Page 59 of For the Love of Art

I jumped at his sudden turn and the daggers shooting from his eyes.

“Forty percent?”

“I– I– didn’t– I don’t–”

“You know if he chooses our gallery, we’ll have to stick to that.”

I looked down at the sidewalk and nodded.

Nathan let out an exasperated noise. I looked up to see him running his fingers through his hair and pacing back and forth. When he met my gaze, he stopped.

Gesturing to the car, he said, “You can take this back to the gallery.”

“What about you?”

“I need to go to the west end.”

His other gallery.Did he need to go, or did he need to get away from me? It didn’t matter either way. He didn’t owe me any explanations, so I simply nodded.

He opened the car door, and I slid in. He didn’t look at me as he closed it, and his wave as I drove off felt polite versus friendly, and was on his phone before I had a chance to reciprocate.

Once he was out of sight, I leaned back in my seat and muttered, “Dammit.”

That Friday, I sat in a bar with Lianne, fingering the rim of my wine glass, feeling sullen and stupid.

“I really wish you’d perk up. You still have your job.”

“For now. I haven’t seen him since that meeting, so for all I know, he’s interviewing for my position at the other gallery. I’m still on probation, and even if I’m not, Manning Galleries is a private sector business, which means he doesn’t have to provide a reason according to New York law.”

“Is that fact you just know?”

“I looked it up.”

Lianne nodded.

“You bitches didn’t wait for me!” Frankie’s shrill voice cut through my thoughts.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

“Why so blue?” Frankie asked before grabbing Lianne’s wine glass and taking a generous drink. Lianne smacked his arm.

“Oh, I’m just going to get fired for offering an insane deal to an artist that could lose the gallery money… probably. I don’t know.”

“And apparently, in the private sector, you can fire people without cause. We should keep that as a mental note for when we inevitably have to hire her back,” Lianne said.

“While that’s true, if he’s firing you for retaliation, you can fight that.”

“I think this would fall under gross incompetence,” I said.

“Oh.” Frankie’s shoulders deflated. He looked at Lianne. “You know I should fire you. I have more than enough cause.”

“I own the shop with you, genius.”

“Oh. Right.” Frankie pushed out his bottom lip. “Will you still buy me some buttery chardonnay?”

Lianne rolled her eyes but stood up to get Frankie’s drink.

Frankie sighed as he turned his attention to me.