-$5,000

-$5,000

-$5,000

I was never going to find that kind of money.

“So, when am I going to see some of your art, Samantha? My dad says you’ve really been coming along since he met you.”

“Yeah,” I smiled, suddenly in a better mood thinking about how nice Spiridon was to me all the time. At least I had him and Christos watching my back. But I would never dream of asking either one of them for $5,000.

I said, “I have my sketchbook, if you want to see that?”

“Sure,” Nikolos grinned.

I walked into the studio and grabbed my sketchbook off my drawing table and returned to the kitchen.

Nikolos started flipping through it on the table top from the beginning so we could both look. He didn’t say much at first. “I can see the progress right away. I’m guessing this page marks the point you started getting instruction?”

“Yeah, that was stuff I drew right after I started taking Life Drawing with Professor Childress.”

“Walt Childress?”

“Yeah. I took his class in the fall. Now I’m taking Drawing The Costumed Figure from him. Do you know him?”

“Very well. I haven’t talked to him in a few years though.”

“What’s up with Walt and Spiridon, anyway?”

Nikolos cracked a wide grin that had the same dimples as Christos. “Ahh, Walt and my dad go way, way back.”

“Was there some kind of drama between them? Whenever Walt’s name comes up, Spiridon hints around the bush, but never says anything.”

Nikolos nodded. “They have, how should I say it? A history together.” He emphasized the word history like it hid buried treasure.

“Really?” I leaned forward on my elbows, all ears.

Nikolos arched his eyebrows.

And…he wasn’t going to say anything.

“Aren’t you going to tell me?” I asked. “I’m dying to know!”

He shook his head and smiled that stupid Manos dimpled grin. “Sorry, it’s not my story to tell. You’ll have to ask my dad some time.”

I groaned and smiled. “Fine.”

Nikolos turned back to my sketchbook and continued flipping. When he got to my pot smoking wombat sketches he stopped and laughed. “What is this?”

“It’s my ideas for a logo for The Wombat.”

“The what?”

“The comedy newspaper at SDU.”

“Oh, that Wombat. These are really funny, Samantha. How come you have so many?”

“The editor of the paper asked me to design some new ones.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” I smiled.

“Which one did he pick?”

“Oh, they’re going to have a vote. Everyone on staff gets to vote. And other people are submitting ideas.”

“Well, yours should win. These are hilarious. And your design sense is beautiful. You draw very elegant shapes, yet they have humor and wit without being crude.”

“Wow, thanks!”

“Based on all this work in your sketchbook, I can see that you truly have talent. No wonder my dad has said so many nice things about you.”

I was blushing like a school girl, which was okay because I was still in school, even if it was college. It was okay to blush when someone was complimenting you this much, right? I was totally on cloud nine.

-$5,000

-$5,000

-$5,000

There went my good mood.

“Something bothering you?” Nikolos asked, concern on his face.

“Oh, uh, nothing.”

“Don’t kid a kidder, Samantha. You look like someone killed your kitten. What is it?”

Nikolos was so friendly and kind, I couldn’t help opening up to him. “I owe the university a bunch of money I don’t have.”

“What do you mean?”

“My tuition payment is late because I used up the little loan money I already had. I was supposed to pay in monthly installments but I ran out of cash.”

“Is that why you were asking about the maid job?”

“Yeah. Jobs are scarce right now. I can’t even find a math tutoring job, which I would be good at.”

He took a sip of his lemonade, “I thought you said you were working at a convenience store.”

“I was. I was also working at the campus art museum.”

He smiled, “You were working at the Eleanor M. Westbrook museum?”

“Yeah.”

“That must be fun.”

“It was,” I winced.

“Was?” His brows knit. “What happened?”

“It’s a long story,” I groaned.

“It sounds to me like you’re in dire straits.”

“That’s an understatement,” I rolled my eyes. It was all pouring out now and I couldn’t stop myself. I blamed it on Nikolos’ sympathetic ear. Stupid ears. I’d vowed to deal with this myself and not put it on someone else.

“Have you ever considered looking for work in an art studio?”

“Oh,” I sighed, “I’ve totally looked for art jobs. Besides the museum, which was just being a cashier, there are none. No one hires artists that I could find.”

“I would.”

I frowned. “Huh?”

“I could use an assistant in my studio. Mixing paint by hand takes forever. Same with stretching canvases and building frames. It’s all time consuming work. It would be nice to have someone do it for me while I oversaw the process. Someone I can train, and someone I can trust.”

I gave him a funny look. “Like who?”

“Like you,” he smiled.

I shook my head, “Oh, I couldn’t do that.”

“I thought you said you needed to find a job. I’m hiring.”

“I can’t take your money, Mr. Manos.”

“Call me Nikolos.”

“You’re my boyfriend’s dad,” I scoffed, “I can’t call you by your first name.”

“Sure you can. And if you work for me, it’ll be part of the job requirement.”

A spark of hope twinkled in my chest. I really did need a job. “Are you serious?”

“Yes, I’m serious.”

My mouth gaped open. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Thank you always works,” he grinned.

“Thank you, Mr. Manos!” I leaned over the table and hugged him, almost knocking over his lemonade glass.

He caught it and smiled, “Careful!”

“Thank you so much!” I sat back down. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”

He smiled. “Aren’t you going to ask what it pays?”

“Oh! Yeah, duh.”

“How much is your tuition payment?” he asked.

“What? No, I couldn’t.” I shook my head vigorously.

“How much?” he insisted.

I sighed. “It’s over five thousand.”

“How about I make your payment for you, and you can work it off.”

“I could never do that!”

“Why not?”

“I can’t take your money,” I pleaded.

“Who said anything about taking? You’re going to work it off. There’s always things to do around the studio, believe me. You’re going to become an expert at cleaning brushes.”

“I don’t know,” I said hesitantly.

“Look, Samantha. Artists have apprentices. Apprentices do all the grunt work while watching the artist work. Not only will you get paid, you’ll be learning something. It’s one of those work study jobs. Because seriously, how much were you learning about art by ringing up people at the cash register at the museum?”

He had a point.

“Let’s say I pay you twenty an hour. You can work off the five thousand that way. It won’t take too long, I’m sure.”

“How many hours do you want me to work a week?”

“As many as you want.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

I did the numbers in my head. If I worked part time, say twenty hours a week, it would only take about three months to cover my tuition bill. Oh wait. That only covered the one past due. I’d figure out the third one due a month from now later.

“Do we have a deal?” he asked, holding his hand across the table.

I shook it. “Yes!”

What a pleasant surprise!

Now all I had to worry about was getting expelled from SDU for attacking Tiffany and stealing her credit card.

Screw Tiffany!

I had a job!

SAMANTHA

“I had a new idea for our comic strip,” Romeo said as we walked across campus toward the Student Center and The Wombat staff meeting at Toasted Roast. Although the weather had become quite warm for early spring, Romeo wore his elaborate burgundy steampunk coat with the black cuffs and collar, and his pointy, silver tipped black leather shoes. His monocle dangled in rhythm with his stride.