A Noisy place to be

Talia resumed her daily schedule. 

She was disappointed by the results of the gallery but she was not deterred. She kept sketching, pouring all her feelings to her sketchpad.

Back at the lake, sunlight poured through the branches like honey. Children laughed in the distance. A breeze stirred the surface of the water, and Talia’s sketchpad fluttered at the corners like it wanted to fly away.

Golden hour. The magic time. When everything looks beautiful, even the broken parts.

Simon stood in front of her, fidgeting, holding two paper cups. He had tried once before, to approach her but he didn't. But today as he looked at her, he could feel there was this heaviness in her heart and maybe in his, he had to do it. 

He didn't know it then but today was the first day of his second life.

“Hey, um… this is probably weird, but I see you here a lot, and I… I make coffee. Like, for a living at Willow’s End. Would you trade a sketch of my dog for a cup?”

Talia blinked at him. Hesitated. 

Then—something rare—a soft laugh escaped her lips.

She had seen him before, the man with the small dog. Always gazing at her thinking she didn't notice. There was this instance understanding between them even though they hadn't met. This feeling of Kinship. She found herself wanting to meet him, talk to him. Maybe then....

“I charge two cups,” she said.

He grinned. “Deal.”

Simon and Talia sat at the bench while Frodo jumped around at their feet begging for attention from at least one of them. But, alas, even his cuteness was no match today. Today, two individuals were seated together focused. Simon on Talia and Talia on the drawing.

Talia finished the drawing and gave it to Simon.

He smiled and walked away.

But the next day, he came back.

And the day after that.

Finding excuses to see her.

Talia found herself counting the nights just so she could sit by the lake.

A drawing of a book, an arm, the lake itself and finally he asked for a self-portrait.

She hesitated. She has only ever drawn portraits of two people, her mother and Sunny.

She wasn't ready for that yet, that closeness, personal interaction.

Instead she offered a coffee date.

One evening, she sat alone, legs crossed beneath her, sketchpad in her lap, the lake reflecting the sky’s farewell colors.

She had finally finished it, the portrait of Simon with a wide smile.

She wrote in the corner of the page:

“I am someone learning to let people in without losing myself.”

And for the first time in years, she didn’t feel like she was disappearing.

She felt like she was arriving.

Talia looked at her phone, it was already late. Tonight she was going out with her friend, her sister, Mira.

She was finally ready to go out. Enjoy the music, laughter, the long conversations.

A Noisy place to be indeed.