‘Gosh, you have your own kiln?’ Jade said, obviously feeling the blast of warm air as they went in.
‘It is a bit stifling, isn’t it?’ Melissa said, as Jade fanned her face with her hand. ‘I normally have the air con on when I’m working.’ Reaching to flick the freestanding unit on, she bent to lift Poppy into her arms, lest she wander in the direction of the kiln. ‘I used to take my pieces to the art university to be fired, but they’re extremely fragile once the clay’s dried out. I did worry about the safety aspect of having my own kiln with little ones around, but at least it’s away from the house. And, as Mark said, if I’m going to be a serious sculptor…’
‘Impressive,’ Jade said, gazing around. ‘You even have a potter’s wheel.’
‘And a husband who understands my artistic temperament.’ Melissa smiled, recalling how she’d caught Mark watching her from the doorway one night, before he’d wandered in and done a fair imitation of Patrick Swayze. It had been messy – gloriously messy – but hugely satisfying.
‘Fortunately,’ Jade said, her gaze flitting over her, making Melissa immediately aware of the staple workwear she usually wore – leggings or jeans and tops that wouldn’t be ruined by clay or baby sick spatter. Was Jade being the tiniest bit facetious?
But then, seeing Jade’s warm smile, Melissa despaired of herself. It was her, feeding her own paranoia. She had wondered sometimes how Mark had stuck with her through the dark times. He’d never stopped reassuring her he loved her – down days, artistic temperament and all – but she couldn’t help thinking he might wish he was with someone more glamorous, someone who preferred to wear something slightly more alluring to bed than one of her husband’s old shirts. She was just someone who ‘scrubbed up well’ – at least according to Detective Sergeant Cummings, who’d voiced such an observation at the last social function they’d been to together.
But then, Mark had been quite into her shirt last night. Melissa smiled quietly, recalling the wicked glint in his chocolate-brown eyes as he told her that imagining her naked beneath it was a serious turn-on, how he’d pinned her to the bed, with not much protestation from her, and worked excruciatingly slowly through each button, finally asking her to keep it on while he made deliciously slow love to her.
Phew. Stop. She’d be dragging him upstairs for a repeat performance as soon as he walked through the door at this rate. Dismissing her errant thoughts – which she absolutely shouldn’t be having in company – she turned to her workbench to seat Poppy, who was growing heavy in her arms, at the end of it.
‘And this is my latest masterpiece,’ she said, indicating the sculpture on the bench. It was ceramic dipped in bronze, a kneeling, naked couple embracing, and Melissa was particularly proud of it. Still, she felt a flutter of trepidation in her tummy at showing it to Jade, which was mad considering her work was already stocking the shelves of the local craft centres and Garden & Homes store. Hopefully, the latter would stock her nationwide at some point, depending on whether she could fill the orders.
‘Wow!’ Jade looked the sculpture over and then back to Melissa in awe. ‘That’s really amazing, Melissa,’ she said, hesitantly reaching out a hand. ‘Can I touch it?’
‘Nooo,’ Poppy whispered, turning aghast eyes in Jade’s direction. ‘It’s not allowed.’
‘Not allowed with sticky fingers,’ Melissa reminded her, reaching for the tissue she kept permanently up her sleeve, ready to mop the remnants of Poppy’s coconut milk ice cream from her face, which would have the child wriggling like an eel in an instant.
‘Go ahead,’ she said, nodding Jade on. ‘Sculpture is as much about tactile stimulation as visual, in my mind.’
Tentatively, Jade traced the soft curves of the figures with her fingertips. ‘It’s beautiful,’ she said, sounding genuinely impressed. ‘Nice pecs,’ she added, turning to give Melissa a mischievous smile.
‘Yes,’ said Melissa, then, noting where her hand had come to rest, she laughed. ‘And I enjoyed sculpting that bit too.’
‘Mummy, what’s pecs?’ Poppy asked, temporarily distracted from Melissa’s face-scrubbing endeavours.
‘Muscles,’ Melissa supplied. ‘Large ones.’
Poppy looked at Melissa, astonished. ‘But, Mummeee, that’s a bottom,’ she pointed out, correctly.
Melissa and Jade exchanged glances and then both laughed out loud. ‘And a very tactile one, too,’ Jade assured her.
‘What’s tactile?’ was Poppy’s inevitable next question.
‘Pleasing to the touch. Now, come on, young lady, scoot,’ Melissa said, lifting Poppy down from the workbench. ‘Go and choose a DVD. Daddy will be back soon to get you into your jim-jams. You can have one hour of TV before bed. And don’t wake Evie. She’s not due a feed yet.’
‘Yay! Beauty and the Beast.’ Poppy whooped excitedly, charging through the workshop door and up the garden path.
Five
JADE
‘Do you work in the evenings then?’ Jade asked interestedly, as Melissa checked her kiln. The temperature in the garage was now stifling. With that and all these toxic materials about, Melissa’s ‘workshop’ didn’t appear to be a very child-friendly environment.
‘To be honest, since having Evie, it’s a case of grabbing time when I can. I have the baby monitor.’ Melissa nodded towards the monitor parked on another bench, the surface of which was littered with various modelling tools – some of them quite sharp, Jade noted. There was also a dustbin, full of slip-sodden clay. Extremely dangerous, with an inquisitive seven-year-old about. ‘I don’t like to be too far away from her though,’ Melissa went on. ‘You never know, do you?’
‘No, you certainly don’t.’ Jade sighed, looking appropriately concerned. ‘You’re not that far away here, though, are you? And little Evie’s still at the sleep-and-eat stage. You might have to think about a babysitter later, of course.’
Melissa looked thoughtfully at her. ‘Yes.’
Bait taken, Jade thought, pleased. ‘So, you’ll be working tonight then?’ she asked, happy to leave the seed to germinate now it had been planted.
‘I’m off to the university art class,’ Melissa said, surveying her ‘masterpiece’ and then collecting up the workshop key from the bench. ‘They have a new life model so I thought I’d grab the opportunity to make a few more sketches.’
Pausing before heading for the door, she looked around, as if checking all was in order, although there was precious little order in here. As far as Jade could see, the place was a mess. Not somewhere she’d want to spend time hiding away from her children. Jade would have cherished every second with her baby, if only…
Dismissing that thought, she smiled and widened her eyes in pretend surprise. ‘What, as in naked life model?’
‘As the day he was born.’ Melissa smiled coyly. ‘Quite a tasty model too,’ she added, waggling her eyebrows suggestively, which was extremely irritating.
Jade smiled serenely. ‘The one you’ve modelled your sculpture on?’ she asked, nodding back to the clay monstrosity adorning the workbench.
‘The very same.’ Melissa looked pleased with herself.
‘Hmm…’ Jade cocked her head to one side, perusing the sculpture interestedly. ‘Well, I must say I wouldn’t mind measuring him up with my pencil.’
‘You might need a big one,’ Melissa quipped, and blushed. ‘But whatever you do don’t tell Mark I said that. ‘I wouldn’t want him measuring himself up and finding himself lacking.’
‘My lips are sealed,’ Jade laughed, zipping her lips. ‘It’s nice of him to help out with the kids. I mean, I know he’s their dad and everything, but…’
‘Some men wouldn’t,’ Melissa finished knowingly. ‘True, sadly. Mark can’t always, of course, but he tries, depending on his workload.’