Canvas of Dreams

Unlasting night

"Mom, I have good news!" Kathrine calls out almost ecstatically to her mother over the phone. She could not wait to get back to her apartment after the eventful morning she had with Mark Miller.

"Oh, honey! Share." Her mother replies in a similar tone.

"So I met someone amazing today. An artist. We spent the whole morning at this breathtaking gallery on the roof of a very luxurious hotel and I helped him with some work for this auction tonight." She tells her mother, nearly jumping as the excitement coupled with the images of Mark's face in her mind washes over her.

"Oh no honey, please tell me you did not pose for one of those nude paintings."

"God no Mom! This isn't the Titanic movie. No, he is exhibiting his work there and they're hosting an auction for some of the work he's done."

"Okay honey, so what happened next." Her mother asks with excitement back in her tone.

"Well, he invited me to the event tonight so he will pick me up later and he sort of got me a job at his one friend's company. But I'll tell you more about that a bit later." She says. Feeling her smile grow wide enough to start hurting her cheeks a little.

"Honey just be safe, and don't put too much hope into strangers. You know you can always come back home." Her mother says. She could hear her mother's mood fall the moment she told her about the possibility of actually having found a job, the disappointment in the fact that she could very well make it on her own without her mother fighting her battles for her.

Deciding not to go any further with this call and risk her good mood being spoilt Kat starts towards ending the call. "I know Mom, I'll look after myself. But I have to start getting ready now so I guess we'll talk later then. Love you, Mom."

"Love you too darling. I still haven't told you about the dress shop yet." She tries to drag the call longer.

"You can tell me tonight Mom," Kat replies.

"I guess. Well, have a great day honey. Love you." Her mother says, accepting that she once again won't win this conversation over.

Rummaging through her poorly stocked closet Kat finds her favourite plum dress, almost surprised to see that she took it when she packed for her move here. Minutes later she uncovers her pink shoes still packed away in one of the boxes along with a matching waistband. She didn't pack any jewellery so she decided to style her hair loose instead so that it covered her neck and ears.

With a couple of hours still left before she has to be ready she heads over to a nearby supermarket picks up a bottle of her favourite jasmine-scented bubble bath and relaxes in some hot water before getting dressed and prepping for the night.

Minutes go by like hours, no matter how much time she spends perfecting her image it still feels like the wait for 7:30 pm is never going to end.

Pacing up and down in her small living space for the past forty minutes her phone suddenly buzzed, and she couldn't open the text fast enough for her liking.

"Hey, I'm in front of your building, white SUV.

Mark Miller."

Nearly running down the three flights of stairs she reaches the bottom. Taking a short pause to compose herself before she exits and makes her way to him.

Her breath nearly left her in a gasp when she laid eyes on Mark, nervously pacing alongside his car. His dark hair is accented by the navy blue suit tailored to perfection. He looked like he owned the world and a part of her could not believe that she would be accompanying him to, in her opinion, such an elite event.

All the way to the hotel she wanted to start a conversation but whenever their eyes met words became a foreign concept to her. She can't seem to figure out this feeling or even how it's possible to feel it after only knowing him for such a short amount of time, but she welcomes every second of it.

Getting out of the car at the hotel and being escorted inside made her feel like a celebrity even though none of the attention was aimed at her. This night feels like the best of her life.

Once they reached the gallery and started making their way through the artwork with Mark doing what he said he had to do the feeling of being in a dream started giving way to acceptance of it being reality. Kathrine let out a sigh of relief knowing that she won't wake up any second now to find out this wasn't true.

Reality set in even more when she learned the painting she adores so much was already sold and wrapped for shipping. Never again to be seen by her. But the dream started again when the job Mark told her about was actually hers now. She couldn't do otherwise but kiss the man for it, the excitement was far too much to control.

After the event ended Mark took her and Trevor out to a restaurant some miles out of town. An open-air restaurant with all wooden furniture. Torches were lit along every walkway providing intimately soft lighting. The smooth jazz from the live band further helped set the relaxed, loving mood the ambience and aesthetics started. She wondered for a second if Mark had brought many other dates to this spot but her unspoken question was quickly answered when Mark spoke to Trevor.

"Cheryl wasn't kidding when she told me this place is breathtaking."

"Damn Marky boy, breathtaking is an understatement, can't believe I didn't know about it," Trevor replied.

"Mr. Miller?" A red-dressed elderly lady approached. "You're table is waiting sir." She says when Mark turns to face her.

"Thank you." He replies as the three of them follow her to a central table already made up with an order of snails and a type of bread Kat has never heard of before along with a bottle of pink champagne on ice.

"I hope you don't mind that I had the starters ordered when I booked our table. I reckoned we would be hungry after the auction." Mark says.

"When did you book it?" Kat asks, not recalling seeing him on his phone once during the night.

"I should've said, had, our table booked. I called in a favour from Cheryl, she is like my agent in the art business, I asked her to do it during the show ." Mark quickly replies with a blush painted over his cheeks. "Carefull you i***t you almost blew it." He scolds himself in his mind. He can't let her know the table has been booked about two hours after they parted ways the morning.

"So Mark, will you call the toast?" Trevor jumps in, always having his best friend's back. "I'm getting thirsty here." He adds.

Pouring the three glasses he then raises his own. "To Kathrine, may you have success in truck loads. Pun intended." Mark says.

With a giggle, she raises her glass. "Creative and charming Mr Miller never ceases to amaze."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it," Trevor adds with a grin only a mischievous boy can have.

The three of them spend the rest of the night in laughter, trading childhood stories and sharing jokes with Trevor as the lead. By the time the night drew to a close Kat and Mark were far from strangers anymore and the obvious spark between them started growing into a hint of a flame.

Trevor was the first to rise and say his goodnights. Mark and Kat left around five minutes later after Mark settled the bill.

On the drive back to town the two of them were more relaxed than they were the rest of the day.

"Do you have any plans for next weekend?" Mark asks.

"Not yet, unless we work over weekends." She replies, loving the fact that she can once again talk about work.

"Good, because I was hoping you would join me at the lake, that is if you're not working over weekends." He smiles at her.

"I would love to." She smiles back at him.

The rest of the drive passes with light conversation until they reach her apartment building and Mark realises that he now has to say goodbye. A slight bit of sadness sets in, he so wishes the night could last just a moment longer but he does not want to smother her and end up scaring her off.

As Mark escorts her from the car to the building entrance she suddenly stops before the stairs and pulls him in by his arm to kiss him. She could not hold back the urge anymore. Afraid of what his reaction would be but determined to go through with it, savouring the soft caress of his lips against hers. Drinking in the spicy scent of his cologne. To her satisfaction, she notices that he is as much leading the kiss on as she is, meeting her back with equal ferocity. Their tongues danced, wrestling in each other's taste. Neither of them cared about if someone might be watching.

When they separate the both of them are left breathless.

Resting her head against his chest she whispered sweetly. "I wish the night didn't end so soon, but I suppose it's time to say goodnight."

Kissing her on the head he repeats. "Good night Kat. I'll see you Friday night."

Waiting till she disappeared up the stairway, Mark decides to take the longer way home and make the evening last as long as possible. Mindlessly driving up streets he had never been in till he no longer had a choice but to go home and rest for the last day of the auction.