Free Love Makes the Difference (Sully Point Book 1) by Nicole Smith Page A

pretty
penny, but they're worth it. I installed them in my beach house."
    Cody's surprise showed on his face. "You did? Nice one."
    Anna said, "Isn't there something called appliance
paint?"
    Both Cody and Sam nodded.
    "Well, how about we just get a white fridge and stove
and then I can paint them red? That should liven the place up."
    Cody nodded. "Great idea. I'm gonna go find Dad and
tell him. See you guys later."
    They watched Cody walk off and Sam said, "You're always
full of creative ideas, aren't you?"
    She shrugged. "It only makes sense. But tell me, what
color did you get for your kitchen?"
    "Beach-blue. It's an old-fashioned blue. I'll be
interested to see what you think of it when you visit."
    "Am I going to visit?"
    "I want you to...if you want to."
    "Then I will," she said with a smile.
    * * * *
    By the time they left the fair, Sam was sure of one thing.
He was falling in love with Anna Grainger.
     
     

Chapter 5
     
    Anna had paintings spread out all along the walls of the
loft. She'd retrieved some she had in storage as well, so there were more in a
corner leaning against each other.
    Sam walked slowly around the room. Stopping before each one
and looking at it before moving on. Anna watched him for a while, but it made
her too nervous, so finally she went into the almost-completed kitchen to make
coffee. It seemed strange to have someone look at what she'd painted, even the
older paintings, because they all had a piece of her in them. She wondered how
it was for him with his books to have millions of people reading his words. No
wonder he worked under a pen name and tried so hard to keep his privacy.
    Anna hadn't realized just how many paintings she actually
had until she'd opened up the storage locker. She'd rented it two years ago and
was rather stunned by how much she had when put together with the paintings in
the loft. Maybe it was time to make room for new ones.
    Sam startled her by coming up behind her and running a hand
down her arm. "Whoa, warn a person, I almost spilled the coffee." She
carried the tray with cups and a warming carafe filled with coffee to the brass
chest she used for a coffee table.
    He followed her and said, "I've decided."
    Carefully, she set the tray down with suddenly shaking
hands. "You have? You like one well enough to have in your home?"
    He shook his head. "Anna, what am I going to do with
you? I don't like just one well enough--it's taken me all this time because I
like too many of them. They're wonderful. Moving and powerful, raw and real,
whether you're doing something more realistic or something fantastical or
purely abstract--the intensity, the beauty--I don't have words to describe
them."
    Anna sank down on the couch. "You're doing pretty well,
I'd say."
    He sat next to her and took her hand in his. "Hey, are
you all right? You've gone pale all of a sudden."
    "I'm just stunned to hear your reaction. It's more than
I ever dreamed would be possible. Wow." She felt as if her heart would
burst in that moment and a weight was lifted that she hadn't known she carried.
Someone else could see in them what she had meant when creating them! It was a
heady feeling.
    "Here, it's this one." Sam got up and pointed to a
painting he'd propped up on the chair away from the others. It was a painting
of a beach and the ocean at night, and at first glance could be taken as a
scene from Sully Point--until the eyes noticed three moons hung in the sky.
    "I don't know how you did this, the light on dark
waves, keeping some of the color even though it's so dark, there is a shining
quality to it all, the sparkle of the sand against water, the greenery of the
forest looming so close..."
    "I remember painting that wasn't easy, but I had fun
with it."
    "Yes! There is a joy in it that I sense and an
expansiveness of thought. I think this would be good for me to look at when I'm
stumped or blocked because it opens up the mind to possibilities."
    Anna felt somewhat uncomfortable as he talked about