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for me."
"Nope. I've been looking for something to hang there
for a long time. Care to sit down?"
Josey settled on the leather couch and laughed when
she noticed Mary's bowl on the coffee table. "Mary
would be pleased." There were nuts in the bowl. "She
likes her pottery to be useful."
A smile lit Lauren's face and eyes. "I am so glad you
could come. Have you seen your paintings at the
university?"
"Yes. Annie and I walked over to the gallery."
"How did you feel?"
Josey looked away. "Like I'd lost a part of me."
"You did, didn't you?" Lauren asked.
"Yes, I did." She met Lauren's eyes. "It's not something
I like to talk about."
"It happened to me. It seems like there's an epidemic of
breast cancer out there."
Taken aback, she said, "And what did you do for
therapy? Write a book?"
Lauren's smile turned rueful, but her eyes never left
Josey's face. "Yes, but about something else. I admired
your courage."
Startled, Josey met the unflinching gaze. "It wasn't
courage, that's for sure. Mary had to push me into
exhibiting the series."
"Would you like a drink or a glass of wine?" Lauren
asked.
"Whatever you're having."
She followed Lauren into the kitchen, a small, functional
room with ceramic tile floors, glass fronted oak
cabinets, and windows that looked out the back and
side of the house. A door led to an outside patio, and
an archway opened into the dining room.
"I'm having a glass of Merlot, but I have vodka, gin, and
whiskey on hand."
"Merlot is fine. I have to drive home tonight."
"I do have two extra bedrooms, unless there's some
compelling reason you have to go home." A faint flush
colored Lauren's cheeks, and she kept her eyes on the
glass as she handed it to Josey.
Returning to the living room, Lauren threw a log on the
fire. Sparks flew and she closed the screens but not the
glass doors. Josey sipped the wine and stared at the
flames.
Lauren sat down next to her. "Tell me about your
house."
Josey laughed, embarrassed at the thought of Lauren
seeing where she lived. She shook her head. "It's just a
big old farmhouse."
After dinner, they again sat on the couch in the living
room. "How did it get so late?" Josey had arrived
before four. It was now nine.
"Why don't you stay the night?" Lauren said.
Rain fell outside, the roads would be black, and she'd
had several glasses of wine. "I'd have to leave first thing
in the morning."
"Good. I'd worry about you driving home tonight."
"I'd worry about me, too," Josey said, realizing that she
was slightly impaired by the wine.
Lauren moved closer. She took Josey's hand. Josey
looked at her mouth, the lips full and softly crumpled,
and leaned forward to kiss her. Her heartbeat filled her
ears. She pulled back in alarm. "The wine did that. I'm
sorry. I really should go home."
"Don't. Please. It's dark and cold and wet out there.
This is enough for tonight. I'm not one to jump into
things either."
Later, Lauren showed her to a bedroom across the hall
from her own. She lay in bed, listening to the rain
tapping against the windows, thinking about the desire
Lauren stirred in her. Where it came from, and why
Lauren and not Ellen aroused it, was beyond her
understanding. She welcomed it, though, knowing that
desire like this might not come again in her lifetime. She
would not turn away from Lauren willingly.
March
XXVIII
The horse fair brought Josey more business on the first
day than she expected for the entire coming year. She
had agreed to paint Monty Junior and Snipper's foal by
Monty Senior. When so many others lined up for her
services, she worried that she'd started a fad and might
never get back to serious work.
She drove to Appleton on Friday, spent the night with
Lauren, and brought Annie to the horse fair with her the
next day. Her niece and John and Candy planned to
meet there.
Annie looked paler and thinner than Josey had ever
seen her. "Don't you eat, Annie?" she asked as they
drove south on Highway 41 to the Oshkosh
fairgrounds.
"I'm not very hungry. There's no one to eat with."
"I know what that's like," Josey agreed. Who wanted to
cook for one? It seemed like a waste of time. "Get
some frozen meals."
"My freezer doesn't work."
"What are you eating?"
"Peanut butter sandwiches and bananas and carrots. I
figure I'm hitting all the food categories." A smile.
"Are you coming back to Clover for the summer? We
could use you at the Mill." Especially now that she had
contracts for all these equine portraits.
"I'd like working for you and Mary," Annie said. "What
about Dr. Fletcher? Is she spending the summer with
you?"
Josey cleared her throat. She wasn't really comfortable
discussing her love life with Annie, especially since
Lauren had not only helped Annie apply for a
scholarship but vouched for her, too. "Some of the time.
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