Chapter 21

The house looks different, now that most of the furniture and décor is gone. It's lifeless and dead, and I wonder if seeing it like this makes it harder or easier for Calder to say goodbye.

He takes me straight to the gallery. This room, with its high, empty walls, looks even more desolate than the rest of the house. The ornate wallpaper has faded in patches, and it's clear that some of the artwork was here for years and years.

There's only one painting now, and it's leaning against the wall about halfway down the room. When we get closer, I see it's the Ludlam piece I admired the last time I was here.

"I didn't let them sell this one," Calder says. "I want you to have it."

I gape at him. "I - I can't accept this."

"You can. I see the way you look at it. You love this painting, more than anyone who might buy it. It's yours."

"Calder, I - "

"If you won't take it now, then I'll keep it with me until you're ready to take it. I'm not selling it. It belongs to you."

My eyes start to