Artist's Dream by Gerri Hill

thoughts.
    “You can?”
    “Sure. It’s not really stuck. We’ll just pull it out on the road and change the tire there.”
    Cassie felt like a helpless female as Luke tied a thick rope she had produced from her Lexus to each of their vehicles’ bumpers. In a matter of minutes, her van sat limply on the road, leaning slightly from the flat tire but no worse for wear. Of course, Cassie had never changed a tire before. She told Luke as much.
    “It’s past time you learn then,” she said. “Suppose you’re stuck on a deserted road, late at night and suppose a group of women came along—lesbians, no less—and they’ve been drinking and they see you, standing helplessly beside your van. Bet you wished you had known how to change the tire then.”
     
    Cassie laughed. “Oh, stop. If that were the scenario, they would all hop out and have my tire changed in no time and I’d be on my way, thankful it wasn’t some farmer’s son that had stopped.”
    Luke laughed, too. “No doubt.”
    Cassie supervised as Luke lifted the tire with ease and fifteen minutes later was wiping her hands on a rag Cassie had found in the back of the van.
    “All set,” Luke said.
    “I don’t know how to thank you,” Cassie said, then blushed as Luke raised a mischievous eyebrow.
    “How about showing me the eagle, then?”
    Cassie hesitated only a second before agreeing. What harm would that do, she thought. She found herself glancing in her mirror frequently, feeling oddly comforted by Luke following her. She liked her, she admitted. They certainly had not lacked for conŹversation, last night or this morning. Which was unusual for her, Cassie knew. She was a loner, always had been, and it usually took awhile for her to warm up to people, but she had thoroughly enjoyed Luke’s company. And if she could just get past this silly attraction she was feeling, she thought she and Luke could possiŹbly become good friends. Luke had not even hinted that she thought of Cassie as anything but that. In fact, she had said that she wasn’t looking for anyone. Cassie smiled. It could be the start of a new friendship. And it had been awhile since she’d added one of those to her life.
    “My God. This is… incredible” Luke said a short time later as they stood in her workshop. She glanced at Cassie, then back at the eagle. “Words fail me,” she said quietly. She reached out a gentle hand, as if afraid to startle the eagle and cause it to take flight. Cassie watched those fingers stroke the head lovingly and she drew in a quick breath. Again, she had the briefest image of those hands touching her that way and she shivered.
    “Beautiful. So absolutely beautiful,” Luke was saying, and Cassie turned away, trying to busy herself. She was always embar-
     
    rassed when she showed her work, afraid they wouldn’t like it nearly as much as she did.
    “So you like it?”
    “Are you kidding? I love it. It’s … magnificent. You have such
    a talent.”
    Cassie blushed at her praise, secretly pleased that she liked it.
    “You do want to sell it?” Luke asked.
    “I can’t very well keep him in here,” Cassie said. “What do you
    think I could get for him?”
    “I wouldn’t take less than ten thousand, maybe twelve,” Luke said as she walked around the eagle.
    Cassie nearly gasped.
    “That much?”
    Luke nodded. “I saw a bear. It was bigger than this but not nearly as detailed. A lodge out near Yosemite has it. They paid fifŹteen for it, they said.” Luke turned and met her gaze. “I have a buyer for it,” she said suddenly.
    Cassie’s eyes widened. “It’s a little cumbersome, with the wingspan and all. He’ll be hard to move.”
    Luke nodded. “I have a buyer.”
    “I’ve become attached to him. I’m not sure I’m ready to have him displayed somewhere with strangers touching him. Probably out front of some building with kids trying to climb on him. I don’t think I could stand that.”
    Cassie walked to her eagle and brushed