Finding Sam (Featured)

Chapter 10 - Unexpected Dinner Guest

When I arrived at the studio that morning, Olivia was waiting for me. She was bouncing on her heels, grinning broadly. "I'm sorry for the late notice, but I'd love it if you could join me for dinner tonight. I want to thank you for taking the time to paint Bella and me."

"You don't have to do that," I said though her gesture still touched me. "It's an honor for me to paint you."

"I insist," she said. "At least, let me do something for you in return, Sam. I mean, you've been painting Bella and me so patiently all these weeks and...well, I think it's a tremendous gesture, you know, to take the time to paint someone when you could easily have taken a picture and work from that. No one's ever done that for me."

I smiled, her puppy-dog eyes breaking through my defenses. As much as I was so intent on saying no, only because I was too nervous over David's declaration about me having a boyfriend, one would have had a heart of stone to say no to Olivia - especially since I really had no plans other than go home and be paranoid that David knew about my studio. "You're one of the best subjects a painter could ever ask for, Olivia," I said.

After last weekend, Olivia no longer needed to sit for me. But when she plopped herself on the chair by the window, laughing as Bella managed to flee from Consuelo and scoot her way into the studio, I continued to paint what I saw. I loved watching and listening to her stories about life with Sebastian while nursing or playing with Bella.

I didn't mind her telling me things. It helped me understand her more, giving me what I needed to paint her the way I did - the baring of each layer, to reveal the true person beneath. It had become our routine the last few weeks. But today, Olivia didn't stay long. Two hours later, she gathered Bella in her arms and left, needing to get started with dinner.

I spent the next few hours immersed in Olivia's portrait, fine-tuning it the best I could. Her ethereal gaze took my breath away, and for a brief moment, I wondered if I'd channeled the Madonna and child. For that's what Olivia and Bella were after all - mother and child.

I don't know how long I worked on the painting but by the time I smelled the aroma of food, it was dark outside, and the room had grown cold. I closed the glass doors and locked them before jumping into the shower to wash off any paint off my skin and sometimes my hair. I brushed my teeth and dressed in a red summer dress with a flowing skirt that skimmed my ankles, grateful that I'd stored some nice clothes besides just grungy paint-spattered t-shirts and shorts in the studio. Though I could have walked around the house and use the door to the garden connecting both Erik and Olivia's houses, I slipped out the separate door towards the walk street. If Erik was entertaining someone, I did not want to interrupt him. The poor man needed a weekend free from some painter hanging out in his house.

As I walked past the deck leading to Erik's living room, the glass doors slid open, and Erik called my name.

"Hey, Sam, where are you going?"

As I turned to look at him, I could see Bella in her high chair in front of the dining room table. Guess it was his night to babysit, I thought, while Olivia and I would have a girls' night out.

"I'm having dinner with Olivia."

"No, you're not," he said, beckoning for me to come inside. "You're having dinner with Bella and me. Come on in. I don't bite."

"Where's Olivia?" I asked as I slipped past him and he shut the door behind me.

"Liv got her Saturdays mixed up," he said. "Tonight she's scrapbooking with her friends while I get to play uncle and babysitter to this little princess over here."