The Artist

Chapter 16

Three weeks. It had been three weeks since Mia had seen Chris and it had broken her heart. She found that every little thing reminded her of him, but nothing was the same without him. There were so many times throughout the day she'd get out her phone, ready to call him to tell her about this crazy squirrel she saw or text him a picture of a beautiful leaf she found on the ground. She would look at the empty stool in her art class and her heart would ache from missing him.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that everything made her miss him. There was nothing she didn't want to share with him and knowing their relationship was over crushed her. Mia thought that maybe things would go back to normal and had even tried texting him, but when she either received a short response or none at all, reality set in on her.

Today was the worst though.

Her art was being displayed at a gallery that Daniel had curated the show for. She had been in this situation thousands of times before. Mia was in a room full of people but she felt all alone... but when Chris was in her life, she realized she hadn't felt that way. It had been the first time in such a long time she wasn't alone but now she had lost him.

Mia's eyes flickered over to where Daniel was standing, chatting with some people. She thought about going over, but when she heard him bragging about how he proposed, she decided to go the other way and pick up some wine. Mia wandered through the gallery, looking at some of the art and chuckled when she looked at one in particular.

She had seen this piece before and memories came flooding back to her when she realized the first time she saw this piece was the night she met Chris. She remembered he had told her, "Okay this is either a scarecrow picking up chicks in a bar or a skeleton waiting to get buried."

When Mia looked at it now, she thought, 'I would have named this The Brave Little Toaster Goes To Russia.'

The thought made her giggle and her initial reaction was to text Chris, but that cloud of sadness rolled over her again when she remembered her dreary reality without him. She felt a single tear slip down her cheek and as if on cue, Daniel walked over to her.

"Mia I-" He started but stopped when he saw that glistening tear. "Mia, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright," She told him.

"Why are you crying?" Daniel wanted to know.

She took a deep breath before saying, "Can we go outside and talk for a minute?"

He nodded and put down his wine glass before they walked outside of the gallery and went to the side of the building. Mia built up her courage for a moment before saying, "Daniel, there's something I need to be honest with you about."

"What?"

"After we got engaged, I told Chris," Mia began but just hearing his name made him roll his eyes and scoff but she went on, "And he told me that he loves me."

Daniel whipped his head to her, his eyes growing wide as he shouted, "HE WHAT?"

"That's why I haven't seen him the past few weeks," Mia sniffled.

Instantly Daniel started pacing back and forth while he huffed and puffed. Mia thought that if this were a cartoon, he would have had steam coming out of his ears. Anger burned in his eyes and he pointed a finger in her face and told her, "That's why I wanted that fucker the hell away from you! I don't want you to ever see him again. I don't t-"

"Daniel!" Mia shouted, making him stop.

He turned and looked at her standing there. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she said, "I want you to answer one question for me."

"What?" He was annoyed.

She was quiet for a long moment before asked, "Do you love me?"

"This is ridiculous Mia, of course I do," He started to walk past her.

She reached out and put a hand on his arm to stop him. Mia looked up at him with her watery eyes and said, "I want you to look into my eyes and say it."

Daniel stood there, staring down at her for a long time which gave Mia her answer. She dropped her hand from his arm and said, "Daniel... don't you think we both deserve to marry someone that we love? I think we both were in this for the wrong reasons and I think it's time we own up to it."

There was a long silence between them, each of the pair searching one another's eyes.

"You love him, don't you?" He finally asked.

For the first time in a long time, Mia was honest with her emotions and she nodded her head, answering him, "Yes... I do."

Meanwhile at Chris' house, he was in the same position he had been for the past three weeks. He puttered around aimlessly. He knew he should probably start working on packing for the press tour but he just didn't have any motivation to do anything. Nothing excited him anymore. He felt numb.

He silently cursed when he heard the doorbell ring and Chris thought about ignoring it and pretending he wasn't home. When Dodger started barking though, it gave him away so he trudged to the door and pulled it open.

Surprise washed over him when he saw the person standing on the other side. The short frame of Mia was on his front porch, tears streaming down her face and her hands trembling. Mia looked up at him with her glossy green eyes, sniffling before she tried to take a long breath.

"I'm done being afraid."