by Beth Rinyu
“Is the moon out yet?” she asked once we finally came to a stop.
“Yes.”
“Tell me what it looks like, Mason.”
I looked up at the star filled sky that looked so much like her painting, wishing so badly that she could see just how beautiful it looked tonight. “It’s a half moon,” I whispered.
“Which half is out?”
“The right.”
She closed her eyes and bit her lip. “It’s waiting for its other half to make it complete.”
“Do you think it will find it’s other half and become a full moon?” I asked.
“It’s not proper to ask the moon of its intentions. It’s best to just wait and see how the phases play out and if it’s meant to be then that full moon will shine brightly.”
My hand swept down her face and my lips were gently pressing into hers. I waited for her reaction before I continued. She opened her mouth, allowing my tongue access and bringing me right back to the night of our very first kiss. I pushed her hair behind her ear and stared down at her once our lips disengaged. We were both silent for a moment as I tried to get over the excitement of feeling her lips on mine once again. I closed my eyes as her soft gentle fingers swept across my face while her other hand reached for mine.
“Thank you for allowing me to see the sun and the moon again,” she whispered.
“Anytime, Becca.” I looked up at the moon once again, hoping that it would find it’s other half. Hoping that Becca would see that she and I were meant to be.
“Hello? Earth to Mason,” Liz said, waving her hand in front of my face.
“What’s up?” I asked, lifting my head from my computer.
“When is the Grand Jury hearing for the Mueller case?”
“Two weeks.”
“Are you all prepared with your testimony?”
“Yup. Good to go.”
I knew where this was going. This was her way of indirectly trying to find out what was going on with me and Becca and I wasn’t biting. I didn’t feel like hearing another lecture. Liz would never completely understand how I felt about Becca and that I couldn’t control how I was feeling in my heart.
She took a seat opposite me as I tried my best to look busy, hoping she would just leave. “So, Natalie and I are meeting up with a few of her coworkers for drinks tomorrow. There’s going to be some cute single girls there. Would you like to join us?”
Okay, she was using another tactic. I laughed to myself at how well I could read her. “Nah, already got plans.”
“Oh? Do tell?” she said with a raise of her eyebrow.
“A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell, Liz. Even you should know that.” I smirked.
“These plans wouldn’t happen to be with a certain prosecutor, would they?” I pretended to be interested in something on my computer, completely ignoring her question. “Mason!”
“What?” I raised my voice in annoyance.
“You’re smarter than this.”
“Liz, just stop, okay? I appreciate your concern, but I got this all under control.”
She was so damn stubborn. I knew she wasn’t going to just let it go. She shook her head and gave me her trademark look of disapproval that I had grown so accustomed to over the years. “Okay, so what’s going to happen when she wants to introduce you to her family and her friends….hmmm?”
“I’ll deal with that when and if that time comes.”
“Look, Mason, I get it. You were in love with this girl, but don’t you think she’s been through enough heartache? Don’t lead her on again just to believe another lie. If you’re going to make a go of it with her, then you need to come clean and tell her everything.”
I knew she was right, but I knew if Becca knew the truth then it would be over before it even began. “I will when the time is right.” She sighed heavily, stood up, and started to walk away. “Hey Liz.” She turned around and stared at me, waiting for me to speak. “Does your friend, Derrek still have that art studio?”
She looked at me strangely. “Yeah, why?”
“Can you do me a favor and ask him if I can use it for a couple of hours tomorrow afternoon?”
She let out a loud laugh. “Mason Boudreaux, you don’t have a creative bone in your body!”
“I know I don’t.”
The smile quickly vanished from her face. “O-h-h!” She shook her head as I gave her a pitiful pleading look. “I cannot believe that I’m going to be an accomplice to this!”
“Love you, Liz!” I grinned.
“I’ll see what I can do. Just promise me that you’ll think about what I said?” I nodded. “Preferably, before she falls back in love with you.”
Even though Liz talked a good game, she had arranged with her friend to allow us to use his studio for a few hours. She had texted me the address, the combination to get in, as well as letting me know that he had set everything up for Becca to be able to paint. Of course she had to type out: I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M BEING A PART OF THIS! TELL HER! at the end of her message. I arrived at Becca’s to pick her up, waiting for her to say her goodbyes to Lilly like she was never going to see her again. “Is she okay, being left alone for long periods?” I asked.
“Of course! My Lilly is an angel. Actually my neighbor, Linda, that lives across the hall is a big help with her. She takes her out for me all the time when I’m going to be gone for long periods of time.” We walked out of her apartment and into the bright sunlight. “Wow, it’s pretty warm out,” Becca said while grabbing the hair clip off her purse and twisting her hair up into a sexy messy bun with ease. “So what is your big surprise?” she asked.
“You’ll see.” I flagged down a cab and opened the door, helping her in. I gave the driver the address and I could see Becca’s mind instantly working, trying to figure out where we were going. “Give it up. You’re not going to figure it out!” I laughed.
“Well, it was worth a try!” She giggled.
Her phone began to beep loudly as a pre-recorded woman’s voice came through the speaker. “Call from Jordan.” She dug through her purse until she had her phone in her hand.
“I’ll just be one second,” she said.
“No problem.”
“Hey you, what’s going on?”
I looked out the window as Becca listened to her brother on the other end before speaking again. “Well, I would love for you to come and visit me! Just let me know the dates so I can schedule a few days off……Okay, love you, too!” she said before hanging up the phone.
“Sorry, that was just my brother.”
I nodded. “You just have one brother.” I posed it more as a statement. I hated pretending like I didn’t know.
“Yeah, Jordan. He’s four years younger than me. If one good thing came out of my accident, it was that it straightened him out.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, he was getting into his fair share of trouble with stuff that he had no business being involved in, and after my accident it totally made him grow up. He stopped all the nonsense and was there for me more than anyone.” I closed my eyes and swallowed hard. “He went to college out in Colorado and decided to stay after graduation. He says it’s because of the great teaching job he found out there. I say it was to get far away from my parents.”
“Doesn’t he get along with them?” I asked.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I guess just about as well as I do, anymore.” I knew that Becca and her dad had their problems in the past, but I thought that maybe they had resolved them. “My dad….he always treated me like I was two years old. Never let me make my own decisions and when I did, he would make sure that he would fix it so it was always his way.” She sighed deeply and closed her eyes. “You know, I think he was actually happy after I lost my sight because it made him feel like he could control me more; so that just made me more determined. I wasn’t going to let him win. He took everything that I ever cared about away from me. I wasn’t going to be his poor blind little girl
that he had to take care of.” The tone in her voice was now turning to anger. “When I got this job and told him I was moving to the City, he told me I was crazy and it was going to be too hard and too dangerous for someone like me.” She laughed. “Someone like me….A blind, naïve girl. That’s how he views me, just a stupid blind girl. That’s always how he viewed me, only before I was just a stupid girl who could see. No matter how hard I tried, it was never good enough.” She wiped the tear that was rolling down her face. “Oh God, I am so sorry for unloading this all on you. I just get so angry sometimes when I think about him.”
“It’s okay, Becca.” I stared out the window, feeling somewhat responsible for her resentment that she was harboring against her father. I knew that our relationship back then was the source of the animosity between them. Not to mention that Becca thought that he was the reason that I left her.
“So do you see your parents a lot?”
“I talk to my mother on the phone at least twice a week. She comes to visit every now and then. We always had a great relationship. My dad has been to my place once. I visit them when I can, but it will never be the same.”
“I’m sorry, Becca.”
“No biggie! The past can’t be undone. If it could, I would have done things a lot differently and I would be sitting here looking at you instead of trying to figure out if I’m talking to the back of the taxi driver’s head.” She forced a smile.
“You have such determination. Such drive. You don’t let it get you down. I admire that.”
“Oh believe me…..I have my days where Satan himself wouldn’t want to be around me.”
We remained silent for the rest of the ride to the studio. She looked as if she was emotionally drained after talking about her father and I didn’t want to make her more upset by continuing the subject. I helped her out of the taxi when we pulled up to the building and grabbed her hand, leading her inside.
“Can you please tell me what we are doing?” she giggled.
“You’ll see!”
“Umm….no I won’t.”
“YEAH, you will!”
She sighed deeply and shook her head as I helped her up the steps. I took out my phone and pulled up the text message with the combination. I punched in the number on the door, and was relieved when it opened on the first try. I took Becca’s hand and led her in, watching as she inhaled deeply.
“I smell paint.” She tilted her head and her eyes were almost looking into mine.
“Come here, Becca.” I took her and led her over to where the canvas was all set up and picked up one of the brushes. I placed it in her hand so she was touching the bristles.
She crinkled her eyebrows and shook her head. “Oh no. I can’t –”
“Yes, you can. I want you to paint that beautiful sunset that you saw in your mind the other night.”
“Mason, seeing it in my mind and painting it are two totally different things. I can’t even see the paint colors.”
“I will help you with that.”
She sighed heavily. “I just don’t think I can do this.”
“Yeah, you can. Just tell me the colors that you need.”
She bit her lip like she was deep in thought. “White, red, yellow, and blue.”
I found the tubes of each color that she requested. “Okay, got them.”
“Okay. Is there a palette or something where you can squirt just a little bit of each color onto?”
I looked down at the counter right by the easel and located the board that I was assuming was the palette. “Yup.”
“Okay, squirt just a little bit of each color onto it.”
I grabbed each tube and followed her instructions. “Okay, done.”
“I need a two inch flat brush.” I looked down at the array of paintbrushes sitting on the counter, picking up the one that looked closest to that description. I placed it in her hands and let her feel it to make sure that I had the right one. “Gently dip it in the white.” I turned the brush around so the handle was in her hand as I guided it over to the paint and lightly dabbed the brush into it. “The whole canvas needs to be covered in white.” Her hand was gripping tightly to the brush as I moved it over to the canvas. I stood behind her and held lightly to it as she began to sweep the brush over the entire area. “Is it all covered?”
“I guess. It was white to begin with so it’s hard to tell.”
She began to laugh. “I’m thinking the horizon should be yellow.” My hand moved with hers to the yellow paint, gently dabbing it in. “We need to be in the very middle of the canvas.”
“Okay, its right in the middle,” I said. Our hands swept a thick straight line across the center with the yellow paint.
“Okay, mix some red in with the yellow,” she directed. I mixed the colors together, letting her know when I was done. “Now we’re going to put some orange above the yellow.” I moved her hand and helped her guide it just above the yellow. “I think we should leave a little bit of the corner open for some blue. Kind of like a promise for a brighter day. What do you think?” She turned around and was so close that it was taking everything inside of me to not reach down and kiss her lips.
A smile was plastered across her face. I could see her confidence building and her body relaxing with each stroke of the brush. I was having just as much fun, as she taught me all about mixing the colors and blending them into the picture.
“Well, how’s it look?” she asked once we were done. I stood back, taking it in. It really did turn out great and I was quite impressed with myself and my ability with helping her paint it.
“It came out awesome.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously, Becca. You did great.”
“No…..we did great!”
“I had nothing to do with it, Becca. I was just your eyes. You’re the one that painted it.”
I took the brush from her hand and placed it on the counter. “Holding those brushes in my hand….that was the best feeling in the world. Thank you, Mason.”
“Anytime, Becca.”
She reached up and placed her hands on my cheeks. “That was really sweet of you. No one has done anything that nice for me in a very long time.” She stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against my cheek. I inhaled the intoxicating clean scent of her perfume and I wanted more, but for the moment I would just settle with being with her and seeing the happiness in her eyes.
“That was so much fun painting today. Thanks again, Mason. And I must say you are a pretty good cook, too,” Becca said as we took a seat on the couch after dinner.
“Thanks. My mama taught me well.”
She lifted the glass up to her lips and took a sip of her wine. “So have you always lived in Louisiana?” she asked.
“Yup, first time I ever left was when I was eighteen years old and left for basic training.”
“So how long were you in the Marines?”
“Four years. My mom was diagnosed with cancer at the end of my enlistment. The doctors wanted to start her on chemo and she refused. They told her without it she could expect to live six months. She decided not to do it. She didn’t want to put herself through it. So I didn’t reenlist. I wanted to spend all my time with her.”
“Oh, Mason, I’m so very sorry.” Her hand reached for mine, finally finding it and interlocking her fingers with mine.
“Don’t be. She found this really great Homeopathic doctor and took the holistic route. She’s been Cancer free for seven years now.”
A smile returned to her face. “That is awesome!”
“Sure is. I don’t know what I would do without her.”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“An older sister, Amy.”
“So you and your family are close?”
“Yeah, we are.”
“Well, your mother raised a fine southern gentleman, Mr. Boudreaux.”
“Why thank you, Miss Keeton, and if you don’t mind me saying, your mother and father made one beautiful woman.�
�� She began to blush, the same way she would way back then, whenever I would pay her a compliment. I placed my hand on her face and gently swept my thumb up her cheek. “No need to be embarrassed, Becca. I speak the truth.”
“Well, I wouldn’t know. I haven’t seen what I look like in six years.” Her eyes began to glass over. “I can’t wear makeup unless someone else puts it on me. I have to let my hair dry whichever way it pleases. And I could be talking to you right now and have a giant piece of food stuck between my teeth and wouldn’t even know it.”
“Oh, is that what that green thing is between your two front teeth?” I teased. She giggled and shook her head. I moved closer to her and she took a deep breath. “Do you want to know what I see when I look at you?” The smile disappeared from her face and she nodded. I removed her hair clip, allowing her hair to fall down around her as I stared into her eyes. “I see a gorgeous woman with chestnut brown hair that falls to the middle of her back in natural, loose waves.” I gently tucked the strand that was hanging in her face behind her ear. “Her face is so beautiful that she doesn’t even need makeup. Her lips are a natural shade of red that no lipstick could ever match.” I could see her blushing every now and then, trying to hold back both a smile and tears. “But my favorite part of her is…. her eyes. She has the most stunning eyes I have ever seen in my life. They remind me of the first really hot summer day and staring into a crystal clear swimming pool. The water looks so blue, so refreshing, and so inviting. You’re dying to jump in and cool off but you want to test the water first to make sure it’s okay.” She swallowed hard as I leaned in and tasted her lips, unable to get enough of them. She opened her mouth, allowing my tongue access, and moved her hands down my back and I was instantly aching to be inside of her.
We were both breathing heavily as we ended our kiss. She placed her fingers on her bottom lip before sucking it in. “Is the water okay, Mason?”