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“Of course I’m not angry,” I say through gritted teeth. “Why would I be angry?”
“You sure?” She frowns, solicitous. “You’re turning red.”
“Well, I’m not. I’m sure.”
“Okay,” she says dubiously. “So it’s all right for me to take my daughter to the movies?”
I bite a fingernail.Let it go, Laura, let it go!“Maybe a different movie?” I say.
She tilts her head at me. “Laura, sweetheart, stop. You’re embarrassing yourself, and me. Charlotte and I are going to leave now, and we are going to enjoy our evening together. We’ll see you at home.”
Jack shoots me an apologetic look over his shoulder as they walk out the door. What a coward, I think as I turn around. He could have stepped in. Then I realize everyone is looking at me, and my cheeks burn as I walk away. Summer joins me, grabbing two glasses of wine from a passing waiter along the way.
“I’d get you something stronger,” she says, passing one to me, “but this is better than nothing.” She walks me toward the corridor.
Once we’re out of sight I lean against the wall and breathe out. “Thank you.”
She flaps her hand. “That Bronwyn is something else,” she says.
“God. I feel so bad.” I risk a glance at the crowd, then quickly look away. “Did everybody hear every word, you think?”
She shrugs. “Don’t worry about it. Everybody’s got a Bronwyn in their closet. Some ex-wife or ex-boyfriend or whatever that’d pick at everything you do in the middle of your big moment. They just felt sorry for you.”
“Yeah, right.” I knock back the rest of my drink. “But thanks. I should go and talk to Adrian Kurilak.”
“He left.”
“Oh! When?”
“Five minutes ago. But I took him around the exhibition, and he was very impressed. He took the catalogue. I’m sure he’ll do you a nice write-up.”
“Oh, okay. God, I hope so.”
I spend the next hour or so walking around with a smile plastered on my face—the kind that pulls my lips away from my teeth—as I thank people for coming and tell them how lovely it is that they could make it, and what do you think about the show? And no one brings up the elephant in the room, which is how I like to think of Bronwyn. As an elephant. Big trunk sweeping and smashing everything in her path. So we all get to pretend there’s nothing to see here.
Then it’s over, and it’s just us left. Bruno opens a bottle of champagne to toast his congratulations.
“I’ve been getting wonderful feedback all night,” Bruno says. “This is a hell of a show, ladies and gent. I suspect it’s going to raise our profile to the next level. Congratulations to all of you!” He pours champagne into three flutes that he’s holding in the one hand, each glass by the stem between two fingers and tilting the hand as he pours, and I must be a little drunk because I can’t stop staring with a mix of awe and envy. I wonder if it’s a French thing, if they learn to do it at school, or kindergarten, the way we learn to tie our shoelaces. He hands the first one to Summer, then to me, then to Gavin.
“Congratulations, Laura!” Summer says, tipping her glass to me, and I’m a bit annoyed that she had to say it, instead of Bruno.
“And thankyou,Summer, for all your hard work, really,” Bruno replies, tipping his glass back to Summer with a little bow, and I raise my own glass, waiting for my turn, my tipping of the glass, my expression of gratitude,And Laura! Wow, what can I say? I can’t believe what you achieved. To think this is all your hard work, from the very inception of the idea to getting state government funding to making it all a reality and even organizing the year-long touring schedule. Incredible. Bravo, and thank you.Which I realize is the speech I would give to myself, and in fact I just did, inside my head. But Bruno just sips his champagne while throwing glances at Summer, even though I’m standing right next to her and at this point, I may as well not be in the room. Anyway, I don’t care. Summer and I start to gather empty bottles and put them in a box. Gavin slides up to me.
“I’m getting paid for taking photos tonight, right?”
“Yes, of course, that’s what Bruno said.”
He nods. “Do you have any other work for me?”
I look at him in surprise. “In what way?”
He shrugs. “Sitting the show? Maybe on weekends?”
That’s interesting. Gavin is the one who wanted to quit, but it sounds like he didn’t have a job to go to. I think about it for a moment. I’d like to help him out if I can, and we can afford it, thanks to the grant money. I turn to Summer. “Do you want the weekend off? You can work on the other days, instead.”
“Sure, sounds great.”
“Okay,” I say to Gavin. “You can sit the show on weekends. Starting tomorrow?”
