The Genius and the Muse Read Online Free PDF

paused. “You know, that story is sort of his to tell. It’s nothing dramatic, but he’s a very private person. I hope you don’t mind if I don’t share that.”
    “Of course.” Kate squashed the feeling of disappointment. “Do you still talk with him regularly?”
    “Oh, I don’t know if he talks with anyone regularly, except maybe Lydia, his agent. We still e-mail occasionally. He was always like that, though. I’d go for years without seeing him or even hearing from him. Then he’d drop back into my life, and it was like we’d never been apart.”
    “Were you two ever involved?”
    Deepali belly laughed. “Oh, God, no! Oh, no no no. Reed—well, for one, he was almost like a brother to me. Also, he was just too—too big.” She broke into laughter again when she saw Kate’s face flush. “No, I don’t mean like that !”
    Her laughter died down a little before she spoke again. “He was overwhelming, Kate, especially when he was younger. His talent, his energy, his personality. I’m a pretty laid-back person. I think that’s one of the reasons Chris and I are so good together. We’re both very giving. He’s a very thoughtful man. If I was with someone like Reed—no.” Dee shook her head. “I would just disappear in the relationship. Eventually, it would have been all him. No me left.”
    “What about Samantha Rhodes?”
    Dee’s eye glowed. “Oh, Sam got Reed. From the beginning, even before they were really together.”
    “What do you mean, she ‘got’ him?”
    Dee paused before she continued. “She understood him. I think in a way that no one else ever did. And he understood her.” Her voice softened and a wistful look came into her eyes as she remembered. “They were a lot alike, in some ways. But different, too. Different enough that they could be together.” Dee took a deep breath and Kate could see her energy quiver at the rush of memories. “They had this way about them when they were in the same room. Reed and I could be working on something for a class or a project, and we worked very well together. But if Sam was there—especially if she was working—it was like his energy just flowed. But then it focused, too. Like they fed off of each other, but instead of draining the other person, it just built and built until it spilled over. It was almost like a contact high. Anyone that spent time around them would tell you the same thing.”
    Kate watched Dee gaze off into the distance, her eyes lit with memories.
    “I can’t really imagine that. It must have been extraordinary.”
    Dee looked back at her. “It was. I’ve never felt anything like it since. Some of my best work was done after spending time with them. You could ask any of us that lived in the building. We all noticed it when we were around them. Chris, Javi, Vanessa, Susan. Even Lydia noticed it, and she wasn’t even an artist.”
    “How—I mean, what happened to them? Chris said they broke up. How long were they together?”
    Dee took another deep breath, her gaze narrowing as she thought. “They must have been together… six years, I think? The last year and a half of school, and then Sam went to New York with Reed after we all graduated. They were there for four years, I think. They broke up, and then she moved back to her family home to work. She’s not that far from here, just up in the mountains on one of the lakes.”
    “Do you know what happened? Why did they break up?”
    Dee’s eyes were guarded. “Not firsthand. I’ve heard bits and pieces from mutual friends, but I don’t know the whole story. And, like I said before, that’s not really my story to tell.”
    “Of course.”
    Dee took another sip of coffee, still lost in thoughts of the past.
    “Did they ever model for each other?”
    Deepali smiled. “Oh, yes. They modeled for each other. Sam had sketchbooks full of him. And Reed?” Dee snorted. “Well, Sam told me once she didn’t know what was a more familiar sight, Reed’s cock or his