“Let me help,” I said, stepping forward.

“I’ve got it,” he said, wrestling with it. Suddenly, it popped out of the drying rack. Because of how he’d been standing, he stumbled backward and threw his hands out to keep his balance, causing him to release the painting, which started tipping forward. At the same time, Christos bumped heavily into the table behind him which was covered with painting supplies. The table rocked and a glass jar sitting on the corner containing a bunch of brushes fell to the floor and shattered on the concrete. Wooden brushes clattered and danced.

I was laser focused on stopping the falling painting. I clenched my teeth, and lunged for it, but Kamiko was in the way, and I would’ve had to put my foot right through the middle of the canvas to reach the falling edge because it was so tall. There was nothing I could do to stop it.

I was expecting the worst, but the painting acted like a big sail. It was so light, it caught enough air to cushion its fall. It landed softly on the floor of the studio. Phew. Disaster averted.

“Whoops,” Christos slurred.

Romeo quickly bent to pick up the painting, a concerned look on his face.

“Don’t worry, it’s dry,” Christos reassured from where he now sat on the floor. I could tell he felt a bit stupid for his drunken clumsiness.

I helped Christos to his feet and he dusted off his ass.

“I’ll get a broom,” he said.

I squatted and started picking up paint brushes.

“Be careful of the glass,” Madison said.

Christos returned with a hand broom and dust pan, “I’ve got it.” He squatted and swept up the mess.

Trying to defuse the awkwardness of the situation, Kamiko said, “Err, ah, who are all the women in the paintings, Christos? They’re all so beautiful.”

“Brandon hired them,” Christos said as he shook the last of the glass out of the dustpan and into a wastebasket. “They’re all kind of bland, don’t you think?”

“Totally,” Romeo joked, also trying to lighten the mood. “Maybe you could paint some hot muscled guys with big dicks?”

“Dicks and fine art don’t go together,” Christos chuckled.

“That is so sexist,” Romeo growled. “I want more dicks in fine art! Dicks, dicks, dicks! I want to see them exploding all over the place like fire hoses!” Romeo was trying his hardest to make people laugh, but it wasn’t working. Discomfort still filled the air.

Kamiko said, “So, Christos, how many paintings do you still have to do for your upcoming show?”

“I don’t know,” he dismissed, “a bunch.”

“Who else are you going to paint?” Madison asked.

“More of Brandon’s models,” Christos said apathetically.

“Why don’t you paint Samantha?” Madison suggested.

“Because Brandon wants nudes. That’s what sells,” Christos said.

“I’ll pose nude for you,” Romeo said enthusiastically.

“Who would buy a nude painting of you?” Kamiko asked.

“I would!” he said. “I’d pay a million bucks for a painting of me.”

“Do you have a million dollars?” Kamiko asked.

“No,” he sighed.

“Exactly,” Kamiko frowned.

“Christos, I think you should paint Romeo,” I winked at Romeo. “He is super sexy. But with clothes on. That’s when he’s at his sexiest.”

“Thank you, Sam,” Romeo smiled at me, then glared spears and arrows at Kamiko. “At least someone around here has good taste,” he hissed.

Kamiko rolled her eyes.

Christos laughed, “I’ll keep it in mind, Romeo.”

At least no one was making a big deal out of how drunk Christos was.

* * *

A dog barked softly somewhere outside our bedroom the next morning. The winter sun was up, brightening the bedroom.

“Somebody shut that fucking dog up,” Christos moaned. “It sounds like it’s barking inside my head.” He slid his head under his pillow and pulled it tightly around his ears.

“Do you need some water?” I asked.

He peaked out from under the pillow. “Can you add some vodka to it?”

“No. The bar is closed. I’ll get you some cold water from the fridge.” I threw on my robe and padded downstairs to the kitchen. When I returned with the glass, Christos was sprawled out in bed face up with the pillow over his face, the blanket pushed down to his waist, revealing his rippled abs.

I considered resting the cold glass on his stomach, but that would be cruel. I sat next to him and rested my hand on his abs instead. Yum. Even hungover, he was ten times sexier than mortal men.

He sat up and drank the water thirstily.

“Thanks,” he sighed. “I could use five more of those.”

“Do you want me to get the pitcher for you?”

“No, thanks, I can get it. I might have to crawl, but I can do it,” he grinned.

“Christos, is everything okay?”

He blinked and looked at me seriously. “What do you mean?”

“Uh, um, you’ve kind of been drinking a lot lately.”

Christos’ brows drew together in a frown.

I winced, expecting an argument. Memories of short fused Damian Wolfram gnawed at the edges of my awareness. I reminded myself that Christos wasn’t a hothead. He might be drinking more than he should, but never once had he raised his voice at me, or shown a single sign of anger. That was one thing I loved about Christos. He never seemed to get angry. He knew how to handle his emotions like an adult. I hoped this discussion wouldn’t be the exception.

“Yeah,” he sighed and laid his forearm across his eyes.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Maybe later?”

At least he didn’t get angry at me for bringing it up. Maybe I should’ve waited until he wasn’t hung over.

“Do you want some breakfast?” I asked.

“Sure.”

“How about I make you breakfast in bed? You’re always doing all the cooking anyway.”

He lifted his forearm off his face and smiled at me with his dimples and brilliant blue eyes. “Sounds awesome.”

“Eggs and toast?” I suggested.

“Perfect,” he said sleepily.

“You wait here, and I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

I went down to the kitchen and made breakfast for both of us. When I brought it upstairs on a tray, Christos was fast asleep.

I didn’t have the heart to wake him.

* * *

When Monday morning rolled around, I woke up to an empty bed. I threw on a robe and went downstairs to find Christos. I heard slashing and rattling noises as I approached the studio.

I leaned my head through the door to the studio, afraid of what I might find.

Christos stood behind the big canvas of Isabella, practically attacking it by throwing big gobs of paint at it with a loaded brush.

“What are you doing?” I asked tentatively.

Between slapping paint on the canvas, Christos said, “Getting the canvas…” WHACK! “…ready for Isabella…” SPLAT! “She’s going to be here…” GLOP!” “…at ten.”

I walked around behind Christos and the canvas. The painting of Isabella was almost entirely covered in wet brown paint. The only part that wasn’t covered was the face. “Oh my god, Christos,” I gasped, “what did you do to your painting?”

Now he was working the blobs of paint into the canvas with a big brush. “It needed some work…” SMEAR! “…a lot of work.” SCRUB! “I’m going to change…” RUB! RUB! RUB! “…the pose.” He took a step back from the canvas to assess it.

“But it was almost finished,” I said, feeling an overwhelming sense of defeat. He had put a tremendous amount of work into this painting. It had looked amazing to me before. Now it seemed, I don’t know, ruined. “You’re starting over?”

“Yeah.”

“Why? It was beautiful. Kamiko and Romeo and Madison and Jake all thought it was amazing. I thought it was amazing.”

He grimaced, “It wasn’t working.”

I sighed. Oh well. I wasn’t the one who’d sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of paintings. I trusted that Christos knew what he was doing. Besides, it was too late to do anything about it now. He really did have to start over, no matter how far it put him behind on his deadline.

Since I had the week off and Christos had to work, I decided to spend the day in the studio with him. When Isabella arrived and they went to work, I sat down at my drawing table to work on some cartoons for The Wombat based on ideas Romeo and I had discussed.

Isabella got undressed and Christos had her sit in a variety of different poses until he found one he liked. They all looked good to me, but based on Christos’ brooding demeanor, I could tell he wasn’t happy with any of them.

Once he started painting, he sighed audibly at least once every five minutes. He wasn’t enjoying himself. Too bad the weather was so nice outside. It was the perfect day to get out of the house and take a road trip or do something relaxing in San Diego. There were a hundred options of fun things to do in town, but Christos needed to work. He didn’t need to add more stress by losing another work day today.

So I sat quietly at my drawing table and worked. If Christos had to work today, I would too.

After painting Isabella for half an hour, they took a break. Christos walked into the living room and returned with a glass of bourbon and the bottle. When he went back to work, it seemed like every time I looked over, he was taking another swallow of liquor. I couldn’t decide if the bourbon was helping his mood or making it worse.

I contemplated finding Spiridon and asking him if he could throw away all his booze or at least hide it until after Christos’ gallery show. Too bad that wouldn’t actually solve anything.

Around one o’clock, I was ready for a break. I set down my pencil and closed my sketchbook. “Does anybody want a sandwich or something?” I asked, standing behind Christos.