“You weren’t supposed to get me a puppy though, you were supposed to potty train my puppy...”
“No one won the bet, so this is more a gesture than payment.”
“I’ll take it.” Like I would let him take Leo away from me now that I’ve met him and fallen in love with him.
“Speaking about our competition, it’s not right that we didn’t get a fair go at it,” Gavin says.
That’s an understatement about what occurred.
“So I wanted to give you the show.”
I shake my head. “I don’t want it like this.” I wanted to earn it, not get it out of pity.
“I don’t want it like this either. But I had a feeling you’d say that. So I spoke to Harrison and asked him to give you any pieces you wanted for yourFemale Gazeshow. We could cross-promote and it would be a great opportunity for him to get the extra exposure.”
I open my mouth to protest the charity, but Gavin cuts me off.
“Harrison already agreed to it as well. And he’s happy to resolve it like this with both of us getting something after how awkwardly it ended in Long Island, so if you turn him down it won’t be good for your future professional relationship with him.”
“If you’re gonna twist my arm.” I give in to the thing I wanted in the first place. “Have you guys decided the pieces or do I get to pick?” Maybe I can stay at Loot for one more show.
“You get to pick. Whatever you want, however many you want. You can come to Carlyle’s when Harrison sends everything over and we’ll ship you everything you pick.”
That’s a nice gesture. A thoughtful and selfless one too that gives us both something out of this. I knew I wasn’t wrong to compliment his intelligence.
“I actually kind of quit Loot.” I drop the fact into the conversation without any segue.
“What? You love that place. A lot.”
I shrug. “It was kind of a last straw situation. It’s not a good environment for me, and I think I need a break from it. Break length to be determined.”
“Come work for Carlyle’s,” Gavin says impulsively.
I wasn’t expecting that.
My eyebrows snap down and I open my mouth to protest but he interrupts.
“As my boss. I know you think I’m a privileged shit, and I’ve been known to not take things as seriously as I should. But I want to show you how much I respect you and show you how hard I can work. I talked to Dad about Gina’s cars, because you were right, I need to fight harder for the things I want, and he’s going to let me put on the show. This is the kind of manager I could use.”
He digs into his pocket to pull out a metro card, holding it like it’s a gold medal at the Olympics. “I’ve even been taking the subway more. Not all the time. Or most of the time. But some of the time. It can really save time during rush hour.”
I laugh at his proud look. “You were really going to come for me?”
“Of course. I wasn’t going to let you go that easy. I just had to wait for the puppy. I was also going to bring this to give you.” He gets up from the couch and retrieves a big package wrapped in brown paper from his hall.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“Why don’t you give me the puppy and open it?” He reaches for Leo and I pull back, giving him a dark look.
He pulls his hands up, rightly afraid of what I’ll do if he tries to take this precious cargo from me. “Or I can open it while you hold Leo.”
He unwraps the package to reveal the Raqib Shaw painting he bought from me at my last auction.
Now I’m even more confused, but at least not about my feelings this time. “Is there a problem with it? Because we have a whole department that handles customer complaints. Or at least Loot does.” I have to keep reminding myself that’s not me as of a few days ago.
“No, nothing like that. It’s for you. It was always for you.”
“I...” am speechless.
