14. Chapter Fourteen #2
And as much as she liked the concept, it didn’t feel right for this competition. So, she kept thumbing her way through the various sketches. And like the first sketch, she found a reason why each and every sketch wasn’t right for the competition.
She was running out of time. If she didn’t start on the painting soon, she wouldn’t be finished with it in time for the competition. And she couldn’t let this opportunity slip through her fingers. She’d missed out on too much already.
This was her chance to get her work in front of some influential people in the art community.
Since losing her father, she’d come to recognize how unexpectedly life could end.
She was going to make the most of her time on earth.
No more merely existing. She was going to live by doing something she was passionate about.
“Lily?” Tony’s voice called out. “Lily, are you here?”
She hadn’t realized that much time had passed. She rushed into the hallway. She saw Tony standing at the screen door. “Come on in. I’m back here.”
She rushed to get up and put her sketch pad on the rectangular table against the back wall where she kept her supplies for her current project, which at the moment meant the tabletop was empty.
As she turned toward the doorway, Tony stepped into it. His broad shoulders practically touched both sides of the doorframe. He certainly wasn’t filled out like that back in high school.
His gaze moved around the room. She had an easel near the sliding glass door. Some days she would take it out on the deck and paint outside.
When his gaze moved to the wall where she’d hung some of her work, he stepped farther into the room. “I knew you could paint. I remember from when we were kids, but I had no idea you were this talented.”
His complimentary words sent heat rushing to her cheeks. She wasn’t used to discussing her own work, so she wasn’t sure what to say. Instead, she stood by quietly while he studied the piece.
He stepped closer to examine a painting of a sunset. “Do you sell them?”
“No.” She shook her head. And then she told him about her childhood dream of being a working artist and her father’s well-intentioned advice.
Tony nodded. “I’m sorry he dissuaded you. I’m sure your father only wanted the best for you.”
She nodded. She was certain her father had loved her. He was just a cautious person, who knew nothing of the art world. “It’s fine. It’s in the past. I have the Lily Pad now.”
“And it’s a great store.”
She arched a brow. “How would you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve never seen you there. So, how do you know it’s a great store?”
He averted his gaze as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I, uh... I’ve been to your store.”
“Uh-huh. When was this? The grand opening?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Uh, maybe...”
She grinned at him. “Relax. I’m just giving you a hard time.” She led the way out of the art room. “So, what’s for dinner?”
He followed her to the empty table. “Dinner? Oh, yeah. I was supposed to take care of that, wasn’t I?”
“You forgot dinner?” She turned to him and pressed her hands to her hips. “After you built it up like it was going to be something special.” She forced a frown to her face. “I’m so disappointed.” She wasn’t. Not really.
He sent her an innocent look as he shrugged. “Would you believe that I forgot?”
He was serious? He’d really forgotten. It wasn’t the end of the world. Surely she had something easy to throw together.
“So, what were we going to have?” She moved to the kitchen and opened the fridge.
“Are you really that curious?”
She shrugged as she moved on to the freezer. “You didn’t answer the question.”
“I didn’t, did I?”
“Fine. Don’t tell me.” Next she opened the small pantry where she kept her dry goods. “But we aren’t going to starve. However, we might have to have some sort of pasta again.” She closed the pantry and then turned to him. “Or we could order pizza.”
Knock-knock.
She wasn’t expecting anyone. Tony headed for the door. She followed him.
On her porch stood a young man holding two bags. Tony took one of the bags with his good arm. She reached out and took the other bag. Lily could smell food. She sniffed the air again. The various scents mingled and confused her. What was that?
While Tony tipped the young man, she took both bags and headed for the table. She was tempted to open the bags, but she resisted the temptation, even though her stomach growled its anticipation.
Tony returned to the table. “See. I didn’t forget dinner.”
“So I noticed. Now what is it?”
“Well”—he opened one bag—“I didn’t know what you’d want to eat, so I got hibachi from Little Moon.” And then he opened the other bag. “And the special at the Lighthouse Café, chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes with a slice of peach pie.”
“Wow. That’s a lot of food. There’s no way I can eat it all.”
“I figured you could save one for lunch tomorrow.”
“Excellent suggestion. Thank you.”
“I thought you might need a pick-me-up after your busy day, and now we have to work on the plans for the arts festival. Speaking of which, were you able to find out where the laptop is?”
“Why don’t we get some food, and then I’ll fill you in?”
He arched a brow. “I take it things didn’t go well.”
“Worse than you could imagine.” She got them some plates and utensils.
Then they sat down and served the food. There was enough left for two lunches, but she wasn’t going to complain. She loved leftovers.
A little while later, their stomachs were full, and she’d told him the bad news about Aster. They were left hoping they could pull together the festival in the little bit of time they had left.
Lily was determined to do whatever she could to make the festival happen. After losing her father, she was determined not to lose this chance to win the competition. She was chasing her dreams. And it would start with the festival.
“I think we can do this,” Lily said. “We have all of the pieces. After all, Aster did all of the planning. We just have to follow through.”
“I don’t think you understand,” he said. “This festival is huge. I didn’t comprehend the scope of it until I had people pulling the paperwork. This is by far the largest event Bluestar has ever hosted.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because Aster advertised that there would be prominent people from the art world—big enough names to draw in amateur artists from the mainland.”
“All the more reason to cancel the event before we embarrass ourselves.”
Lily shook her head. She couldn’t let him do that. “I disagree. We can do this.”
“We don’t even know exactly what Aster had in mind for everything.”
“Then we’ll wing it.”
He frowned at her. “We can’t do that. We need to follow the plan. It’s the only way it’s going to work.”
She sighed. “What plan? We don’t have one?”
“Exactly. That’s why we need to cancel the event. I can have my staff start making phone calls tomorrow morning. Sure, we’ll lose some money, but it’s better than this whole event becoming one big disaster.”
“We’re doing this.” Her voice was firm. “And it’s not going to be a disaster.”
His frown deepened. “You’re being unreasonable. You’ve never organized an event of this size, and neither have I.”
His words stabbed at her, but she refused to let on how much they’d hurt her. “So, that’s it? You’re just quitting?”
“Yes.”
She clenched her hands as she inwardly groaned. She was so frustrated with him, and they hadn’t even gotten around to sorting through the papers he’d brought with him. Wait. Where are the papers?
“Did you bring any of the paper files?”
He nodded. “They’re in boxes out in my cart. I uh...”
And then she realized he couldn’t carry them in because he only had one working arm. “No problem. I can grab them.”
He frowned as he glanced away. She could tell he wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of help. “No. I’ll get them.”
“No, you won’t. You have a broken wrist.”
“I’ll do it.” He got up.
She moved faster than him and blocked his path to the front door. Maybe what they needed was a chance to calm down and talk out their opposing views in a calm manner. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that was the correct approach.
Not giving him a chance to reject the idea, she reached for his hand and then pulled him in the direction of her back deck.
“Lily, what are you doing?”
“Just come with me.”
“But we have to finish talking about the festival. We don’t have time for distractions. We have to make a final decision.”
She released his hand and turned to him. She pressed her hands to her hips as she narrowed her gaze on him. “We weren’t talking. We were arguing. And it wasn’t being productive.”
“That’s because you aren’t being reasonable.” He pressed his lips into a firm line.
That was it. She wasn’t going to stand there and be insulted. She turned and opened the sliding glass door. She stepped out onto the deck, which was now shrouded in the growing shadows of evening.
“Lily, where are you going? Come back.”
She didn’t slow down. She didn’t so much as glance back at him. As far as she was concerned, he could leave. In fact, at that moment, it was preferable.
She had no interest in continuing with their disagreements. It was growing old. If he wouldn’t help her bring the arts festival to life, she would find someone else to help her.
It’s not like he could stop her. Then again, he was the mayor. It did give him a lot of pull. Maybe he could shut it down, but would he?
She walked past the dunes and out onto the beach. There weren’t that many people out and about at that hour, which was totally fine with her. She was in no mood to talk to anyone.
She would walk down the beach, and hopefully, when she returned, the mayor would be gone. Could she be that lucky?