Free From This Moment On: Heartwarming Contemporary Romance (Windswept Bay Book 1) by Debra Clopton

he needs anything.”
    “Sure. And if you need help, just call and I’ll come running.”
    Cali handed her bag over and then made her way through the group of guests. She reached the bottom of the ladder and looked up. “Grant, hey. It’s gorgeous. Amazing. Is there anything I can do to help?”
    He didn’t acknowledge her at first but finished the reflection he was working on. Then he looked down at her; her heart clamored at the intensity glowing in those eyes so blue even the ocean couldn’t compete.
    “Cali, you should be sleeping.”
    She laughed. “It’s eight a.m. You’re the one who should be sleeping.” He looked weary, deeply drawn, but there was no denying the vitality in his eyes, in every move he made. He had said when he painted he had a one-track mind but she hadn’t expected this. “Are you okay?”
    “Yes. Nearly finished.” He came down the ladder and placed his brush in a container. “I’ll sleep when I’m done. I’ve hit my stride and can’t stop. Black coffee would be good, though.”
    “I’ll get it,” a young woman called; she rushed from the crowd and bolted toward the coffee shop at the end of the lobby.
    It was crazy but he looked startled to see everyone. When they all started clapping, Cali could have sworn it just registered to him that they were all there. “Thank you,” he said, gruffly. “I didn’t mean to ignore you. Come back later and it’ll be finished.”
    “Got it! Here’s your coffee.” The young woman rushed back through the crowd. She couldn’t be more than eighteen. “It’s black, just like you asked.”
    Cali could not blame the girl for her adoration.
    “Thank you.” Grant dug in his pocket and pulled out some dollars.
    “Oh no, I don’t want your money.” The girl held up her hands and backed away. “I’d pay to watch you paint.” She sighed and then brightened, glancing at Cali. “Could you take our picture?”
    Cali could see Grant was struggling not to climb back on the ladder. “Sure, and then maybe you could go to the pool and come back later to see the finished product.”
    “Sure.” She sidled up next to Grant and smiled as if he’d just asked her to marry him. Cali snapped the shot with the girls smartphone and hoped Grant wasn’t frowning too big in the photo. The girl grabbed her phone and headed off, staring at it as though it were gold. Total and complete fan girl.
    Cali wasn’t that bad—at least, she hoped.
    “Does that happen often?”
    “Often enough.” He frowned and took a drink of the coffee and then sat it on the makeshift table beside his paint. “I need to get back. I’ll talk later.”
    And then he climbed back up the ladder with a new paintbrush loaded with fresh paint and closed out the world around him.
    One-track mind, he’d said that first day.
    That was a steel vault he had there when he picked up a paintbrush.
     
    When Grant finished painting, he was exhausted. Once he’d started, it was as if everything he had in him came out on the canvas…or wall, considering that was his canvas of choice. Both anticipation and sorrow swirled inside him as he’d worked. And in the end, it was just the work that mattered. The painting itself drew him, took everything he had to give and for the while that he painted, everything else slipped away. When he was finished, though, the adrenaline shut down and he paid the toll.
    Cali, who’d not intruded but must have stayed near, appeared as he headed toward the elevators. He could hardly hold his eyes open.
    “Grant?” she asked.
    He handed her the paintbrush he still had in his hand. “Later.”
    “I’ll close up your paint,” Horace said, also appearing from somewhere.
    Grant nodded and then walked to the open elevator doors and punched the button for the fourth floor. Adrenaline had seen him through but now every limb ached. His arms felt like lead weights. When he reached his room, he peeled his shirt off before he sat on the edge of the bed. He reached