Broken Dreams by Demelza Carlton

Author:Demelza Carlton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lost Plot Press
Published: 2022-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTY-EIGHT

"Would you paint me?"

YES, his heart and nether regions screamed, while his brain and his mouth were still floundering in shock that she'd asked him. He'd drawn her dozens of times, and she never seemed to like any of the pictures. He just wasn't good enough. After years of training, maybe, maybe he would be, but he still had a long way to go.

But if Rochelle was willing to take pity on him, and let him practice...

He swallowed. "If you let me, I'd love to. I couldn't pay you as much as the art centre pays their models, so I understand if you'd rather..."

"Pay me? Don't your clients usually pay you?" She looked slightly panicky, as if she regretted the offer already. As well she might. If she hated his painting of her as much as she did the sketches, he was honour bound to pay her, even if only for seeing her own self represented so terribly.

"You've seen my work. It's never quite true to life, though I try hard to make it so. And some people I just can't get right at all. I mean, that guy today loved my sketch so much he insisted he wanted a painting of it, and I only charged him for materials. Materials enough for two or three paintings, mind you, in case he didn't like the first one and made me do it over again. I'm surprised he accepted the first one as it was. I mean, it was hardly true to life. His hands were not the same in the photo and no matter how much I tried, that fish just didn't come out the right colour..."

Her hand landed on his, silencing him. "That fish was beautiful. The whole painting was beautiful. If he hadn't liked it, you should have put it in a gallery for sale. I would have bought it, if I could afford it. As it is, with all the shifts I've been working here at the café and at the prison, what with not having to pay bills or much of my food, in another week or two, I might be able to scrape up enough to pay you what that guy did, so if you're willing to wait..."

Ben shook his head. "No, I'm the one who should pay you. I bought a phone last week, on top of everything I needed to paint the emperor, but if you're willing to wait until I've done another big commission or two..."

Rochelle laughed. "We're going to be here all night arguing, if we can't decide who's paying."

A customer came in then, interrupting the discussion, as Rochelle had to make several cups of coffee for the woman to take away, along with a box of cinnamon scrolls.

Ben wished he'd been able to eat the pastry she'd given him, instead of just enjoying the aroma, but he'd learned early on that his living stone body did not digest food, and the result of attempting to eat or drink anything was...messy, to say the least.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.