“The house I grew up in was given to my dad from his parents. The will states it can’t be sold; it has to be passed down to the next in line. When my parents divorced, and moved out, Dad had the deed changed to my name. I’ve been leasing it to a nice older couple for the past five years, but they moved to Florida to be near their daughter who just had her first kid. I decided not to lease it again.”
So…Creed was my neighbor? What?
“What about Boston and the band?” I asked him, not sure I was understanding correctly and hoping I was completely confused. For reasons, I didn’t want to think too deeply about.
He finished his pie and set the plate down. “That was temporary. I was going to make it work with the distance if I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t for me. I have only one more gig with them next weekend and then I move back here and finish what I started in college.”
“College?” I blurted out without thinking. My head was spinning and I was struggling to make sense of all this new information.
He smirked. “What? Did you think I skipped out on college to play in a band?”
I had no idea that he went to college or where he went or if he had a degree. He had shut me out six years ago. He’d lost his sister, his twin, and I understood that he was hurting but so was I. There had been no reason for him to act as if I no longer existed. He had told me he loved me and after that I lost my virginity to Creed Sullivan. Four days later, we found Cora, dead. It had all changed. He didn’t love me enough.
I wasn’t that girl now. I was stronger. I had to be. Creed Sullivan had destroyed me once. That was something he would never have the power to do again. Griff loved me and he’d never hurt me like that. No matter what happened.
Remembering he had asked me a question, I got out of my head and replied, “I wasn’t sure.”
He didn’t offer to tell me either. Instead he stood up, leaving his cup beside the plate on the table. “Thanks for the pie and cocoa. I’m glad you’re settling in okay,” he said. “I need to get some things accomplished before it gets dark, which will be fucking early today.”
I jumped up as he went to the door and opened it. “Bye,” I blurted out because there were so many things I wanted to ask and so many reasons I needed to just let him leave.
He gave me a single nod then left, closing the door firmly behind him.
I still didn’t know what he had gone to college for or what he was doing back in Portsmouth.
ten
November 5, 2019
I straightened my skirt, buttoned my navy wool coat, and wrapped a scarf around my neck before walking toward the entrance of The Islet at Portsmouth. I’d managed to get an interview on my first attempt to contact them. The Islet at Portsmouth was an art museum that was well-known in New England. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. Other than my degree and a short internship at the art museum in Nashville, I had little experience. However, the lady I had spoken to on the phone yesterday didn’t seem to mind any of that. It was very likely they were going to hire me to run errands for them. I would take what I could get. Even if it was being a coffee girl.
The heavy door wasn’t made of glass but oak and I would guess it was two hundred years old. Just the weight of it made the place feel intimidating. This was what I loved. It was what I had put all my time and effort into during my four years at Vanderbilt. I could remember my dad taking me to Musee Picasso in Paris when I was nine years old. He was on a world tour, and my mother had stuck me on a plane to stay with him for two weeks of his tour. Anyway, that day had been the beginning for me. I loved every piece of art there and I wanted to study it and soak it in. I wanted more than anything to be able to create art like that but I wasn’t talented with a brush or pen. I was good with a camera, but it wasn’t the same.
I had left the Musee Picasso knowing, one day, when I had a job, I wanted to be surrounded by art. Now, here I was and my heart was pounding in my chest at the idea of getting to do just that. Stepping inside the museum, I let myself relax in the beauty surrounding me. I felt at home here. I always did with art.