Please Try Again//ONC 2024

9. Something More

Almost two weeks after I moved in, Robert returned to the apartment. A restless energy had prevented me from sitting down to watch a show or read a book, so I figured I'd break in my cozy art nook. I hadn't painted there yet and stared at the blank canvas for a while until the light of the setting sun bounced off the building windows across the bay. As the scene moved to the twilight, inspiration hit, and I began to paint.

I sat examining my partially completed work sometime later, and a throat cleared behind me. Startled, I jerked around to find Robert standing silently, observing me with a curious expression. I wondered how long he had been there, watching me paint. He had timed his interruption perfectly, waiting for me to put my brush aside before attracting my attention. I could be rude and snappy when someone interrupted me in the middle of a painting.

"You're home," I observed, then flushed at the obviousness of the statement.

"Yes," he responded with an absent smile, his eyes taking in my painting. "It's beautiful."

"Thanks, it's just a doodle. How long have you been standing there?"

"Less than an hour. It is fascinating to watch you work," Robert admitted, rubbing his shoulder a little where he had been leaning on the doorway.

"An hour!" I stood up, embarrassed that I had kept him standing for so long, before realizing it had been his choice and I didn't have to be polite in my own space. Robert stayed silent while my brain marched through the different stages. "Wow, that is some endurance you have there."

"It's not often I get to watch an artist in the process." My heart flipped at his lopsided, childlike smile.

"Oh, do you want me to tell you whenever I'm going in to paint?" I teased.

"If it won't disrupt your process, I'd very much like that," he answered.

"Oh, um, I guess it would be okay. Beth watches me sometimes, though never for an hour, and it doesn't bother me." I offered, earning a bright smile in return. I went out onto the balcony to wash my hands and brush. I didn't like getting paint in the bathroom sink. Robert waited for me at the doorway, never stepping into my room.

"Have you eaten?" Robert asked when I finished putting away my paints and supplies. His patience seemed endless.

"Yes, Daisy left dinner in the fridge. We didn't know when you would be back, so she has been making extras every night just in case. I have been taking the leftover meals to work for lunch."

"I'll have her start making you a lunch portion when I'm here, so you don't have to do without," he offered as I followed him into the kitchen. I don't know why I went with him. Maybe it was just my need for a human connection. It had been lonely in the large place by myself. Though Anita, who was conspicuously absent that night, would talk with me sometimes, the dayguards were always stony and silent.

"Oh, you don't..." I started but paused when he turned and raised an eyebrow at me. I sighed and conceded without a real fight. "That would be great, thanks." It would be nice to have lunch daily, and I didn't think it would be that big of an imposition for Daisy.

Robert and I chatted about his trip to LA and how my move had gone while he heated up and ate his dinner. He asked me how the guards were doing and explained that they would remain outside when he was home. I wondered if they had been inside partially to keep me company.

He opened another bottle of wine and offered me a glass. I usually drank a maximum of one glass of wine a night, but it was Friday, and I could sleep in the next day, so I accepted the offer, especially since the bottle he opened was one I wanted to try.