Zoe put on a brave smile. “Okay. I’ll try.”
#
THE BAR FELT CLAUSTROPHOBIC. The air too heavy. The music too loud. Misty Lange, an artist he’d met frequently at bazaars and other local art events, spotted him as soon as he walked in and glommed onto him. Small and wiry, Misty wore tight black clothes that made her look like a ninja. Her severe hairstyle, a helmet-like chin-length bob, didn't help.
“Are you staying for the karaoke?” Misty asked, her alcohol-tainted breath making him gag. “Maybe you and I could do a little duet. You’d like that, hmm?”
“I’m not really a stand-in-front-of-the-crowd sort of person,” Ethan said.
Misty looked baffled and leaned away from him so she could study him to see if he was serious. She laughed in his face. “Aren’t you teaching at Canterbury?”
Was she sneering at him for teaching? How dare she? Teaching was a noble profession. True, if his art were selling better, he wouldn’t need to teach, but still, he shouldn’t be embarrassed about it. “Yes,” he said, a shade too forcefully.
She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the stage. “Standing in front of a crowd is what you do!”
He hated that she was right. Balking, he cast a glance around, looking for Zoe and Courtney. He spotted them at a table near the front. Courtney waved him over.
“Excuse me,” he said to Misty. “I see my friends.”
Clearly, Misty didn’t want to be excused because she followed him to the table forcing him to make introductions.
“You don’t mind if I join you, do you?” Misty purred as she slid into the seat beside Zoe.
“How do you know Ethan?” Courtney asked.
“Business,” Ethan said.
“We’re both artists,” Misty said. “So we’re in the same circles.”
“I ordered a pizza,” Courtney announced. “That’s a circle.”
Misty’s nostrils flared as if she’d just caught a whiff of old cheese. “I don’t eat dairy.”
Zoe glanced at the pitcher of beer on the table. “Can I get anyone anything from the bar?”
Ethan met her gaze. “I’d like a Coke.”
“One Coke coming up,” Zoe said. “Anyone else drinking something other than beer?”
“I’d like a bumblebee,” Misty announced.
As soon as Zoe left, Misty propped her elbows on the table and put her chin on her fists. “Do you think old Dezi will ever sell the gallery?”
Ethan’s heart sped up. “Why do you ask? Have you heard anything?”
Misty batted her eyelashes. “I know his son. He’s been trying to get Dezi to move to Arizona for years.”
Ethan leaned back in his chair, away from Misty’s fumes. “Is that right?”
Misty nodded and winked. “Maybe you and I should go in together.”
Courtney’s head whipped around. She’d been watching the couple on the stage, but Misty’s words must have caught her attention. “Where are you going?”
“We’re not going anywhere,” Misty winked at Courtney, “yet.” She laid her head on Ethan’s shoulder to emphasize her words.
Courtney finished her pizza, wiped her hands on a napkin, and turned to Ethan. “Come on.” She stood and held out her hand.
“Where are you taking me?” he asked. At this point, he’d go anywhere as long as it was in the opposite direction of Misty.
