tablecloth.
“Yeah you’re right… but it’ll please my aunt to know we ate here, you know? We won’t even have to dig in our wallets for this, either… and with a gallery refurbishment taking everything outta my pocket… I’m counting my green right now.”
I sliced through my salad and chewed steadily, raising an eyebrow. “A gallery?”
“I have a space in Brooklyn. The place kinda sucked so I decided to refurb, see if I couldn’t drum up some more interest.” He shrugged off the importance of that, though it was clearly significant.
“You take photos as art, too?” I let the red seep into my already heated veins. There was something about this man, something two-tone…
“I sell pieces, yeah… people call them art. I call them a pastime.”
“Ha. So modest, aren’t you?”
He laughed along with me and finished his glass of red, which was immediately refilled by a passing waiter.
“We’re talking major renovations… some days I regret I even started it.”
I tapped my teeth with a finger. “According to a snippet I read, you’re not short on cash. Nor is Jennifer I would imagine.”
He nodded, looking around the room, a sly smile showing his white teeth. “She’s got this like control issue.”
I played footsie with him under the table. “Tell me what she’s like… I won’t tell.”
He leaned forward and looked into my eyes, his solid shoulders filling his military-style white shirt perfectly. “She thinks my parents were fucking crazy… and they were, right. I get that. They were,” he paused and scratched at his chin, “but she thinks I have the potential to be just like them, so she has this noose,” he motioned a rope around his neck, “keeping me reined in. I can’t work anywhere in New York without her say-so in case I show her up, spoil her perfect reputation. So that’s why I’m at Media Solutions. They don’t pay great, but they pay… and it’s freedom. They send me off here, there and everywhere, and anytime I get back to the US I sneak home but never stay that long. I don’t like her world, Chloe. It’s not my world.”
That made more sense. “So, the whole gallery thing… it’s a passion but a curse?”
“It is a passion,” he nodded, his eyes wide, “just one I’ve found hard to make happen. It’s a funny story, but on my 21st birthday I got a package in the mail with the deeds to that gallery. Like, a benefactor. I didn’t find out who gave it to me.”
He shook his head, annoyance etched in his eyes as he wiped a drop of wine from his plush mouth. “The building is enormous… huge potential, but is essentially a wreck. I dunno, I thought it was maybe her doing… her way of trying to get me to be serious about my career. I thought that her name would help me secure some funding or a sponsor to renovate or establish some name for myself but I just hit walls, everywhere I went. I’ve tried to save every penny I can from working jobs, but it’s been a stretch. I don’t inherit for another three months yet and I’m counting the days.”
I sat still, thinking through what he was telling me. Jennifer from the outside was pristine. She was known for bringing new designers to the fore and helping models to stardom. She got the best staff money could buy, too.
“You think she’s put a block on you getting anywhere in your career? Like, telling her friends to dismiss you, spreading rumours? Why would she do that?”
He nodded and appeared relieved I thought along the same lines as him. “Stuff went down with my parent’s… bad stuff. She imagines all sorts about me that just isn’t true. I don’t wanna get into the finer details but she seems all philanthropic from the exterior, but beneath, she’s the queen bee who will sting anyone who tries to rob her nest.”
He kept looking around the restaurant, paranoid about who might be listening in. For all I cared, she could walk up to us in the flesh and I’d tell her I didn’t think she
“Yeah you’re right… but it’ll please my aunt to know we ate here, you know? We won’t even have to dig in our wallets for this, either… and with a gallery refurbishment taking everything outta my pocket… I’m counting my green right now.”
I sliced through my salad and chewed steadily, raising an eyebrow. “A gallery?”
“I have a space in Brooklyn. The place kinda sucked so I decided to refurb, see if I couldn’t drum up some more interest.” He shrugged off the importance of that, though it was clearly significant.
“You take photos as art, too?” I let the red seep into my already heated veins. There was something about this man, something two-tone…
“I sell pieces, yeah… people call them art. I call them a pastime.”
“Ha. So modest, aren’t you?”
He laughed along with me and finished his glass of red, which was immediately refilled by a passing waiter.
“We’re talking major renovations… some days I regret I even started it.”
I tapped my teeth with a finger. “According to a snippet I read, you’re not short on cash. Nor is Jennifer I would imagine.”
He nodded, looking around the room, a sly smile showing his white teeth. “She’s got this like control issue.”
I played footsie with him under the table. “Tell me what she’s like… I won’t tell.”
He leaned forward and looked into my eyes, his solid shoulders filling his military-style white shirt perfectly. “She thinks my parents were fucking crazy… and they were, right. I get that. They were,” he paused and scratched at his chin, “but she thinks I have the potential to be just like them, so she has this noose,” he motioned a rope around his neck, “keeping me reined in. I can’t work anywhere in New York without her say-so in case I show her up, spoil her perfect reputation. So that’s why I’m at Media Solutions. They don’t pay great, but they pay… and it’s freedom. They send me off here, there and everywhere, and anytime I get back to the US I sneak home but never stay that long. I don’t like her world, Chloe. It’s not my world.”
That made more sense. “So, the whole gallery thing… it’s a passion but a curse?”
“It is a passion,” he nodded, his eyes wide, “just one I’ve found hard to make happen. It’s a funny story, but on my 21st birthday I got a package in the mail with the deeds to that gallery. Like, a benefactor. I didn’t find out who gave it to me.”
He shook his head, annoyance etched in his eyes as he wiped a drop of wine from his plush mouth. “The building is enormous… huge potential, but is essentially a wreck. I dunno, I thought it was maybe her doing… her way of trying to get me to be serious about my career. I thought that her name would help me secure some funding or a sponsor to renovate or establish some name for myself but I just hit walls, everywhere I went. I’ve tried to save every penny I can from working jobs, but it’s been a stretch. I don’t inherit for another three months yet and I’m counting the days.”
I sat still, thinking through what he was telling me. Jennifer from the outside was pristine. She was known for bringing new designers to the fore and helping models to stardom. She got the best staff money could buy, too.
“You think she’s put a block on you getting anywhere in your career? Like, telling her friends to dismiss you, spreading rumours? Why would she do that?”
He nodded and appeared relieved I thought along the same lines as him. “Stuff went down with my parent’s… bad stuff. She imagines all sorts about me that just isn’t true. I don’t wanna get into the finer details but she seems all philanthropic from the exterior, but beneath, she’s the queen bee who will sting anyone who tries to rob her nest.”
He kept looking around the restaurant, paranoid about who might be listening in. For all I cared, she could walk up to us in the flesh and I’d tell her I didn’t think she
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