Inside Griff's beach house, the couch and the rug were placed as she remembered, but beside a window with an ocean view, there were a wooden drawing table, a rolling seat like the one she used at her studio table, and a stack of wooden flat files that served also as a surface on which to place the things she needed to work, some of which -- such as a clear plastic triangle and a coffee tin that held assorted brushes and pens -- were already there. Inside the top drawer of the flat files were sheets of rice paper and Arches paper in various sizes and weights.

Wordlessly Griff set her bag beside the table. She should, Caydance thought, replay his perfect response to the place she had made for him in her studio. "This is beautiful," he had said. But instead, on his territory, she did what she wanted to do: put her hands on his shoulders and initiated a kiss which was not precisely an invitation to an evening of law books and drawing. "Later, I will boast of my prowess in the art supply store", he said, as he unbuttoned her sweater.