Page 5 of The Keeper and I

“Nothing.” He shook his head. “It’s…nothing.”

She cleared her throat. “So…anything else? Any new artwork?”

He shot her a warning glare before glancing around to be sure there was no one he knew within earshot. Ava was the only person in the world privy to his hobby outside of football, and he was in no rush to share that with anyone else.

“Yes,” he said in a hushed voice. “I’ve finished a new piece.”

Her eyes lit up. “Have you got a picture?”

Doing one more sweep of the area with his eyes, he retrieved his phone from his pocket and slid it over to her. She knew his passcode, as it was her birthday, so she went right for the camera roll. It was his most recent in a line of photos of his work. He rarely bothered to capture anything else. She tapped on it to see it full screen.

It was one he was proud of, a portrait with all the colors of the rainbow emerging from the heart of the subject—a young woman with her eyes closed and a hand over her chest. She had a soft, gentle smile on her face that rounded out her cheeks. Her hair floated around her, following the pattern of the colors. He watched Ava to gauge her reaction. She blinked in surprise.

“The same girl?” she questioned.

Jordan answered with a stiff nod.

“Still don’t know who she is?”

He nodded again. Truthfully, he had some idea, but he knew he couldn’t share without sounding like a creep. He knew the woman’s face long before he placed her. From the time he picked up his first pencil and sketched, he had been drawing her. And when he had progressed to painting, it was the same. No matter what he tried, he could not get her likeness out of his mind.

“It’s beautiful, J,” Ava said. “I’ve never seen you use color this way.”

Usually, he stuck to more subdued color palettes, but something in his gut told him to change it up. Take a chance. It must have been effective because Ava couldn’t stop staring.

“You really like it?” he asked.

“Yes, it’s stunning.”

“Thanks.”

“You should start posting it on Instagram or—”

“No,” he cut her off.

“Oh, come on.”

“No.”

“It would just—”

“No, Ava.”

She frowned and handed his phone back to him. “Have it your way, then. I’m only trying to tell you that your talent should be appreciated by more than me.”

“You’re all the appreciation I need,” he said.

“I’m not an expert.”

“So fucking what? Art experts are snobs anyway.”

She rolled her eyes, and they returned to comfortable silence. The chatter around them carried on. It was a few minutes before Ava shifted in her seat and nudged him playfully with her elbow, a wry smile on her lips.

“So…” she said, drawing out the O sound with a kind of mischief that made Jordan’s shoulders go rigid. “Anythingelsegoing on?”

His brow knit together over his eyes. “Such as?”

“Have you met anyone…special?”