A Five-Minute Life

My arms dropped to my sides. “I’m not f-falling for her. She can’t—”

“That’s right. She can’t nothing.” He chucked his smoke down and ground it under his boot.

“She can paint,” I said. “She’s an artist. She should be painting.”

I braced myself for Alonzo to blow up at me, but he sank back on the bench. “I know. It’s a shame, watching her make do with pen and paper, day after day.”

“So? Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow at rec time, give it a shot. But if Miss Hughes shows any kind of upset at all, that’s it.” He made a slashing motion with his hand. “No more paint.”

“Got it.”

“We’ll see. You recall Delia nearly had you canned last week. Or you got amnesia too?”

“I remember.”

“She doesn’t like strange men taking an interest in her sister. You can see why, can’t you?”

Inhale. Exhale. “I would never hurt Thea in any way. I swear it.”

It came out perfectly. No stutter.

Alonzo eyed me a good, hard minute. Then, with a small groan, he bent and picked up the butt of his smoke off the ground with two fingers. “All right, Jim. I’ll have your back on this,” he said. “Don’t make me regret it.”

The gravel crunched under his feet as he walked away, leaving his words hanging in the sticky air.

You’re falling for that poor girl.

I was. I’d quit my job before I hurt her, but it didn’t stop my stupid heart from wanting an impossible life. I was a dying man in Thea’s Egyptian desert, and she was a mirage. An oasis that didn’t exist.

And I had to stop turning my empty soul in her direction.

Chapter 11

Jim

After the previous day’s attempt to let Thea paint had been ruined by Brett, I decided to make up for it. I went back to the art store and purchased an easel, a smock, and one of those paint trays with a hole for the thumb. I’d found a tarp in one of the supply closets and set it underneath the easel in the rec room to protect the old linoleum. I had a feeling that Thea, when she painted, didn’t hold back.

Job done, I shot a glance at Alonzo who stood at the nurse’s station. It wasn’t Delia’s day to visit, but he was there to run interference, just in case. The trust he’d placed in me felt impossibly good. If this went south, it wouldn’t just hurt Thea but ruin that too.

Alonzo glanced down the hall and then back to me. “Here she comes.”

Rita brought Thea in, and I joined them at the door.

“Hi, Miss Hughes.”

Thea glanced at my nametag. “Hi… Jim?”

“It’s Jimmy,” I said. “I have something for you.”

Her smile widened. “Oh yeah? Is it my birthday?”

I stared and my brain went into a tailspin.

Was it? Did she think it was? Did she know one way or the other?

“Oh my God, calm down, Jimmy. I’m teasing.” Thea laughed, but the smile fell off her face as she caught sight of my setup. She walked slowly toward the mini art studio. “Is this… for me?”