My Brother's Best Friend

Chap. 37

"So you make this drive practically every weekend?" I asked Parker, as we slowly hit hour two of our drive.

It felt like the longest drive of my life.

"Yep."

"This is awful."

He chuckled, turning on his blinker to switch lanes. "It's not so bad once you get used to it."

I couldn't imagine driving a total of six hours every weekend.

"So did you hear about the new exhibit opening over at the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts?" I asked Parker.

He noticeably stiffened. "No."

"Well it's coming soon, so it hasn't opened yet. But it's Jane Wyeth's Portraits of something."

"Portraits of Rudolf Nureyev," Parker filled in.

"How did you know that?"

He shrugged, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Do you know what it's about?"

"It's a collaboration between Wyeth, one of the greatest painters of all time, and Rudolf Nureyev, a ballet dancer. There's nineteen portraits in total I think, with five actual costumes that Nureyev wore during a couple of his performances."

I stared at Parker, absolutely stunned.

"Wyeth is mostly an oil painter, he prefers oil to that of his father's sober tempera paintings," Parker added. "He has other portraits, like one of JFK and Andy Warhol, but he felt as though Rudolf Nureyev was his most challenging subject."

I was absolutely floored. "How do you just know that off the top of your head?"

Parker let out a laugh, clearly amused by my confusion.

"So I guess you want to go see it then," I said.

"No," Parker declined, with a shake of his head.

"But you just gave me the entire backstory of the painter and the ballet dancer guy whose name I can't pronounce, how can you say that you don't want to see it?"

Parker didn't answer for a few minutes.

"I just don't want to," he finally said.

Although that wasn't an actual excuse, I let it slip. We still had a three-hour drive home tomorrow for me to question him.

~*~

"This is a nice hotel," I said, as we stepped inside.

"Hello Mr. Adams," the front desk clerk greeted. "Let me check you in."

That doesn't even surprise me.

The clerk gave us two room keys and wished us the best before we headed upstairs.

"Do you stay here every time?" I asked.

"Yeah," Parker said, with a nod. "No point in switching. It's right down the street from Lee's boarding school and a good rate."

We got settled in before Parker called over to Cornerstone, letting them know he was heading over to pick up Lee.

I, in the meantime, changed into a bathing suit, pulling a sundress over the top.

"Ready?" Parker asked me, after he'd changed as well.

I nodded, tying back my hair in a ponytail before we headed out.

"So Lee has to see his therapist from 10-11," Parker said, as we headed over to Cornerstone. "And then we'll hit the beach."

"Okay," I said, with a nod.