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She spent a few moments sandwiched between Diana and James, both telling her how proud they were before they dragged her around the gallery. Pulling blushes from Ali every time Diana read a title aloud or gave her a knowing look.

Charlotte released a low chuckle each time and kissed one of Ali’s burning cheeks, making Ali’s pinched toes wiggle in the confines of her heels.

Lilah ran up to her at one point, Wren and Natasha right behind her, giggling like schoolgirls. A wide smile bloomed across Lilah’s face as she informed Charlotte that Lizzie had successfully convinced Leah to let her buy a pair of very revealing paintings.

Lizzie’s smile was devious when she finally appeared, stooping to kiss her cheek.

“Ali, my dear. Wonderful show. You look stunning. That slinky black dress does wonders for your curves, especially your tits,” Lizzie said, not even looking before she whirled on Charlotte who was already mid eyeroll. “Speaking of tits. I’m delighted to see my sister’s assets getting the attention they deserve.”

“They are your tits too,” Charlotte groused, groaning and jabbing her sister in the ribs.

“Yes, yes, I know,” Lizzie said, a devilish smirk curling at the edges of her lips. “And aren’t they magnificent?”

Ali bit back her laughter. “I have to agree.”

“I second that,” Sasha said, appearing beside Lizzie. She pulled Lizzie in just to press a kiss to her wife’s cheek. “Magnificent.”

“You depicted them perfectly!” Lizzie declared, leaning into Sasha’s touch.

Then she vanished back into the crowd, pulling Sasha along behind her.

Lilah chased after them, Natasha and Wren followed arm in arm, shaking their heads and laughing.

“I always feared this day would come,” Charlotte sighed, before chuckling to herself. “You did do them justice.”

“Well, they’re my third—no, fourth favorite—asset you have. Had to get them just right,” Ali teased, before proceeding to wax poetic about Charlotte’s beauty until the skin over those marvelous cheekbones reddened.

Leah passed by, Imani walking beside her.

“Is it usual for someone to fill a gallery with the same person?” Imani asked, gaze sweeping the gallery.

“It’s typical for there to be a connecting theme,” Leah stated, softening as she looked over her shoulder to Rhapsody. “But it is quite rare for that theme to be carried by a single subject.”

Ali and Charlotte watched them pass. She turned toward her, stepping into her. “See?” she said, nodding her head to where Leah and Imani had disappeared into the crowd. “You are enough.”

Charlotte’s lips parted and she drew in a slow breath as some invisible weight lifted off of her.

Ali closed the distance and pressed a kiss to Charlotte’s cheek. “You are more than enough for me,” she murmured, knowing that was all that needed to be said.

44

CHARLOTTE

Charlotte should have gotten a cat sooner. Or maybe the house had been waiting for Willow all along.

Ali’s show played like a song that only used the good notes from start to finish.

Most of the portraits had already sold. A good portion to her own family. Lizzie claimed a pair of full-frontal pieces to hang across from one another in her and Sasha’s foyer. Lilah picked one that captured Charlotte mid-motion, looking over her shoulder and smiling at something Ali said. And her mother, well, it was Leah in the end who kept her from buying all of them. It took flat-out refusal, insisting she limit herself to two. In the end, they compromised and Diana went home with three.

Afterward, Ali and Charlotte were wide awake.

But when they returned to Ali’s barren apartment and Ali asked her if she would look after Willow while she was away, Charlotte not so subtly suggested Ali come stay with her instead. Willow would be more comfortable and it wouldn’t be such a shock. And if Ali was going to move in temporarily, why not just… start that very night?

Ali’s bags and suitcases were strewn around the bottom of the stairs, her focus on making sure Willow had everything she needed set up. Charlotte followed the ole girl around, watching as she pranced from room to room without a shred of fear.

“What do you think, Purrito?” Charlotte asked as Willow hopped onto the window seat in the piano room.

It was Charlotte’s favorite room. A wide window overlooking the front lawn and lush flowerbeds, and walls lined with built-in bookshelves stuffed with rare books. In the center, beneath a Ginkgo Chandelier, sat her piano, quite possibly her most prized possession. Her first purchase after buying the house and finishing the renovations. Everything else had taken months to curate, but the piano she’d known immediately. A Model A Salon Grand piano in traditional mahogany.