Strangely Normal - By Tess Oliver Page 0,42

his gaze from his canvas to his model. After a long pause, he looked at me with such raw, urgent emotion, I lost my balance and my foot fell from the stool.

“Sorry.” I quickly tried to reposition myself on the stool.

“That’s all right. Take a break.” He walked over to the wet bar, lit a cigarette, and reached below the bar to pull out a bottle of liquor. He poured himself a shot and threw it back. Then he relaxed against the counter and smoked his cigarette in sullen silence.

I got up and walked around to stretch. Jude was a hard person to read, and I had absolutely no idea what going through his mind. But I knew what was going through mine. Finley had warned me and I had waved it off as impossible. What a naive, self-confident fool I was.

Jude tossed his cigarette in the sink and returned to his canvas. I returned to my stool and attempted to recreate the same position and expression.

“Lean forward more.” His tone was colder than before. “That’s it. Now pull the hem of the shirt down lower.”

I exposed more skin.

He said nothing at first. “Lift your chin a little.”

I followed his directions.

He turned back to his canvas and then turned his face to me.

“Fuck it,” he growled and threw the pencil across the room. “Never mind. This isn’t going to work.” The stool scraped the floor as he stood abruptly, pulled out another cigarette, and slammed out the door of the pool house.

I sat there momentarily stunned and determined to fight back the tears of hurt that burned my eyes. The stool nearly fell over as I jumped off and raced to the bathroom to change. My hands shook as I changed quickly and took steadying breaths to keep from crying. I threw open the door and slammed directly into Jude.

“I’m sorry, Eden.”

“Whatever. I told you I’d be a boring model.” I tried to slip past him but his arm blocked me.

“That’s not the reason and you know it.”

“I don’t know anything except that this was a mistake.” His arm was like steel as I pushed against it.

He took hold of my waist and pressed me against the wall. “I was fooling myself. I thought I could handle it, but you looked so goddamned beautiful—”

The stress of the morning had taken its toll. Tears broke through. “Please, Jude, just let me go.”

Slowly, he backed away and held his hands up in surrender. I ran for the door. I swiped clumsily at my tears and then fanned my face to dry them. I definitely didn’t want Finley to know I’d been crying, so I went straight to my room and shut the door behind me. She would still be busy with the tattoo artist. I had a reprieve from human contact for a few minutes, and I took advantage of it.

I washed my face and plunked down on my bed feeling suddenly homesick. I wondered what my family was up to and if they’d arrived safely up north. Our family van was not really the long distance type of vehicle. I wondered if we’d be moving up north if dad got the job. And I wondered how long I’d last in this totally unconventional and somewhat turmoil filled summer job. Jude had definitely added a layer to the position that I was not prepared for.

CHAPTER 13

I tried to concentrate on reading a book but found myself reading the same sentences over and over again. So I tossed the book onto the end of the bed and eventually drifted off into a nice, dreamless sleep, only to be woken by Finley’s knock at the door. “Eden? Are you ready for your tattoo?”

Groggily, I got up from the bed and plodded to the door. “I guess I fell asleep.”

Finley looked up at me and seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. Even though I was probably giving up my only chance of ever getting a tattoo, it was just not something I wanted that badly.

“It’s all right, Eden. You don’t have to get a tattoo. Like you said, it’s a permanent commitment. I’ll let Becky know.” She turned around and pushed the spaghetti strap off her shoulder. “How does it look?”

“Puckered, pink, and painful but I can see Some Pig. It looks just like the drawing. It’s going to be really cute when the swelling subsides.”

She pushed the strap back up. “I can’t wait until it’s healed. Cole came by while Becky was