All Chapters of Worthless In Their Eyes, Perfect In His : Chapter 81 - Chapter 85

Ruby's POVTHE NEXT DAY, MALCOLM'S BIRTHDAYThe mansion looked different by evening. Caterers had taken over the kitchen since noon and string lights ran along the garden fence outside. By seven the driveway was already lined with cars I didn't recognize. I stood in front of my mirror doing one last check. The dress was navy, simple, with sleeves that hit just past my elbow. Joey had picked it two hours earlier and refused to let me change my mind."You look fine," she said now, when I turned sideways for the third time."I look fine or I look good?""Both, just stop touching your hair."I dropped my hand and grabbed my clutch.Downstairs, the living room had been rearranged. Furniture pushed back. There was a long table near the window holding drinks, and at least thirty people were already moving through the space in small clusters. Malcolm stood near the entrance in a dark suit, shaking hands, accepting claps on the back. He spotted me crossing the room and something in his face

Ruby's POVI changed out of the court clothes the moment we got home, glad to be out of the formal fabric and back into something that actually let me move. My studio corner, the one Malcolm had cleared out for me weeks ago without making a big deal of it, had paint tubes lined up on the desk and a canvas leaning against the wall, untouched for days.I pulled the canvas onto the easel and stood back, looking at it. Flat acrylic wasn't going to cut it this time. I wanted something that came off the surface. I wanted layers that a person could actually feel if they reached out, even if the gallery would tell them not to. I'd been thinking about it for days. Mixed media would be the best as a competition entry. It will have built up texture with modeling paste, real fabric pressed into wet paint, maybe wire underneath to give certain shapes real depth instead of just the illusion of it.I started mixing the modeling paste, scraping it across a test board to check the texture, when I he

Ruby's POVI picked out a plain green dress for work, the one with the small pockets at the hip that made carrying my phone around easier when I didn't want to deal with a bag all day. Joey didn't comment on it this time, which I took as approval.I tied my hair back, grabbed my keys off the dresser, and headed downstairs. The driver was already waiting by the car when I came out, and the drive to the museum passed the way it usually did, quiet streets giving way to busier ones, the radio playing low.Linda caught me near the front desk the moment I walked in, my bag still over my shoulder."Everything all right?" she asked."I had a family emergency," I said. "It's handled now."She nodded like that satisfied her completely and didn't push further, which I was grateful for. I made my way to the back office, tucked my bag under the desk, and got the cataloguing log open before Andrew found me."You're back," he said, leaning against the doorframe."I'm back.""You were away for two da