The Face of Love Page #2

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Ouch.

Right?

I mean, it's been a decade,

and I still feel it.

Well...

Listen, I... um, do you do

anything outside of school...

you know, like, uh,

private students?

What are we talking, lessons?

Yes.

Exactly. Lessons.

Well, uh, I-I don't usually.

Oh.

Um, well, listen,

I-I have taken classes before.

This is... I'm not a

complete amateur.

My studio's not really

set up for that.

Oh.

Well, wait. You could

come to my house.

Right?

Okay?

Uh, I could, uh,

give you my number,

uh, and I'll write it

down for you here, right?

And then you could, you

know, think about it.

Um... I'll write my name down,

and you could, you know,

think about how much

you would charge,

the whole bit, all right?

So anyway, thanks.

Thanks.

Hi.

Hi.

Wow. I can't believe you're here.

Why wouldn't I be?

Come on in.

Thanks.

Wow.

Beautiful house.

Thank you.

Who's the architect?

Uh, my husband, actually.

And the Ruscha?

So are you the art collector?

Uh, no, that was him too.

Well, good for you.

He splits, you get the

house and all the artwork.

There's some more in here if

you'd like to have a look.

Okay.

Come on in.

So you'd consider yourself

a California artist?

No.

No, I'm more of an

all-over kind of guy.

Army brat, third generation.

Oh.

I signed up before

they could draft me.

Well, you made it back okay.

Yeah, I did.

Took my time.

Kind of... kind of walked back.

You walked back?

Well, I caught a cargo

plane to Kuala Lumpur,

got on a boat to Pondicherry,

went up India to Nepal,

down to Karachi,

across the Middle East,

North Africa, spent a

little time in Morocco.

I actually lived in

France for quite a while

and wound up in New

York ten years later.

Wow.

So you came back an artist.

Yeah, well, I think it was more

I was looking for the one thing

that would piss my

father off the most.

Mm. I always envied that

bohemian lifestyle.

I wanted to tramp around

the world and, you know,

drink cheap wine, live in a loft.

Wake up and paint?

Yes, smoke Gauloises.

So what stopped you?

Ah. I... fell in love.

Tragic.

Yeah.

Yes.

So what did you end up

doing with yourself?

Oh, this and that.

You know, 9 lives, 14 professions,

and I stage houses now.

You stage houses?

Yeah.

When people want to sell their house

but they moved out and it's empty,

I-I dress it.

I-I make it seem lived-in so people

can imagine themselves living there.

Oh.

Breathe life into the emptiness.

Do you have everything?

Uh, yeah.

Okay.

Good.

We'll call that a trial lesson.

What do you mean?

Well, I mean, you know, you

can stop now if you want.

No charge.

Keep the steak knives.

No, that's really the

nicest afternoon

I've had in a while.

Good.

Great.

So we'll keep going.

Oh, please.

I'll see you, um, Thursday.

Great.

I look forward to it.

All right. Bye.

Hi, Summer. It's Mom.

Um, I just was checking

in just to see,

um, how you're doing.

How's Josh?

Anyway, um, we just

hadn't talked in a while,

and I wanted to tell

you I missed you,

and I love you,

and, um, guess what.

I-I started an art class.

I know I have no skill whatsoever,

but, anyway, I just am

so excited about it.

I wanted to tell you.

So give me a call back

when you get a chance.

Bye.

Hi, Roger. It's me. Hi.

What are you doing?

Found this lovely gourmet shop around the

corner. I went a little crazy, but, uh...

Roger, I invited you.

Oh, please. A lot of this stuff

I had just lying around.

I was just waiting for

the right occasion.

Besides, any excuse to

break out the kitsch-ware.

Very cute.

Yeah. It was Susan's.

Her mother bought her

the complete set...

shellfish butter knives.

Stuff made her laugh.

Yeah, stuff still makes me smile.

Wow.

I can't have anything

of Garrett's around.

Really?

No.

I hid most of it or,

you know, chucked it,

boxed it up right when I got back.

I just purged the whole house.

Just too painful.

I like thinking about her.

Yeah?

Roger?

Mm?

I think I might have

found somebody.

What do you mean?

I met a man.

That's terrific, Nikki.

I'm ecstatic for you.

What? You sound mad.

Yeah, yeah, I guess I am.

I am mad.

Why?

I've been asking you out for years.

I realize I'm just your neighbor.

Roger, you were Garrett's friend.

So what? He's dead.

Susan's dead.

Roger, I-I'm sorry.

So is he, uh, younger?

Some boy toy?

- He's my type.

- Hmm.

Congrats.

So you've fallen in love

with somebody else.

No, I-I think I'm still

very much in love with Garrett.

I...

I'm more in love

with him than ever.

You know what I remember

most about him...

I mean, about finding

him when he drowned?

There was sand on his lips...

these little grains,

these little crystals.

Isn't that weird

that that's what I would remember?

Annie, Annie, quite contrary.

How your garden grows.

With silver bells and cockle shells

and one pathetic petunia.

What brings you this

far east, Picasso?

I was wondering if you still had

any of my old painting stuff here.

Ten years later?

What's the inspiration?

New student?

I'll have you know I graduated

from students years ago.

I moved on to adjunct faculty.

I saw the sign out front.

Are you selling the house?

The price of cancer went up.

- Seriously?

- I know.

- I should have told you, but...

- No, no. It's your house now.

It's just...

Where are you guys gonna go?

I don't know.

The flats, I guess.

Someplace cheaper.

Are you okay?

Yeah.

Clean as a whistle.

Good.

- You?

- Yes.

So far, so good.

Wow.

They're beautiful.

We could paint them,

but I thought they'd be

nice just to look at.

Our last house had them all over...

that and banana trees.

God, that was a while back.

Where was this?

- Los Feliz.

- Oh, yeah?

- I used to live up there.

- Yeah?

We had to move because

of the big earthquake.

- Remember that?

- '94. I sure do.

It was pretty scary.

Yeah. All the power went out.

Yeah.

It was early, right?

Still dark out.

Iran up to the roof,

and I looked up,

and I could see the

entire Milky Way.

I had run into Summer's room

right when it happened.

I was so scared.

Oh, her room was just destroyed.

All of the books were on her bed,

and then I remembered

she was at a sleepover.

Who's Summer?

My daughter.

Oh.

Nice pool.

Thanks. Are you a swimmer?

Yeah. I like to swim.

As a matter of fact, I was

going to the Y after this.

Oh.

I used to love to swim.

But not anymore?

No, I... I don't go in the water.

I don't know. I'm not

doing something right.

I'm terrible.

No, you're not.

- I-I can't even think how to start.

- Don't think. Just look.

I mean, you know, painting is...

it's seeing, so you just take it in

and then... pssh!... put it down.

Express yourself.

You don't really care

about painting, do you?

Well, not really. No.

So, I mean, wh-what

are we doing here?

Well, my husband liked art.

But not you?

No, I like to look at it.

Well, maybe we could go to

some galleries together.

Oh.

I would like that.

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