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Megan gasped and her face fell.
“But that’s my favorite!” she whined.
Vanessa laughed.
“Sweetie, most artists, when they open a gallery, want their art to sell.”
“But that’s my favorite,” Megan repeated, this time with a pout.
Vanessa rubbed Megan’s arms, bare because of the tank-style blue sheath dress Megan was wearing which fit her like a second skin.
“Then I guess you should have left it at home on our living room wall,” she said with a smile and then pulled down her mask and bent forward to give Megan a kiss.
“Who bought it?”
Vanessa inclined her head towards the sales desk, manned by Sienna, where an older couple was in the process of completing the transaction.
“They said they’d like to meet you,” Vanessa said. “So, be a good girl and go say hello. I need to check on things next door. Be back in a few.” With another kiss, Vanessa went through the newly-added glass door which connected Megan’s art gallery to La Vida Mocha. Biting her bottom lip, Megan watched Vanessa walk away. That little black dress Vanessa had bought especially for Megan’s gallery opening was mouth-watering; so much so, in fact, that when Megan first saw it on Vanessa earlier tonight as they were getting ready to leave, she had been overcome with desire, guided Vanessa to the bed, laid her down and after pulling aside the black lace panties the dress concealed, proceeded to lick Vanessa to climax right there. Megan promised herself now that when they got home later tonight, she was going to do a lot more of the same.
It had been a whirlwind six months since she and Vanessa almost moved to New York. Even now, Megan still laughed at the memory of how she had run upstairs, completely naked, to call Sophia on Zoom, barely remembering to put a shirt on before Sophia answered. Then, Megan had breathlessly told Sophia the idea she had just had.
What if they switched jobs? Sophia could become the new vice-president of operations in New York while Megan took over Sophia’s current position to become the new vice-president of operations here in California? Sophia would get to move back to her hometown and look after her parents while Megan got to stay in Carlsbad, with Vanessa.
After an initial shock, Sophia said she loved the idea, wondering why she hadn’t thought to suggest it to Lucy Whitaker herself. The next day, they had both done exactly that, suggesting it to Lucy who fully supported it, especially after Sophia masterfully conveyed just how decrepit and helpless her parents in Connecticut were. For her part, Megan seriously doubted that the two people who created such a strong and dynamic woman as Sophia could ever be decrepit and helpless, but whatever worked was fine with her.
Convincing Vanessa took more work because Vanessa refused to be the cause of Megan giving up her dream job in New York. But after countless kisses and countless heartfelt assurances of how deep her love for Vanessa was, Megan got her to finally accept it by guaranteeing that it was the right decision because it was what she, Megan, wanted. True, she had been excited about living in New York but now that she had Vanessa in her life and by her side, Carlsbad felt even more like home to her.
It took a few months for Megan to fully settle into her new role at BeachSoft. The duties and expectations of her new position were demanding, but Megan proved equal to the task. The hours were longer, sure, and there were some nights when she just curled herself into a ball on the couch and snuggled against Vanessa not saying anything while they binge-watched something on Hulu or Netflix. But her contributions to BeachSoft’s overall business strategy were proving tremendously valuable, so much so that Lucy Whitaker started referring to Megan publicly as “my right-hand woman.”
It wasn’t until after Thanksgiving when Megan decided to give opening a gallery a go. The response to Vanessa hanging prints of Megan’s art up in La Vida Mocha had been overwhelmingly positive, with many of them selling within days of being hung.
Turns out, the old lady with the Mr. Magoo glasses and the ninja-like super power of sneaking up on Megan and Vanessa, was the owner of the building La Vida Mocha and the vacant space were in. Vanessa had never met her before, only having dealt with the people at the property management company the old lady also owned. Her name was Ethel and she was quite the real estate mogul in Carlsbad. What’s more, she had taken a liking to Megan and Vanessa, calling them the cutest couple she had ever come across. She gave Megan a great deal on renting the space and it was her idea to knock out part of the wall dividing La Vida Mocha and what was now The Baldwin Gallery.
Megan discovered that the weeks spent prepping her gallery for opening night was a great decompression tool from the demands of her job but now that it was opening night, she was nervous as hell.
The turnout, though, was great. Covid restrictions had been relaxed even more in Southern California and though facemasks were still required, at least people were able to show up and come in freely, and many of them were popping next door to La Vida Mocha for coffee. And Molly had just texted her to say that she and Cole were on their way.
More importantly, her art was apparently a hit. The opening officially started only an hour ago but she had already sold 5 works.
At the sales desk now, Sienna’s face lit up when she saw Megan. Indicating the man and woman she had been talking to when Megan approached, she said, “Mr. and Mrs. Kleinmann, this is Megan Baldwin, the artist.”
“I’m so pleased to meet you both,” Megan greeted them cheerily, even though they were apparently taking away her absolute favorite graphite drawing, Anastasia Number Three. It was a poster-sized drawing of Megan’s friend, Anastasia, who was an actual ballerina, in a dance studio, en pointe, doing an exquisite arabesque.
“You are so talented!” Mrs. Kleinmann stated, her husband nodding vigorously next to her. “And we love that you are so focused on dance art!”
“Our daughter used to be a dancer,” Mr. Kleinmann added. “But thirty years ago, she had a skiing accident which really damaged both her legs. She never was able to dance again, not ballet anyway. She lives in Germany now with her husband; we hardly get to see her, especially now with the way things are because of the pandemic, but once we saw that drawing of yours, it reminded us of all those ballet practices we took her to ages ago.”
Megan’s heart melted.
“Oh my God, that is so sweet!” she said, meaning it. “I won’t lie, it’s my favorite drawing and I hate seeing it go, but I’m just so glad it’s going to a good home!”
“It will have pride of place, I assure you,” Mrs. Kleinmann said, and Megan was no longer sad that her favorite drawing was leaving her. Besides, the great thing about being an artist was that she could always draw Anastasia’s arabesque again.
They spoke for a few more minutes and then Sienna needed the Kleinmann’s to finalize the details of the delivery of Anastasia Number Three to their home tomorrow. Just in time, too, because Megan then spotted Abby entering the gallery with Kat. Megan squealed and rushed over to hug them both.
“Thank you so much for coming!” she enthused.
“Are we fashionably enough late?” Abby said, looking around.
