughter vibrated against my skin.
The pure joy Carter felt every time he was back home in Hawaii was one of my favorite things about him. It was almost as if his excitement radiated off of him and went directly into my own bones. I could physically feel the love he had for these islands.
We landed in Oahu yesterday afternoon, and I should've known that by this morning he’d be insisting on waking me up as early as possible. He wanted to soak in every minute. Each moment with his mom, every sunset, and all the sunrises too. I did try to participate, but I was almost positive it couldn’t be later than five am. No matter how many years he spent trying to convince me, I’d never be a morning person.
He trailed kisses up the backside of my shoulder until he reached my neck. I felt his teeth at the base of my ear. “You’re going to miss it, Pep. You’re really not going to want to miss this sunrise.”
“Why this one, specifically?” I grumbled into the pillow.
“You’ll have to get out there and see for yourself.”
I groaned, bracing my arms against the mattress preparing myself to lift off the bed when I felt his hand pin my hips down. I laid flat on my back as his body appeared before me. The gold in his eyes sparkled even in the dark as he smiled down at me. “You’re being very contradictory this morning.”
That smile formed into a smirk. “I just thought of a better way of waking you.” His mouth then found itself starting against my lips and didn’t stop until it was somewhere beneath the sheets.
