I walked Drake to the door and kissed him once more. Drake held onto the door for a moment and watched me walk back to where Nathaniel was. I waved at him and finally Drake closed the door and left.
Nathaniel turned to me. "Pretty rich looking boyfriend you got, Katie."
"He's a doctor," I said. "And he inherited a lot of money."
"Cool. So you want to make a couple of canvases?"
"I only need one," I said, not wanting to use up too much of his supplies.
"Make two. Always good to have another one in case something happens to the first. There've been too many times when someone has fallen over and ripped one of my canvases and I've been so upset, having to wait for a new one. If you have a second, you can start right away if something happens to the first."
"Sure."
We spent the next hour cutting the wood, mitering the corners, building the frame on which I'd stretch the canvas. The frames alone took up all my hour, so I'd have to come back and finish stapling the fabric onto the frames, and apply the first coat of gesso to the canvas.
My cell chimed just as I was measuring out some canvas on the cutting table. I took out my cell and saw a text from Drake.
Your carriage awaits, my Lady…
I laughed and texted him back.
I'll be right down.
"Thanks for everything," I said to Nathaniel. "I've got some time on Wednesday in the small studio so I guess I'll see you then."
"Come back later today or tomorrow. You can work in here. I'll help you get the canvases ready."
"Thanks," I said. "You are wonderful."
"I am," Nathaniel said, smiling.
I said goodbye and took one last look at the studio, excited to once again be working on a piece of art instead of writing about it.
Drake was waiting by the passenger side of the car, and before I could get inside, he bent down to kiss me.
"Hey," he said. "You've got sawdust in your hair."
I ran my hand through my hair and sure enough, there was a sprinkling of sawdust in it.
"We cut wood for the frame and then we had to miter the corners and make dados."
"Sounds complicated," Drake said and opened the passenger door.
"No, it's pretty straight forward once you have your dimensions. My canvas is pretty big so we had to do a lot of bracing so the canvas would be strong enough. I didn't even get a chance to stretch the canvas yet. I'll do that tomorrow."
I smiled at him and got in. He closed the door and came around the other side.
"You didn’t have any time on the sheet tomorrow."
I nodded. "Nathaniel said I could come in and work in the main studio."
"How nice of him," Drake said, deadpan.
As we drove off, he was quiet. I reached out and took his hand.
"You know the first time we met outside of class, Nathaniel was stoned and called me 'dude.'"
Drake laughed at that, glancing at me, his eyes crinkling in the corners.