I grinned and took a step toward her. "It'll be fun, Hazel. You and me, the dream team, making art together."
"I thought we were the dream team," a sultry voice said.
Oh shit.
Mckenna, my ex. I don't know if I should call her an ex-girlfriend, because girlfriends don't do what she did to me. She was more of an ex-parasite.
"Worst day of my freaking life," Hazel said under her breath.
"No kidding," I muttered. Hazel scowled at me.
McKenna sauntered into the room. She looked the same, walked the same, and smelled the same. She sidled up to me and reached up to kiss me on the cheek. "It's been such a long time, Archer."
"So, you're a stalker now."
McKenna laughed. "You're always such a jokester. No, I have a gallery in town. I heard you're going for the Art Zurich Biennial Expo. As an art gallery owner in this town, it behooves me to make sure Harrogate puts their best foot forward."
"We have it under control, McKenna," Hazel said. "I'm sure you have other more important things to do like scare small children."
McKenna looked down her nose at Hazel. I tried not to smirk. So Hazel had some spine.
"We need to start the meeting," Hazel said. "I have to open my café for lunch soon."
"Lunch?" I said. "I hope it's as good as the popcorn you made me last night." I was teasing her partly because it was funny to see her blush and partly because I knew it would make McKenna insanely jealous. "It was a magical evening, wasn't it, Hazel?" I prompted, hoping she would join in. Clearly she didn't like McKenna any more than I did.
But it seemed Hazel was still mad about the phone call prank. "We weren't doing anything," she scolded. "That was a business transaction."
"I can't believe you thought of it that way!" I exclaimed. "I poured out my heart and soul to you."
Hazel rolled her eyes. "If we could commence with the meeting. Some of us have real jobs," she grumbled.
We sat around the table. McKenna bullied her way into a seat next to mine. I scooted the chair as far away as I could.
"I'll go over some background information since this is your first meeting," Hazel said. Her hair was escaping its ponytail, and I itched to tuck it back in place. "We're in a competition with several other locations to host the Art Zurich Biennial Expo in two years. The search committee is trying to find unique places to host it instead of the usual big cities. We have the Harrogate Trust, which has some funds for improvements. But we don't have an unlimited budget. So I was thinking more along the lines of strategic interventions, like murals, gallery visits, and Olivia offered to lead a tour of historic Harrogate architecture."
I waited a beat. "That's it?"
"We have a limited scope to work with," Hazel protested.
"Small, dinky, and uninspiring," McKenna sniffed. "I'm glad I came today."
"Why don't you go back to Manhattan?" Hazel hissed at McKenna.
"I like it here," she said and flipped her hair.
"Look," I said. "I need to win this expo at all costs. I have funds. We need big ideas, emphasis on big. Money is no object."
"Are you sure?" Hazel asked me.
"Why don't we meet separately and report back?" McKenna breathed and trailed her hand on my wrist, "since we're obviously the most qualified people here."
I jumped up.
"Actually that's a fantastic idea," I said as I hustled to the door, "except instead of small groups, we'll just all brainstorm alone and report back."
5
Hazel
