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She forced herself to push away thoughts of both men — something she had to do more often than she wanted to admit — when her apartment came intoview.
After a quick shower, she hurried to the gallery where she was greeted with a quick wave as Edmonia ran out to look at a new artist. They were still packing the photographs from the Janet Wexler show. All but three had sold, most of them within the first two hours, and Nina had felt an unfamiliar sense of satisfaction as she and Edmonia closed down the gallery that night. She’d been sad to see the Sari photograph go — purchased by an anonymous buyer and picked up when Nina wasn’t working — but she was happy for Janet, a sixty year old woman who’d gone to India with nothing but a backpack and a camera after her divorce ten years earlier. She’d spent the last decade taking pictures and finding herself, and from the glow on her face at the show, it was safe to say both were asuccess.
Nina was happy for Edmonia too. She and Nina hadn’t quite crossed into friend territory, but Nina enjoyed her company, and they worked easily and comfortably together. Nina had learned that Edmonia had a Masters in Fine Art and had lived in Paris for several years before opening the Stockholm Gallery. She also had a ten-year-old daughter named Angela who already had her mother’s eye forcuration.
By the time Edmonia returned, Nina had finished packing up Janet’s photographs and had started planning the arrangement for their next show, a series of nudes that were breathtakingly sensual andraw.
“Don’t you have a party or something?” Edmonia asked after she’d set down herstuff.
Nina looked up from the list of photos in her hand. “What time isit?”
“Almostfive.”
“Shit, yes.” Nina crossed the room to the office and set the list down on the desk. “I started outlining possibleconfigurations.”
Edmonia picked up the paper and flipped to an unlined sheet that was meant to mimic the gallery’s white wall. “This looks good. I wouldn’t have thought to put the two women on the sofa in the center, but I likeit.”
“It’s such a commanding shot,” Nina said. “I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I figured if everyone else felt the same way, we might as well take advantage and make it thecenterpiece.”
“Let’s run withit.”
“Really?”
Edmonia always had final say when it came to curation and arrangement, but Nina had been pleased to discover she had a certain knack for the task. She’d learned a ton in the short time she’d worked for Edmonia and had started to see the gallery as a kind of secondhome.
“Why not?” Edmonia said. “It works. Now go on, before your girlfriends finish all thefood.”
Nina laughed, then tipped her head at Edmonia. “You know what? You shouldcome.”
She’d never really thought about it, but now that she did, she realized she’d never seen Edmonia with anyone — not a man, not a friend, not a family member other thanAngela.
She gave no indication that she was lonely, but Nina probably hadn’t seemed lonely to the women in Larchmonteither.
Jesus, she hoped shehadn’t.
Karen, Robin, and Amy had made her realize what she’d been missing. They were sometimes crazy, and their advice was all over the map, but it was nice to have friends for achange.
Edmonia did a double take. “To your thingtonight?”
Nina grinned. “Whynot?”
“For one thing, I have to get Angela toballet.”
“Okay, but next time?” Nina asked. “I think you’d like them, Edmonia, and I know they’d likeyou.”
Edmonia smiled and shook her head. “You’recrazy.”
Nina bent to the tiny refrigerator in the office and removed the tapas platter she’d made for the potluck. “I’ll let you off the hook this time, but I’m going to askagain.”
Edmonia waved her off. “Why are you stillhere?”
Nina picked up her bag. “See youSunday.”
“Sounds good. And it’s about time you start calling me Moni, don’t youthink?”
She remembered Edmonia’s words from the first day she’d stumbled into thegallery.
My friends call meMoni.
She didn’t know if Edmonia had friends hidden away somewhere or not, but Nina was happy to accept thetitle.
“Then I’ll see you Sunday,Moni.”
Edmonia sighed. “See? Now you made itweird.”
Nina laughed and headed for thedoor.
