brown on her cheek, and a rainbow of colors on her jeans and shirt where she had used them to wipe off or shape her brush.
“Why did you stop playing? I was really getting into that one. Oh, Liza!” She said in surprise when she saw her friend inside of the door. “What are you doing here?”
“Um, who were you talking to?” Liza said worried about her friend. “Do you have company?”
“You could say that.” Drew said looking towards the piano.
“Why haven’t you answered my calls, Drew? I’ve been trying to call youfor a week and a half.”
“Oh, I lost my phone. Did you say a week and a half?” Drew asked in surprise.
“Yes, I did, and when I called the gallery to see if I could reach you there they said that you haven’t shown up to work for a week and a half as well. So, I thought that I would try Boudreaux’s thinking that maybe you went back to work there full time. They haven’t seen you since the first night that you went back. What is going on Drew? Are you ok?” Liza walked to her friend now. Drew could see that she was really concerned.
“Of course I am ok. Don’t I look ok?” Drew shook her head as if to say not to answer that. She realized that she probably did look a mess. She didn’t grasp that she hadn’t left the house all week. She couldn’t even remember the last time that she had had a bath even.
“I’ve just been so busy, Liza, with the house. Doesn’t it look great? I have been cleaning up the yard and I got rid of all those old dust clothes. I dusted the place from top to bottom, well, the downstairs anyway; I washed all of the dishes and threw out all of the…”
“Drew! You have shut yourself off from the world. What is going on with you?”
“The cemetery looks great; did you stop by and see the cemetery? I am going to have to buy you guys a new weed eater and lawn mower I’ve gotten quite attached to yours; hey how long do you think that canned goods stay good? I’ve got some that are over a hundred and fifty years old…” Drew was rambling as she had taken a cloth from her back pocket and was vigorously wiping down tables and the piano.
“Drew, damn it, would you listen to yourself?” Liza went to her friend now and shook her. She felt tears welling up in her eyes. The dark rings and puffs around Drew’s eyes told her that she hadn’t slept or probably eaten anything in a while. She thought that Drew had finally lost her mind.
“Why don’t you pack a bag and come and stay with Tim and I for the weekend? It’s my last weekend before school starts and I could really use your help getting everything ready forour Labor Day crab boil. Where is your room? Let’s get you some things together ok?” Liza turned Drew around in the direction of the hall where she had come from earlier.
With a laugh Drew said, “Liza, I am fine! Really! I’ve just been so caught up in my new house, and the last couple of days I have started painting again and I can’t seem to stop.”
“That’s nice honey. I’m so glad that you have found your passion. Now where is that bedroom?” Liza saw the light from the back sitting room and pushed Drew in that direction, passing her bedroom. When she saw the paintings hanging from wall to wall in the sitting room her breath caught. Drew wasn’t just passionate, she had become obsessed.
“Drew? Who is the man in all of the paintings, sweetie?” The paintings that hung everywhere were absolutely gorgeous. She always knew that Drew was talented but this went beyond anything she had ever seen before. Such fine detail in some of them and others where blurry like that was exactly the way that Drew had seen it. Every one of them had a face in it, and each face was the same only with different expressions or back grounds.
“Oh, I’m not sure. Isn’t he gorgeous though? I dream about him every night. We have danced in the ballroom and we have sat on the couch and had many conversations only I don’t really remember what we talked about or what his voice sounds like.” She blushed then. “He has even brushed my hair in one of my