"You must have read my mind; I was just thinking about the same thing."
"That's what you pay me for, Mr. Hartfield. Anyway, what time?"
"The guests are arriving at 7 pm, so how about I go over there for about 5:30 pm. Get the car for 5:30 pm; that will give me time to get over there and a chance to meet the artists. You never knowwhat you are going to see at these things, and I am in the market for some new artwork."
"Certainly, Mr. Hartfield. What time do you want me there?"
"If you are finished by 5:30 pm, then we can go in the same car; there's no need to take two."
"Perfect, I will order that now." She hangs up the call.
Bianca always attends these events with me so that she can take down notes if anyone wants to meet to discuss anything; then she is my right-hand woman. She listens to everything and has everything sorted before I get a chance to check if it's done.
We arrive at the venue and find the artists busy working away to make their exhibitions the best. When we walk inside, my eyes are immediately drawn to a young woman sitting on the floor crying. What happened to her? I walk over to her. "Miss, what’s the matter?"
She looks up at me, and I instantly want to dive into her eyes. It feels like they are portals to her soul. I reach out my hand and help her to stand. She's shorter than me by a few inches, and she's beautiful. "Who made you cry?" I look around the room, but the other artists look busy and don't look back at me.
"I'm sorry, it's been a tough day. I didn't sleep for 36 hours making sure I had everything to bring with me today. Then I slept this morning and missed my alarm, so I've just rushed over here, and they've given me the smallest space, and maybe I shouldn't have brought so many with me, I can probably onlyput a few up. I'm disappointed in myself. I'm sorry. I'm just rambling."
She looks at me and then at Bianca, who is standing there with her tablet ready to take notes down.
"Bianca, why don't you go and grab a couple of coffees and make sure the food and drink is nearly ready." Bianca nods her head and leaves the two of us together.
"I'm Emily," she purrs.
"I'm Mr... Alexander."
She smiles. "I'm thinking you don't introduce yourself as that very often."
"No, I don't. Not sure why I just did either. I don't normally help beautiful women up from the floor, so it seems to be an evening for firsts." I watch as she grabs her bags. "Let me take those for you." I take them off her, and she stands back admiring the space she's been given. It is the smallest amount of wall space, but I'm sure there is something we can do.
"Can I help you hang them on the wall to show them?"
"I'll be fine. Thank you. I might just rotate them during the evening, and that means that the investors have something new to look at every half an hour or so." She smiles, and it brightens her eyes.
Bianca comes over with coffee. "I didn't know how you liked it, so I added milk, but brought the sugar over with me just in case." I watch as Emily takes the coffee and sugar.
"Thanks. This will help right now then I need to freshen up after I've hung my paintings. Do you know if there is anywhere to freshen up?"
Bianca looks at me, not wanting to answer on my behalf.
"Not really, the rest of the building is open to viewers, so it might be easy to do that without being seen. But here's my card. When you're ready to clean up, then call me, and I'll guard one of the bathrooms for you." I smile, and she laughs with me.
I hear a throat being cleared. Bianca. "I'll see you in a while," I say to Emily as I turn to move in the same direction as Bianca.
"What was that all about?" I ask her.
"What do you mean? I was going to ask you the same thing. I don't think I've ever seen you like this over a woman." Bianca smiles to herself and keeps walking down to the entrance. I think about what she said, and she's right, I don't normally just randomly talk to women. But there was something about Emily that caught my eye, and seeing her crying on the floor just about tore my heart in two. I shake my head. I am not the mushy love kind of guy. I am fuck them-and-leave type of guy.
I've been standing around watching everyone do their jobs and waiting for the first people to arrive when my cell rings. I look at it and see a number I don't recognize. I don't usually answer those kinds of calls, and I'm in two minds just to hand my phone to Bianca as I can see our first guest arriving early. But something in me doesn't hand it over. I answer it, "Mr. Hartfield."
"Alexander?" I hear the timid voice of Emily, and I smile.
"Yes, are you ready to freshen up?" I look at Bianca, then turn and begin moving away from the front door. I can see the client getting out of their town car, but something propels me closer to Emily. "I'll meet you at the door to the exhibition." I hang up.
"Mr. Hartfield, what are you doing? Mr. Connors is here already. You wanted to chat to him." She is running after me. If I had time to think about it, I guess I could laugh about it. I stop dead in my tracks.
"Bianca, I have to look after Emily, you welcome Mr. Connors and tell him that he is the first person I will be talking to." I just turn and walk over to the entrance to the exhibition as Emily walks out.
