Oriana could have thrown her arms around him. He was the perfect discovery: shy and charming and introspective and alive.
“I’m going to have a journalist friend come by tomorrow,” she said as she and Reese prepared to leave for the afternoon. “We’re going to get your face in every newspaper and ramp up your story. Are you okay with that?”
Larry blushed, then laughed at his own blushing. “I suppose I’m ready for it. Heck, I’ve had enough years alone. And I could do with the money.”
“It’s going to be buckets of money, Larry,” Oriana assured. “Oh, I’ve just remembered something else I wanted to ask you. Something important. Are you working on anything right now?”
Larry’s smile fell slightly. “Not at the moment, no.”
“You should get started right away,” Oriana said. “Most of the paintings we saw today look like they’re on the older side, which is great. Honestly, it’s fantastic. But I’d love to see how you’d engage with the modern-day world around you. I’d love to see what a fresh Larry Calvin Johannes painting looks like. Can you do that for me?” Oriana knew better than to let her clients rest on their laurels. She would eventually need more from him, especially if they spent the time building his brand.
This was her professionalism. This was her way of moving through the art world.
“I’d love that,” Larry said. “I’ll get back to the easel and see what I come up with.”
“Buckle up, Larry,” she said as she closed the door. “Take care!”
That night, Reese and Oriana had a celebratory dinner at a popular Nederland restaurant called Orion. They ordered steaks and potatoes. When Reese ordered a glass of wine, Oriana pushed him to order a beer instead, hoping that beer and potatoes and steak would help put meat on his bones. Already, he was looking more exhausted than ever, and his cheekbones were protruding from his face.
“I told you,” he said when she pestered him about it, “I’m getting old. I feel old! You’ve got wonderful genes. Just look at your father. But me, I’m not the same as you.”
Oriana swatted him. “We’re not old. We’re in our prime.” But as she said it, she heard fear at the edge of her voice.
As Reese sawed at his steak, he asked her, “What did you think of Larry?” He was trying to change the subject, and Oriana decided to let him.
“He’s a picture-perfect mountain man, isn’t he?” Oriana grinned. “What did you think?”
“It must drive him crazy to be up in the mountains all by himself?” Reese asked. “I mean, it’s a surprise that he never married or something. He was obviously handsome.”
“Maybe he was married at one time,” Oriana said with a shrug. “We don’t know much about him.”
A few minutes later, Clara, the server, came by to check on them. “How are you guys doing over here?” She refilled their waters and smiled. Oriana guessed that she was from Nederland, that she’d never made up her mind to go anywhere else. And why should she? It was gorgeous up here.
Oriana and Reese said they were good, and Clara asked them what had brought them to Nederland. “It’s not always a typical tourist destination,” she said. “Not everyone has heard about it.”
“We’re here to visit Larry Calvin Johannes.” Oriana was pleased as punch to announce his name like that. She wanted the gossip channels about his fortune to flow.
Clara flinched with surprise. “Did he finally get arrested?”
Oriana’s smile fell. Reese gaped at the young server.
“I beg your pardon?” Oriana asked when she couldn’t think of anything else to say.
Clara set down the water jug and wrung her hands. “I’m sorry for saying that,” she said. “People talk around here. It’s a small town. That’s all.”
“But what did you mean?” Oriana asked. She was suddenly petrified that she’d put all her money on a sick race horse, or a sinister one, one apt to buck its rider at the turn.
Clara bent her head low to whisper to them. “It’s just what people say. But it happened before I was born. His wife went missing a long time ago. People say, you know, that he did something to her. But I’ve seen him around town a few times. I don’t necessarily think he killed anyone. He’s so old now, anyway.”
Suddenly, Clara was called back to the kitchen, leaving Oriana and Reese in a moment of shocked silence. Oriana slid her fork through her potato and blinked at her husband.
“What do you think of that?” she asked.
Reese shook his head. “I think he was married before, after all!”
A shiver went down Oriana’s spine. She was no longer hungry. When Reese scraped his dinner clean, she shoved her plate over to him, urging him to eat. But Reese wanted to go back to the hotel and rest. He was exhausted again.
Back at the hotel, Reese fell asleep almost immediately, and left Oriana lost in thought. It was only eight thirty at night, but that meant it was ten thirty on the East Coast. She couldn’t remember whether her journalist friend Isabella was already in Colorado for the interview or coming in tomorrow. She texted her, regardless.
