Chapter 8 - The Art Studio in the Desert
The art studio was a charming adobe building with turquoise window frames, surrounded by potted desert succulents and wind chimes. Through the large front glass windows, children and adults were laughing as they shaped clay pottery and painted desert landscapes on canvas.
Sean stood outside the glass door, his heart hammering violently against his ribs.
Standing near the pottery kiln was a young woman in a paint-splattered denim apron, her dark wavy hair pulled into a loose ponytail. She was showing a young girl how to center a clay bowl on the potter's wheel, her laughter clear and bright.
Sean pushed open the wooden door, the brass chime ringing overhead.
The young woman turned around, wiping clay dust on a towel. "Welcome to Adobe Willow! Are you looking for the afternoon workshop—"
The words died in her throat.
She looked at the tall young man standing in the doorway in his charcoal suit and wool coat, his amber eyes filled with tears.
"Maya...?" Sean whispered, his voice cracking into a ragged sob.
Maya dropped her towel. Her hands flew to her mouth, her eyes widening in disbelief as tears spilled over her cheeks.
"Sean...?" she gasped, taking a stumbling step forward. "Sean?!"
Sean crossed the room in three strides, dropping his leather bag and pulling his sister into a fierce, breathless embrace.
Maya buried her face into his coat, sobbing uncontrollably as eight years of separation, fear, and grief dissolved into the warm studio air.
"I looked for you everywhere, Maya," Sean wept, kissing her hair. "I never stopped looking for you."
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"I thought you were dead," Maya cried, clutching his back with trembling hands. "They told me you forgot about me..."
"Never," Sean vowed, holding her tight against the desert sunset. "Never in a million lifetimes."
