“Thank you for doing this,” she tells me. “Thank you for coming.”
“No, Chloe.” I reach down and touch her hand with mine. “Thank you.”
Chapter Thirteen
Chloe
I’m going over my ideas for the final piece of my projects when my phone lights up with a text.
From Mr. Vaughn.
He never texts me. A nervous flutter moves through me when I read it and see he wants me to meet
him during my lunch break.
Also unusual.
Risky. But I like it.
I’m hoping that he isn’t mad. That I didn’t push him too far out of his comfort zone last night. But I
feel like it was the right thing to do.
I watched him paint. I watched him create.
And I know - just like all of the other people in that room - it was what he was born to do. Amanda
was right. He can’t let that day forge the path for the rest of his life. Just like I can’t allow my father to
forge mine.
I’ve decided to tell him today.
That I’m going to stay. That I’m changing my major to art and I’ll use my entire inheritance to pay
for it if I have to. The one thing my father can’t dictate is what I do with the money my mother left me
when she died.
And I choose to follow my heart.
I choose Art.
And Mr. Vaughn.
***
There’s a smile on my face when I step inside the classroom and see him at his desk.
I can’t help it.
He makes me feel excited.
About life. About Art. About everything.
“Chloe,” he greets me. “Come here.”
I do.