Chapter 5: Kinkade

“Have you ever been wave running, Green?” Aaron asked as he trotted along side me, pointing things out in the fancy decorated windows on Duval Street downtown on the Island of Key West. I was drinking it all in. It was amazing to me how cozy and warm, and actually Christmassy it was feeling. Although a far cry from the snowy streets of New York City, listening for Silverbells, it still had an air of merriment and the holiday spirit. It was odd that Aaron was asking me about wave-running in the center of this, though.

“Actually, no. I’ve been snow mobiling, though.” I said as Aaron began laughing. His eyes were huge when he turned back to me after catching a breath.

“This is WAY better. On a wave-runner you can fit like 3 people. And it goes much faster and bounces a lot higher. You have to try it. We got a new one for Christmas.” He hardly drew a breath. His hands waved in excitement. Nick walked behind us looking amused as always. I saw his reflection in one of the windows and was tickled by his obvious admiring grin. There was something so endearing about a man who loved his little brother so much and so plainly. “We’ll totally take you.” He grinned with bright white teeth that seemed to spread from ear to ear. Aaron was so confident. I’m sure people confused it with cockiness, but there was very little of it. Just this air of self-admiration that actually suited him quite well. That was one way he was unlike Nick. Nick actually seemed self-conscious, except of course when he was performing. And even then sometimes the humble him would sneak through the exterior.

“Sounds good.” I answered, peering into a shop window. I didn’t really see anything yet on Duval street that interested me in purchasing. It was all a little too Margaritaville for my taste. Yet just a few feet ahead of us, I stopped, pausing in front of a Thomas Kinkade galary. “I love him.” I said, turning to Nick and his little brother. “Let’s go in.”

Nick motioned with his eyes that he was cool with it, and Aaron sighed as he stepped through his door. “I don’t get art.” He said flatly.

“With this art, there isn’t too much to get.” I said as we walked into the gallery that was dimly lit. Paintings hung all over the walls and on eisles. “It’s just so pretty. Simple and beautiful, reminding us of home and coziness. And look at the colors.” Aaron just shrugged and moved on quicker than Nick and myself. He followed me closely and looked back and forth from the paintings to me.

After a long pause he tapped me gently on my arm. “You’re right.” His eyes seemed gray in the dimness of the gallery. “It is really pretty. It’s simple, that’s what makes it so perfect.” He drew in a quick breath and I could tell he had more to say. I motioned with my face for him to continue. “Like this one right here.” He pointed to a Kinkade called Streams of Living Waters. The painting was of a church that lie beneath a mountain in the fall, the foliage an array of deep purples and reds. The focal point, which was a large tree with violet leaves, had a beam of sunlight streaming through it. “I mean, you can almost see the people inside that church. It’s Thanksgiving…” I smiled. “And they’re singing. Close your eyes, you can hear the music.” I shut my eyes and he marveled at the way my dark brown eyelashes touched my pink cheek. He hummed a small hymn that I was unfamiliar with. Every melodic note coming so lightly from his throat made me want to remove all my clothes for fear my entire body would melt. “Every day stuff. Every day people.” I opened my eyes and looked at him.

“Just like us, huh?” My eyebrows were raised as I said it.

“Yep.” Nick put his hand on my waist and pushed me onward.

But the thought kept echoing in my mind. “He’s not like anyone I’ve ever met.” And even though I barely knew the man, it was true.

*****

I sat on the edge of the speed boat, watching the two boys splash around in the ocean. The sun was setting and it brought a beautiful pink and gold tint to the sky. I wanted to paint the picture in my mind forever. It was the perfect portrait of two magnificent creatures with a backdrop of water and sky so superfluous that I hardly knew where they began and where they ended. The tiniest chill ran up my back as I sighed, not wanting the day to end.

I had been a little intimidated going back to their house at first. I wasn’t sure I wanted to meet the entire family. But we had really only made a quick appearance, just long enough to grab a hotdog and a hamburger and then head out to Nick’s boat. He boosted himself up with sculpted arms and I reached behind me so as to hand him a towel. He took it obligingly. Water dripped from his body and I kicked myself internally for not letting him drip dry. His hair was darker from being wet and tiny droplets of water fell from his long blond eyelashes, rewetting his red cheeks, resembling tears. He ran the towel down his neck, along the crease made by the muscles along side his Adam’s apple. My eyes followed the towel, wishing that it were my hands, or my cheeks, or my lips, or maybe the inside of my upper thigh.

I gulped.

He looked at me, licking his lips just enough to make them moist.

I forced conversation, because if I didn’t we would just remain there staring at each other for the remainder of the evening. “What does the name mean?”

Painted in large scrolling black letters on the side of Nick’s boat was the word, “Tiffawill”. Nick hurumphed. He raised a corner of his mouth in what was some type of smile. He sat down and scrunched up the towel, then wrapped it around his neck. “Well,” He looked at me, rubbing his forehead slightly. “I named her after the two girls who broke my heart.”

“Ah,” I replied nodding my head.

Nick continued. “Tiffany would be my most recent X. Broke up with me right around Thanksgiving. She had fallen for some other man who she said, ‘was more her type’. That meant he was a lawyer. I guess she wanted the brains over the fame. It was weird cause we were like glue and then all of a sudden she up and left.” I tried to frown, but it didn’t really work. Nick looked down and laughed a little. “So, that’s the Tiffa. And the Will? Well, that’s for the first love, the one that sliced into my heart and took a piece of it away forever. That’s Willa. You know, Willa Ford, the singer?”

I nodded. I knew her personally, but Nick didn’t know that.

“Her real name was Mandy…Amanda…Willaford was only her last name. But Tiffamand didn’t sound as good.” He grinned. There was a brief silence and I looked up at a seagull who squawked in the sky. “Sad, aren’t I?”

I shook my head when I turned back to him. “Nah, I think it’s kind of sweet. I mean…” I swiveled my legs around and put them on the deck. “Even if people aren’t in our lives anymore. If we loved them once, we’ll always love them. Even if we let go. They’re still there, right?” His eyes told me he understood. “It’s beautiful out here.” I added. “It must be wonderful to live in paradise all the time.”

“It could be a Kinkade painting, couldn’t it?” Nick pointed with a large hand to the sky as the top tip of the sun just stuck out above the water line.

“Mmm,” I leaned my head on my hands and drank it in just a little more. I was surprised he had been paying attention to the gallery that much. Surprised he even remembered the painters name. Nick had surprised himself as well. He wasn’t much for intellectualizing, but he felt comfortable talking to me.

He walked up beside me and put his elbows on the rail as well. The skin on his arms was just barely touching my own. It was cool from the water and answered my warmth from the sun and from simply being around him. “So, uh, what does YOUR name mean?” He peered down at me. He was genuinely interested.

“It’s really quite simple.” For some reason I was blushing. “I was born on St. Patrick’s Day. So, my mom, the hippie, named me Green.” Nick went to say something, but I continued on. “I actually love the name. When I was a kid, it was kind of tough cause no one got it and they’d make fun of me. But now, I think its cool, ya know? Cause its different.”

“A strong name.” Nick tapped his fingers on my arm. “I like it. It’s also my favorite color.”

Now I was really blushing. “Mine, too.” I replied.

And then Aaron splashed us from the water, breaking the way we were gazing at each other. Breaking the desire to touch one another’s skin and hair and face. Nick jumped into the water and before I knew it, I had been pulled in as well, and the three of us were splashing one another and yelping as the sun went down.