Chapter 5-2
603 Words
“There you go again. I’m going to keep pushing until you stop putting yourself down. Understand?”
Merrick decided the time was right, so he gave Ryan a hug—a brief one, because Ryan pulled away. “Don’t,” Merrick said, putting a bit of exasperation into the tone of his voice. “There’s nothing wrong with a friendly hug, even if we are both men.”
“I know. It…startled me, is all.”
“Get used to it. When I think you need it, you’ll get one.”
Ryan nodded, then smiled. “I get to hug you, too, if I think you need it?”
“You better believe it. Okay, about the drawing. As I said, I do like it, and so will my mother. Is it ready for me to keep, or do you need to, what do they call it? Put a fixative on it?”
“It needs it, or it’ll get smudged. I’ll do it when I get home and…hell, it’ll be a week before we see each other again.”
“Nope. Bring it in to work with you Wednesday night. I’ll come by right after I leave my office to get it.”
“All right, I will.”
Merrick squeezed Ryan’s shoulder. “Feel better, now?”
“I think I do. If you’re happy with it, that’s what counts.”
“Exactly. Wait here. I’ll be right back.” Merrick knew he had to pay Ryan, and his checkbook was in his home office off the library. Technically, it should be the end of things when he paid, other than getting the drawing Wednesday evening. He wasn’t about to let that happen.
He wrote out the check, returned to the dining nook, and gave it to Ryan. Then, he tapped his fingers together, after Ryan had thanked him profusely.
“I have a proposition for you,” Merrick said. “You don’t have to say yes right now. In fact, you don’t have to say yes at all.”
Ryan looked at him warily. “What?”
“I think you were right. The room on the third floor would make a perfect studio for you. After all—well, you saw it. You know I’m not using it for anything. So I’m offering you the use of it, no strings attached.”
“I couldn’t,” Ryan replied with a shake of his head. “Thank you, but…” He worried his lip between his teeth.
“But, what?”
“For starters, this is your house. You don’t want someone you hardly know wandering around.”
“It’s my decision to make. I trust you, Ryan. I don’t think, in fact I’m quite certain you wouldn’t start going through the rooms, looking for something to steal.”
“Of course not!” Ryan seemed hurt Merrick had even suggested he might.
“Then that’s one problem solved. At least a problem as you see it. Why else won’t you accept my offer?”
“I’d feel like I was imposing on you.”
Merrick shrugged. “To begin with, except on your days off, we’d barely see each other, unless you got here before I left for work at seven. You’d be taking off around three-thirty, I suspect, in time to get to the restaurant. Well before I get home. So the only times we might run into each other are Monday and Tuesday evenings, if you’re still here after six. I won’t force you to have dinner with me, although if you want to, it would be fine. In fact,” Merrick smiled, “if that does happen, we can share the cooking chores.”
“May I think about it?”
“I said you could. I think it would be to your benefit to accept. It would help you concentrate on your art, as I’m sure the room is much larger than what you have now, for starters.”
“No kidding.”
“There. See. You wouldn’t have to put away one project in order to start on another one. Well, if that’s what you do, now.”
“Sometimes,” Ryan admitted. “I don’t really have enough space to lay everything out comfortably, and I do tend to bounce between drawings at times.”
“There. A second reason you should take over the room for your studio.”
“It would be perfect,” Ryan said wistfully.
“Then do it.”
“I’ll…let you know. I’m not going to make a snap decision we both might regret.”
“Believe me,” Merrick replied, “I won’t regret it. That said, I understand your indecision. Take all the time you need.”
“Thank you.”
- Writer
