I hold onto this girl who’s gone from rage and anger to putty in our hands, knowing that this is it for me. Fate has brought the perfect girl into our home and into our lives, and I don’t ever want to let her go.
20
ALDEN
Happiness is a funny thing. You can believe you’re happy. Life can feel good. Experiences can be engaging. Plans can be exciting. Friends and family can seem to fill all the places in life that breed contentment. It’s only when real happiness comes along that you look back and wonder how you lived your life before it arrived.
Life without Cora was fine. I thought I had what I needed, hooking up with women every so often for fun dates and casual sex.
But everything before Cora now seems dull, like a gray tinge has settled over my recent past, and a bright yellow beam has illuminated the present.
My brothers have been walking around with stupid grins on their faces. The house has been filled with laughter. We’ve had cookouts and movie nights. Cora’s joined us to watch River and Tobias play ball, and she’s even accompanied Danny to one of his shoots. She’s a regular at Mark’s gym too.
She fits into our lives like the centerpiece of a puzzle that links all the outer pieces.
As brothers, we’ve always been close, but it’s different now. We’re not just family. We’re a unit brought together to love one woman.
For me, it’s having someone to talk to about my work that has made all the difference. Cora gets my dilemmas. She helps me work through my creative problems with new design concepts, and I’ve successfully gotten her in front of the right people to kickstart her business. Between us, we’re inspiring new ideas and coming up with ways to take our art forward to new markets. It’s the first time I’ve ever had a woman in my life who understand what it takes to work in a field so connected to your heart and soul.
She knows what it’s like to feel drained of inspiration and the frustration that this brings.
After a few days like that, she dragged me to see a quirky multimedia sculptor, and then took me to walk through a dense forest on the outskirts of town. New places gave me the fresh perspective I needed to reinvigorate my creative process. That’s what Cora brings to my life.
And Cora’s new collection is taking shape. After our forest visit, she began using a new technique to burn feathers and other organic materials into her pots and vases.
Today, I’m meeting Cora downtown at an old printing factory that has been converted to offer a large space for exhibiting art. Mason, an artist I met through a friend, is exhibiting his huge colorful paintings. Molly, a friend from college who specializes in wooden sculpture, is joining too. My metalwork is being featured, and Cora is showcasing her best ceramics.
It’s Cora’s first time exhibiting her work, and when she appears in the doorway, clutching a box containing two large vases, her eyes look like they’re going to bug out of her head.
“Oh my God, this place is awesome,” she says. Her wide eyes scan the room, taking in my largest pieces first and then drifting over Molly’s section and finally to the walls where Mason’s art is hanging. He’s currently talking to the exhibition coordinator about adjusting the hanging height for two of his largest pieces. They’re paintings of female nudes in the abstract, and his use of color and textured brushwork really sets his work apart from anything I’ve seen before.
Molly is sitting cross-legged in the corner, with her attention focused on her phone. She’s really great at growing her social media presence. It’s something she’s promised to help me with when the exhibition is over.
I make my way over to Cora, placing a kiss on her lips as I take the weight of the box into my hands. “The light is unbelievable, isn’t it? Look at the shadows.”
She turns to follow my line of sight, taking in the stretched and distorted shapes my sculptures are spreading across the polished concrete floor.
“And that tree of Molly’s,” she says, nodding to where the largest wooden sculpture is standing. Its fabricated branches almost seem like arms waving on the far wall.
“I’m almost disappointed we’re not showing in daylight. It creates a different mood when you see everything in natural light.”
Mason turns, nodding his head. “Natural light is great, but the lighting in this place is pretty special too.”
I usher Cora forward, wanting her to meet Mason so that she’s as comfortable with the setup as possible. “Mason, this is Cora Horton. Cora, this is…”
“Mason Banbury,” she says. Sticking out her hand, she blushes hard when he shakes it firmly. The crazy colorful bangles she has on her wrist jangle noisily. “I’ve followed your career,” she says.