“I’m sure there’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.
“Yes, I’m sure you’re right.” She smiled warmly. “Thank you for coming. Would you like me to show you around?”
“That’d be great. If you’re not too busy.”
She linked her arm in his and proceeded to give him the “two-bits” tour. She was just introducing him to Josie and showing him the stepladder Josie had recently finished when Willow noticed another familiar figure entering the gallery. To her pleasant surprise, it was George, dressed in his old buttoned-up way—suit and tie and every hair in place. Willow couldn’t help but smile. Sure, he was an odd duck, but he was a likeable odd duck. She was about to wave to him when he abruptly turned around and exited the gallery.
“What’s with George?” Josie asked with a frown.
“I don’t know.” Willow just shook her head. Trying to put George and his strange ways to the back of her mind, Willow continued to take Cliff on his little tour. She was actually impressed with how much he knew about art in general. She hadn’t expected that.
“My older sister is an artist,” he confessed as he helped himself to the food table.
“What sort of art?” Willow set a canapé on a cocktail napkin.
“She did a little bit of everything. But now she sticks with watercolors.”
“Is she good?”
“Of course she’s good. She’s my sister.” Cliff grinned. “But she’s good enough to have her work in a gallery on the coast.”
“Maybe she’d like to have some pieces in here. If she’s ever in town, tell her to stop by.”
“She’s planning to come during the Tour of Homes week. Maybe I can get you two together then.”
“That reminds me,” Willow said. “I’ve had an idea. I plan to close my gallery during the tour and—”
“Close your gallery?” He looked concerned. “Just for the Tour of Homes?”
“I want to bring most of the art over to the house for those four days,” she continued. “My employees will help me display items throughout the house, as well as be on hand to help give tours.”
“That’s an excellent idea.” He held up his plastic cup like a toast. “You’re a sharp businesswoman, Willow.”
“Well, it just sounded like a fun way to mix things up.”
“Hey, there’s our designer friend, Donna.” Cliff waved to where Donna and her husband, Lyle, were just coming in. Before long the four of them were visiting and Cliff mentioned the plan to include the Rockwell Mansion in the Tour of Homes.
“You’re kidding.” Donna looked offended as she turned to Willow. “You never said a word about that to me.”
“It was my idea,” Cliff clarified. “I sort of talked her into it.”
“What will you do for furnishings?” Donna demanded.
So Willow explained her plan to utilize the furnishings she’d set aside and then to bring her art to the house.
“That’s all good, but it’s a huge house. I can’t imagine you’ll be able to fully outfit it.”
Willow shrugged. “I’ll just have to do my best. Some rooms might be a bit bare, but at least they’ll have nice art.”
“Tell you what.” Donna held up a finger. “You let me help with the staging—in exchange for getting my name in the credits—and I’ll bring you the missing pieces.”
“Really? You’d do that?”
“Absolutely. I’d love to have my name associated with that house.”
Willow explained her hopes to utilize some of the modern pieces. “I have some ideas on how to make it feel like a mix of contemporary and traditional. Do you think you could work with that?”
“That sounds interesting. Let’s meet in my office next week to talk about it,” Donna said. “I think this could be quite fun.”
