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“Yep.”

“Jesus,” Jared mutters. “You’re wasting your talent here.”

Bill grunts from the corner.

“They’re mostly from templates I bought,” I say dismissively. “I’ve only designed a couple of them myself.”

“How much are you charging for these?” Sonny asks, zooming in on one of the photos.

I frown. “I’m not. I’m just playing around.”

“Mate, you should be making these and charging good coin,” he insists. “You could commission pieces for people. I want to buy one.”

“Shut up.”

“I’m serious.” He hands me my phone back. “Can you make one for my mum? She would love something like this.”

I wait to see if he’s going to make a joke, but he waits for my response expectantly.

“Have a think about how much you want to charge,” he adds. “I’ll get you the cash later today to show you I’m serious.”

Jared lets out a whistle and holds out his phone to me. He’s jumped online and an image of another artist’s work pops up. “This one is nearly six hundred bucks and it’s nowhere near as good as yours.”

“I was thinking at least a grand,” Sonny says with a shrug.

“A grand?” I sputter.

“Think about how many hours it’d take you. The materials. The design. Artist’s charge whatever their time’s worth. Plus, you’re an apprentice. You make a pittance.”

“True enough,” I grunt.

“I want one similar to this.” He holds my phone out to me, showing me Kali’s mandala.

“It’s taken me a couple of months,” I warn him.

He nods. “All good. I can give it to my mum for Christmas. That should be enough time, yeah?”

“Wait a minute-”

“Don’t start on me, Peaches,” Sonny cuts in. “Will you do it, or not?”

I nod in earnest. “I’ll do it.”

“Great. I’ll get you some cash today.”

“How about you pay me a deposit and the rest when I deliver it to you?” I suggest.

Sonny nods and reaches out, grabbing my hand to shake it. “Done.”

We get back to work and the realisation that someone saw my art and wanted to put money down with barely any questions feels weird. But exciting-weird, like what I’m doing might be good. That maybe I could make a living off a hobby that’s been such a constant for me in sobriety.

I don’t know if this week could get any better.

33

KALI

“Doyou want to bang on a reformer?”