“You’re moping.”
“Am not.”
“Are too,”Janka flicked a brush full of water at her face.
“Hey quit it.You’re going to cause more damage than fix it.”She noted the splash on the canvas.
“Have you heard from him?”
“Yes.He called me at lunchtime,”she looked to her phone,“two hours ago.”
“He’s been gone three days.You’re sullen,moody,and weepy.”
“I’m not weepy.”She grimaced at Janka.“I’m sexually frustrated.”
“I guess.If I had gotten used to nightly romps with a man like Isaias and had them taken away from me,I’d be frustrated too.”Janka teased her.
“Tell me about it.Doesn’t help he knows how much I like those deep v ridgey things which are at his hips,and he took a very strategic selfie this morning and told me he wished my tongue was right there,”she shivered.“I could almost taste it.”
Janka chortled at her.“Slut.”
“I am definitely wanton where he is concerned.He’s not going to be home until Monday.It’s three more days.I have never been one to wish my time away,but I want him home.”
“It’ll pass quick.If I didn’t have a date tonight,I’d come over.”Janka smiled.
“This guy seems promising though.”
“I guess,”Janka shrugged,“I’d rather go raid Isaias’wine cellar.”
“He wants to take me away,only the two of us and I was up until midnight looking at very exclusive resorts.Is it weird I don’t really care where we go?I just want him with me.”
She grabbed the bag of jellybeans she’d bought at the grocery store and popped a handful in her mouth and turned her attention back to the canvas.She gave a pitiful sigh and studied her project.Her heart wasn’t in it.
“What are you eating?”
“Jellybeans.I stopped at the grocery store last night to get ice cream and peanut butter filled chocolate cups and saw these and had to have them.”
“Liesl,that has to be a five-pound bag of candy.”
“Three,”she grinned over a mouthful.“My favorite are the pear flavored ones.”
“You can’t eat your feelings.”
“I’m not.I’m painting my feelings.I’m eating my sexual frustration.”
Janka snickered at her and then reached her hand into the bag narrowly avoiding Liesl’s smack.“It’s a giant bag.You can share.”
“Mine.”
“You’re like the freaky little guy in the movie your mom likes.”
“I’m just glad we were born before she saw the Lord of the Rings movies,or we would have been named Sam,Frodo and Pippin.”
“Nah.None of them were musicals.”
“True.”Liesl agreed and then looked to her phone a feeling of panic settling over her at the number on the display.
“How many times has she called?”
“This is the eleventh time today.”
“Are you going to answer?”
“It’s my mom.The minute she knew Isaias was out of town,thanks Fred for letting it slip,”she said sarcastically,“she started calling to ask me to talk to Granny about Thanksgiving.I want to tell her to go fuck herself.”
“Then do it.”
“Isaias said if I wanted to test the waters with a dinner at Granny’s with Sandy and Merlin there,he would hold my hand,but he doesn’t want Trent anywhere near me.”
“No wonder.The guy had a folder of you on his desktop.Filthy pig.”
“Well,I told Fred I have Granny’s painting almost ready to unveil.It’ll be ready by Sunday.Maybe they can come for the unveiling and if my Aunties are there it will be more focused on Gran and less on me and Sandy.”
“It’s a shitty idea and you know it.”The phone’s incessant ringing was proving Janka’s point as she motioned at it,“you know it’s Sandy putting her up to the calls.”
“Yes.Sandy’s made her own calls.They go straight to voice mail.I really wish I could change my number.Having so many clients and patrons who have this number is an issue.”
“Sandy called?You didn’t tell me this.”Janka sat down and flung a jellybean into the air and caught it.She chewed it thoughtfully,“these are really sweet.How is your stomach not rotting?”
“I don’t know.I feel like I can’t get enough of them.”
Is Sandy calling too?”
“Yeah.She left three voice mails.All of them sweeter than these jellybeans,telling me how much she misses me and she’s sorry and wants to talk.Bullshit.”
“Anything from Merlin?”
“He hasn’t called or reached out but as I was going to the car from the grocery store last night,I caught a glimpse of him in his car parking.Thankfully,Mallory and the brute squad were on hand to get me home without him.”
“So,it’s beginning?”
“I don’t know.What I do know is Isaias tightened up my security ten-fold while he’s away and I’m grateful.”She grinned over a mouthful of candy,“did you know I got a hand-written letter from Craven in the mail?It was part of the settlement.She had to apologize in writing to me personally and she posted a video on her social media which said she was dealing with substance addiction,and it made her think in an alternate reality.She offered her heartfelt apologies about lying about being in a relationship with Isaias and putting my life at risk with her overzealous fans.She was in a sixty-day facility.Her parents locked her right up.She seems to be back on her feet,and I do believe her apology is sincere.
“It’s what your mom should have done with Sandy.Sixty-days in a padded cell to get her head on straight.Instead,she’s back to her tricks.”
The trilling of the bells at the door made them both look up.
“Please be a customer and tell me we didn’t summon her like a demon,”Janka whispered as she headed to the front of the gallery.
“Mallory wouldn’t let her in.”she called at Janka’s retreating back with her fingers crossed.
“Oh,hell no!”Janka’s loud screech made her sigh loudly and drop her bag of candy to the table with frustration.
She exited her workshop and made her way to the front of the gallery and lifted her eyebrows at the couple standing at the counter.
“Sandy?Roddy?”
“I need your help,”Sandy said seriously.
