Sisterhood 4: Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares

Author:Ann Brashares
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780375843181
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2007-01-09T05:00:00+00:00

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.

—Vernon Law

Leo looked surprised to see Lena at the door of his loft on Sunday morning. She was surprised to be there.

“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” he said.

“I wasn’t either.”

“I’m glad you did,” he added. He did look happy, and also uncertain. He was looking at her in a different way.

“I’m nervous,” she said honestly. “But fair is fair.”

His eyes on her were different. She couldn’t say why. “You are fair,” he said. “But you don’t have to do it.”

She smiled nervously. “Thanks.”

“Do you want a cup of coffee?”

“Sure.” She considered the state of her nervous system. “Maybe tea,” she mumbled, following him into the kitchen.

He put the kettle on and sat down. Northern light—artists’ light—fell all around them from the high windows.

“Where’s your mom?” Lena asked.

“She volunteers all day at our church,” Leo said. “I thought the privacy might make it easier.”

She nodded.

“But I understand if you don’t want to.”

“Okay.”

She sat and thought.

He looked at her, his elbow resting on the table, his chin in his hand. When she saw him looking, he smiled. She smiled back.

She thought of drinking her tea and going back home. She thought of staying here and taking off her clothes and letting Leo paint her. The second alternative didn’t seem possible, but in a strange way, neither did the first. She had the odd sense of pushing off the edge into unknown territory. She had already let her mind travel. There were possibilities now. It wasn’t enough to go back and forget. She wasn’t the forgetting type.

“I think we should try it,” she said.

“You do?”

“Do you?”

“I do.”

“So let’s.”

“If you’re uncomfortable, we’ll stop.”

She shrugged with a laugh. “I will be uncomfortable. We’d have to stop before we start.” She breathed deep. “But I think we should try it anyway.”

Leo’s bedroom was spacious and skylit. He had dragged a small ruby-colored couch into the center and draped a pale yellow sheet over it. His easel was folded in the corner.

“I was thinking of here,” he said a bit sheepishly. She could tell he’d made the effort to set it up more like a painting class, not just put her in his bed. “We could do it somewhere else, though.”

The colors glowed. The light dusted over the drapery in a beautiful way. She could almost see the painting. “No. This is good.”

He disappeared for a moment and came back with a robe, probably his mother’s. He handed it to her with a question on his face. Do you really want to do this? “I really won’t be upset with you if you don’t,” he said.

“I think I might be upset with me,” she said.

He nodded. “It’s just a painting.”

It wasn’t just a painting for her. She needed to do it anyway.

“I’ll give you some privacy,” he said.

“Not for long,” she joked nervously. It was like when the doctor left the room as you undressed and dressed again. As if the nakedness weren’t embarrassing if you could transition into it alone.

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