I swiped to answer. “Hi, Malcom.”
“Jesse, hi. I’m calling about the money from the sale of your paintings. We’ve collected almost all of it.” His voice was pleasant as ever. “And there’s something else… listen, I want you to know this. Sebastian never asked me to offer you an exhibit. All he did was email me about this artist that he knew.”
“I don’t want to know whatever Sebastian said to you.”
“But youdoneed to know. I’ll forward you that email.”
“Don’t bother, Malcom. It doesn’t matter now. I just want to put all of this behind me.”
“That’s your decision, but you should have all the facts before you make that choice, Jesse.”
I pressed my fist to my mouth, noticing Lucy standing at the bottom of the stairs, watching me with a worried frown.
I had to pull it together. “Thanks for everything, Malcom. It was a pleasure working with you.”
“Same here. And I do hope we’ll do so again.”
Fat chance of that.
“Everything okay?” Lucy asked as I ended the call.
“Sure.” I forced cheerfulness into my voice. “Let’s get to work.”
Lucy turned out to be amazing, and even more of a perfectionist than I was. By afternoon, we had made more progress than I believed was possible.
As we took a late lunch break, I noticed an email from Malcom. Against my better judgment, I opened it.
He’d forwarded me Sebastian’s email, which was dated the day after Sue’s wedding. Before Sebastian and I had even kissed for the first time.
Hey Malcom,
It’s been a while. How are you doing, man? I saw that you’re looking for contemporary artists to showcase in the Narcissus Gallery, and I wanted to ask if you’ve invited Jesse Nielsen yet. I don’t know if you know her work, but it’s frigging amazing.
I’ll leave you her website here. I’ve no doubt you’ll love her work as much as I do. Just wasn’t sure you were aware we had such a talented contemporary artist around here. Anyway, let me know what you think.
Say hi to Nicole and Rick for me.
Cheers,
Sebastian Wright
I leaned back against a paint can, stunned. The email wasn’t sleazy at all. No favors asked. No mention of knowing me personally. Nothing like, ‘Hey man, can you do me a favor for this chick I’m nailing?’
Had I overreacted? Was I a big stupid jerk? Because I sure as hell felt like one.
I managed to set my personal thoughts aside as Lucy and I worked side by side. After an exhausting twelve-hour work day,we finished sanding and priming all the walls—a victory I hadn’t even dreamed about. I could actually start painting tomorrow, and the girl had earned a day’s double pay. She was the Witch of the Walls.
It was close to 9 p.m. when I dragged myself up the stairs to my apartment. I was an emotional mess. I had pushed myself too hard, and Malcom’s email had twisted my heart. I could manage well enough if a guy I dated was a scumbag. I functioned on rage and adrenaline, and never gave the guy a second thought. Not a nice one anyway. Hating someone was easy.
But I’d never been in the position of questioning myself for dumping a good guy. And right now, it seemed as if I was in the wrong here. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that my behavior toward Sebastian was inexcusable. He’d only wanted to help, selflessly. That’s why he’d kept it a secret.
I walked along the hallway like an octogenarian, when I heard someone climbing the stairs with the ease of a mountain goat. I threw a resentful look over my shoulder, perking up when I saw it was Lily.
“Hey, young stuff,” I grinned. “Were you out?”
Lily beamed at me. “I went over to the grocery store around the corner. I was out of shower gel. Are you just getting home from work?”
“Yeah.” I fished for my keys clumsily. “Want to come in for a nightcap?”
