"This is my boyfriend, Jack," she said after giving me a hug.
Another tall, attractive man. Here we go. Hazel, for the love of art, don't blow it.
"Very nice to meet you," I enunciated and extended my hand stiffly.
Jack took it, a little miffed. Archer was biting down a laugh while we shook hands.
"It's not funny!" I shrieked at him. "You know I have a problem. You need to stop having so many egregiously attractive friends and family. It's not right! He's like a walking, talking Dentyne Ice commercial. I mean, look at him!"
"He's a hunk," Chloe quipped.
I snapped my mouth shut. My face burned.
"Don't feel bad, Hazel. Of course you're starry-eyed seeing me, especially if Archer's your standard. I am much more impressive by comparison," Jack joked as he and Archer started unloading Chloe's SUV.
"Please," Archer snorted. "She was tripping over herself when I walked into her café. But then, I do have that effect on women."
"You know," Jack told me, "I have several brothers, if you don't want to deal with Archer."
"Hey, I have brothers too," Archer protested. "Maybe I want to keep it in the family. You don't know."
Chloe and I ignored Archer and Jack while they bickered like brothers.
"I have to make sandwiches for Ida anyway," I told her as we walked into the café, "so I was just planning on making extra for lunch."
"I have the salads prepped, but I need to assemble the rest of the dishes," Chloe said, inspecting the boxes of food. "Baked goods are baked. I have the boxes already at the hotel to place in the judges' rooms. Those cards you made are beautiful, by the way," Chloe said. "Did you see them, Jack?" She pulled up the image on her phone, showing him the hand-painted cards I made, with the sandwiches on one side and scenes of Harrogate on the other.
"You guys are going all out," Jack said, impressed. "I'm glad I put my factory here before this place explodes. You're going to be internationally known."
"That's the plan!" Archer boasted.
* * *
Lunch was setout on the upper floor of the Corentin Hotel. It had a great view of the city. The weather was perfect. I was wearing a skirt and sleeveless silk blouse with a funky gold necklace I had gotten as a gift from one of my old friends from art school. She had created one of the sculptures on the art walk.
I fussed with the little cards I had made for the food.
"This looks great," Chloe said, offering me a glass of wine.
Jack and the Svensson brothers had come to the welcome reception. The all went over to greet Meghan and the mayor, my great-uncle, when they arrived. Mayor Barry came slowly over to me. He was a large man and needed a cane.
"This is my great-niece," he boasted, patting me on the shoulder and addressing several judges. "She organized all of this."
"The Svenssons contributed too," I said.
"It's important that business is also on board," Greg added. "We want to see this biennial happen. It would be a boon for Harrogate."
Archer kept me by him as we mingled with the judges.
"Hi, I'm Maxine, president of the Art Zurich board," a middle-aged brunette said, introducing herself. "This is Matt Thomas and Zarah. One name."
Archer kissed Zarah's hand. "Lovely as always to see you." Zarah was an older woman with high cheekbones and a shock of white hair. She also didn't look all that impressed to be in Harrogate.
"It's a bit small," she said. "We just came from Granada, in Spain. It's a historic Moorish town. These official visits are a bit stuffy and fake, but I suppose it’s part and parcel of the job. Let's get on with it."
"She's going to be tough to impress," Archer whispered. "Her family's trust donates tens of millions to the biennial expo."
"Chloe!" an older woman exclaimed and rushed over, her husband in tow.
