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Chapter 1

Mila

I loveonside by side My gaze falls on o to the trash can They look terrible

A heaviness comes over my body

How long will it last, this inability to work? The last tio Thankfully, I’ve been prolific over the last couple of years, taking in portrait jobs that have earnedMoney is not an issue

It is the growing hole inof restlessness that can only be relieved by my work And yet, I can’t paint What if my ability to paint never comes back? Panic spreads in my chest

Painting is the one thing that has always belonged toon in the rest of my life Clay took with hiain But worse than those things, is that since the day he left, I haven’t painted It’s as if otten how to move the paintbrush across the canvas, and my brain can’t fathom what is expected of it

The doorbell rings The sudden noise jolts hts A rare intrusion I tick off all possibilities There is only one person ould co first The one person I never want to see again The cause of my painter’s block

I leave my studio on the second story and sprint down the stairs I peer through the keyhole Clay’s dark eyes stare back as if he can seethe door open

“What do you want?” I say with no pretense of politeness We are beyond that now With the divorce final, there’s nothing to bind us together anymore

“Is that any way to greet your husband?” he says and leans on the door frame

Anger coils itself around ry he still makes me “Ex-husband,” I point out, my tone casual

He has bags around his eyes Once, that would have s Now, I observe hier