Open Your Heart For Me

Part 20: Queries and Questions

The following morning, after being woken by a peck on the check and murmured goodbyes, Genevieve stretched her aching body out and exhaled a deep breath. She'd had many times when she had gone into a stupor and cried herself to sleep, but that was the first time someone had ever caught her.

As kind as it had been of him to stay with her the whole night, she wasn't sureif she'd let her guard down like that again. She certainly didn't like exposing her vulnerabilities, but above all else she knew it wasn't fair to whoever had to shoulder her burden.

Despite her outburst, she still felt like Matt had stayed with her the whole night; she had never had had anyone do that before. Given she had never given anyone the opportunity, but not many people would want to deal with that.

Genevieve could hardly believe that Matt was a real person. The big heart, generous spirit and blunt opinions that has shaken her out of nasty thoughts were only part of the reason that she thought she was...

She refused to think that way. It wasn't fair to either of them, despite last night forcing her to question her own ideas. Besides, it was far too early to be this deep without having a coffee. After a quick phone call to check in on her mother, Genevieve threw her bag over her shoulder and pushed her way out of the apartment still lined with the darkness of yesterday.

---

Four coffees in hand, she unlocked the door to the empty studio. Whilst both workrooms had lights on, the doors were mostly closed, indicating productively. She headed to the desk to boot up the computer, but a text from her sister caused her to change course.

Mark was hunched over his gun when she opened his door, an array of tools laid out over chair. Whilst his beanie hung low, she could see the deep look of concentration etched on his face, highlighted by the gnawing on his lips. He looked up at her, and sighed in relief as he saw her holding out a cup.

She sat down on the other chair and looked at the mess of what was once a machine. "Is everything ok?"

He took a gulp of coffee as he leaned back into his seat with a huff. "There's something wrong with this blasted thing and I can't find the manual for it anywhere, so I've just been trying to guess what the hell is going on."

"You probably can't find it because you had it stuffed in the bottom drawer in the kitchen," She said with a grin, noticing the tension in his face instantly ease. "It's now in the bottom drawer if the desk."

Mark jumped up, grabbed her face in his hands and planted a sloppy kiss on her before he all but ran out of the room. She couldn't help but laugh as she picked up his drawing, and saw why he was losing his mind.

The design was what looked looked like a comic book character, very intricate and very colorful, and something that would take hours to do. A setback like this would make for a very unhappy client, and a very grumpy artist.

She heard a grunt of approval come from the other room and not long after he barged back though, paper scrunched up and a look of determination on his face. "I knew it!"

He began tinkering away, and a few minutes after watching the intense concentration, she felt it would be ok to ask how it was coming along.

"All good. This part," he pointed to a screw in the intricate, tiny frame. "Had buildup, and when I tried to clean it I must have loosened a screw." He set the gun down and stretched up high, his long arms creaking with the sound of being held tight too long. "What brings you in so early?"

She took a gulp of coffee and leaned back into her chair. "I just wanted to see if you would be ok with me taking the weekend off? It's my dad's fiftieth and my mum has planned a huge weekend to celebrate."