It was more than I expected. It also made me feel as though something was finally going right after years of working for a boss that used to claim my work as his own. Maybe Davide selling the gallery would be a blessing after all.
“The interim manager will be here this morning,” Davide said, interrupting my drifting thoughts. “As long as we don’t have anyone come in to purchase a piece, you should shadow us when I’m showing him the ropes. You’ll have to know all of this stuff at some point, too.”
I grinned at him. “I can do that. I might even take notes.”
“Oh, my God,” Davide gasped. “You’re one of those!”
“Those?”
“The nerdy girls that read books for fun and took copious notes in high school and college. I bet you were even a teacher’s pet!”
I rolled my eyes. “As if any of this should be a surprise to you. You know I read for fun. And you also know I took my education seriously, which means, yes, I paid attention in class and took notes.”
He shook his head. “I never thought I would say this, but it makes me think less of you.”
I flicked one of the sour gummy candies I was eating at his head, snorting when he tried to snatch it out of the air with his mouth, but it ended up hitting the tip of his nose and bouncing back onto my desk.
The chimes over the door sang out and I swiftly tucked the candy back into the top drawer of the reception desk. Whether it was a customer or the interim manager, I didn’t need to have Sour Patch Kids in plain view.
I brushed a few grains of sugar off the desk and grabbed a tissue to wipe the sticky bits off my fingers.
“Elijah! I didn’t realize you were coming by today,” Davide said.
My head shot up, and my gaze locked on the broad-shouldered form of Elijah Lawson. I hadn’t seen him since the night of Yancy’s rehearsal dinner. He hadn’t attended the wedding with Marcus, even though Marcus was still acting as the photographer.
Before I could control them, my eyes swept over him, taking in the expensive sheen of his slate blue suit, the crisp white shirt he wore beneath it, and his dark brown shoes. Other than the tux he wore to Lucy’s wedding, I’d never seen him dressed in anything but jeans or sweatpants and a t-shirt.
When my gaze returned to his face, heat hit my cheeks. His sapphire eyes seemed lighter and brighter due to the deep blue of the suit he wore. His hair was shorter than it had been the last time I saw him, and his jaw was clean-shaven for the first time since we’d met. He looked as though he’d stepped off the pages of a fashion magazine.
I swallowed hard as he came closer. When he stopped in front of the reception desk, I could smell his cologne, the warm scent reminding me of the last time we’d been together in my apartment.
Finally, he looked away from me, turning toward Davide, and I had to fight the urge to collapse back in my chair. A tremor ran through my fingers, so I clasped them in my lap, tucking them beneath the desk.
“I—” Elijah began.
The bells over the door chimed again, and we all turned toward it. Marcus sauntered in, also dressed to the nines in a charcoal grey suit.
“Dammit, Elijah, you didn’t give them the news yet, did you?” he asked.
“No. I saved that all for you.”
Davide and I frowned at each other, then at Marcus. “What news?” Davide asked.
“That this will be the first location of Flynn galleries,” Marcus announced.
My mouth fell open. What?
“You own the LLC that bought me out?” Davide asked.
Marcus came closer and stopped in front of my boss. “Yep.” He used the back of his hand to smack Elijah in the chest. “Well, me and this asshole here.”
Davide’s mouth moved, opening and closing several times before he finally asked, “But why?”
“Several reasons,” Marcus answered. “The first being that I’m tired, and I’m ready to settle in one spot. Since most of my friends and family live in Dallas, I decided to make it my home base. And since I’m not ready to completely retire, I decided to change direction a bit.”
“But…but…”
If Elijah wasn’t taking up over half my attention, I would have smiled at the sight of my boss and friend speechless.
