Secrets in the Shadows (Secrets 2)

from time to time and thought it strange not to have

seen him all day and now all night. All of us worked

until closing, and when we went home, we went right

to bed.

"Now, Alice," Tyler said on Sunday, "I want

you to take Mondays and Tuesdays off completely to

work on your art. Those are slow days for us in the

cafe, and it would be a waste of your time to have you

here standing around."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. Missy and Cassie could use the

extra money, too," he added.

"Besides," Aunt Zipporah said, "we're

depending on you coming up with a great picture for

the cafe." "I'm not that good yet."

"We'll let the patrons decide. In fact, we'll put a

price on it and see if anyone buys it," Uncle Tyler

said.

I couldn't deny that the prospect of my actually

selling something I had painted was intriguing. Later

that day, when things grew slow at the cafe, I agreed

to take Aunt Zipporah's car and drive home so I could

get started on setting up the studio.

"Don't forget to make yourself something for

dinner. I'll check the kitchen to be sure you did," she

warned.

As soon as I got there, I hurried back to the

studio.

My grandfather hadn't known how I wanted

anything set up, so he had placed everything in one