Page 54 of For the Love of Art

He smoothed his suit, and I tried to hide my disappointment.

“Okay.”

Nathan frowned down at his suit. He began picking at little cat hairs.

“Sorry.” I stood up, grabbed a lint roller, and handed it to him. “Here. This will work better than your fingers.”

Nathan rolled the sticky paper along himself. Clumps of grey appeared on the roller. Hamburger sat in the corner licking his paw, clearly not upset at the mess he left.

When he was done, he returned the roller to my coffee table.

“I’m glad we did this,” Nathan said sincerely.

“Me too.”

“A good reset.”

I nodded in agreement.

My heart was beating hard again. I wished he would lean forward and offer me another kiss, one that I felt sure I would take.

“Good night, Isla.”

“Good night.”

Then he was gone.

My heels clicked against the floor as I walked around the gallery, catalog in hand. I poised a pen over the sheet.

“Boy with flower?”

“North wall.” Dori pointed.

I ticked it off.

“Sunset lovers?”

“South east column.”

My pen hovered over the page, and then I looked up to study the painting and its placement.

“Is this what we landed on?”

“I think we said we’d circle back.”

I pursed my lips.

The gallery phone rang, and Dori excused herself, unclipping the phone from her hip.

I walked around again, second… no one hundredth guessing my placement. Sweat started to bead on my forehead as I looked at all the art.

Oh my God.

It was wrong. All of it was wrong.

Dori returned to my side.

“Isla? That was Nathan. He wants you to meet him outside.”