But sad mortality o’ersways their power,
How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,
Whose action is no stronger than a flower?
O how shall summer’s honey breath hold out
Against the wrackful siege of batt’ring days,
When rocks impregnable are not so stout,
Nor gates of steel so strong but time decays?
O fearful meditation! Where, alack,
Shall time’s best jewel from time’s chest lie hid?
Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back?
Or who his spoil or beauty can forbid?
O none, unless this miracle have might,
That in black ink my love may still shine bright.
“Nothing lasts for eternity, except what we preserve in our art. We can live forever through it.” He places a kiss on my forehead. “If you give them your unique flair, they’ll be more than happy. And if they aren’t happy with what makes your art yours, then they don’t deserve you.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Becca
The next day, I go to the studio feeling optimistic. I send a quick email to Catherine to ask her to send me what Barron feels when he thinks of Stella Lloyd, telling her it’s important for the portrait.
That done, I start to close my laptop, but spot an email from Bruce.
From: [email protected]
Subject: About that last email
Hi Becca,
I got your message. Have to say, I was expecting a little more sympathy and understanding. It isn’t like I’m blowing you off. All I need is for you to reschedule. I have other pets, one of which is a 13-yr-old golden retriever that needs some expensive meds for her issues, and it’d help a lot if you wouldn’t refuse to cooperate for no reason.
Bruce
Your pleasure is mine
Jesus, what is up with this guy and his pet woes? A dead cat and now a sick golden retriever? And I owe him sympathy and understanding in the form of what? Letting him keep my money?
Besides, if “your pleasure is mine” is a sincere marketing tag line, he should be thrilled to refund me!
I spot a notice from PayPal, and I indicate that the service provider—which is such a misnomer, since he hasn’t provided any “service”—is refusing to make me whole.
Does his company have a Yelp page? It deserves a negative ten-star rating for this kind of behavior.
At least PayPal is refunding me the money anyway. I block this non-satisfying non-service-delivering escort on my email app, then take a deep breath to recenter myself, sit down and prep a palette with the colors I plan on using for Barron’s first piece. The studio’s pretty close to what Mom created for me, since I had the contractors design and build it based on my memory. But it isn’t really the same. Like lasagna made with your mom’s recipe isn’t the same as the lasagna your mom made herself.