“You’ve been crying? Poor Baby Girl.” Beau pulls up the bottom of his shirt so I can use it as an impromptu hankie.
“Yeah. I’ve had a rough few weeks.”
“Well, these might be happy tears.”
“They come when I’m happy too? What is this nonsense?” Is it like breaking the seal; now that I’ve cried once I won’t be able to stop?
I’m going to need to buy more of those tiny travel tissue packs.
Impatient Bubba reminds us that we haven’t petted him in a few minutes now and he’s not happy about it. I pet him, face dry for the time being. “Are you already packed, or do you need help? I have a jet right now.”
“Wait, you have a jet?”
“On loan from a matrimonially inclined aunt and a grateful art collector.”
Beau nods, like that statement is perfectly reasonable. “I might need a little more time to pack. I just told my parents. They need a little more time to adjust.” He reaches for me and I cuddle into his hug.
“So, like by New Year’s...”
Epilogue
One Year Later
This exhibition is going great. That might be the champagne talking, or it might be because I thought it was going to be a disaster and it’s been...better than a disaster.
I’d call it a Christmas miracle, but with all the work that went into it, there was nothing divine about it.
This is our coming-out party. After a year of setting up the department, hiring an assistant and a designer, making connections with furniture and antique dealers, and taking on a few clients while we figured out our policies, we’re having a formal introduction party.
Priya blocked off some exhibition space and let me divide it into rooms that the team and I decorated. Each in a different style and for a different purpose, to show what we can do for clients. I incorporated furniture, paintings, and sculptures that we had in storage, pieces that wouldn’t fit in any upcoming shows’ themes.
And I might have included some of my own paintings too.
After Beau moved to New York, and developed a very New York schedule, I saw him less than I would have thought for someone who lives with me, even with my new responsibilities. In boredom, I broke out the paints he got me for Christmas and started painting more.
I’m really enjoying the balance between my creative work and my creative hobby. They’ve fulfilled that restlessness I felt working in Priya’s department.
The paintings themselves are inspired by me and Beau, combining a little city and a little country with a side of cheekiness, like my first piece after he moved here:A Herd of Wild (Ford) Mustangs, which was just a group of convertible Mustangs driving through the open plains, with the sun setting in the background.
Beau chuckled when he saw it.
And then there’s my favorite. A piece inspired by the last thing I looked at before my life changed. The Fragonard with the couple kissing in the partly closed doorway, heads leaning toward each other for the kiss, but bodies apart, ready to flee if they’re caught.
I updated the painting, recreating a lot of the elements but making the woman dressed to the nines for a fancy night out in the city and the man dressed in boots, jeans, and an open plaid shirt covered in dirt fresh from the farm.
But the one part of the painting that remains is the sense of danger. Like they are going to be discovered at any second, and they shouldn’t be together. But they don’t care, my country Romeo and my city Juliet; it’s worth the risk to them.
I understand the Fragonard painting a lot more now than I did a year ago when I saw it. Because I get it now. I get why the couple would risk getting caught, risk whatever consequence faces them or the sadness that goes with an ended relationship, for the rush of that kiss. I still get afraid occasionally that it’ll all be over, but more often, I feel that rush.
And it is worth it. Any potential consequences or pain. It’s all worth it to experience the good moments with Beau.
And I remember that every time I walk into our house. Not just because I see Beau, but because this painting isn’t for sale like everything else in the exhibition. It’s usually hanging in our entryway, where it’ll return after the show.
Beau is convinced the couple is us. (Maybe. With some generalizations.) He said that depictions of his abs were greatly exaggerated, but what does he know? He’s not the artist in the family. He’s perfectly happy doing science and math, figuring out the more efficient battery problem. They’ve gotten close a few times, but no success yet.
Beau himself has adapted surprisingly well to the city. Maybe it’s because every time he gets a trapped look in his eyes, we take a trip to the countryside for a weekend.
But the looks have been coming less frequently as he adapts to his new geography and the amenities now available to him. Like the food here, all different types of cuisines that he can get at all hours. And he has tested out the hours, bringing home entire feasts after a late night at work that fills our home with delicious smells after I’ve already eaten dinner. I eat again anyway. Got to enjoy the perks of the beautiful, multicultural, late-night city we live in.
