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I’ve been emailing back and forth with my sister, with suppliers, with contractors, with local artists—anyone who might be involved with the gallery project. From morning till night, I’m planning and budgeting, sketching, dreaming.
Everything has been going well except for procuring actual artwork. I’ve gotten very little response from local artists, and the responses I have gotten have been noncommittal, lukewarm. It’s like they’re all waiting for someone else to make a move before showing any interest in working with me.
But that’s okay. I can prove myself. I can renovate the space and show the whole town that the gallery is worth supporting.
The project feels good—mostly. I have something to do again, something to work toward. I’m no longer completely aimless and waiting for death.
Except…
It’s been four days, and I’m already going mad at the thought of my ending things with Sebastian. Which is crazy, because if you’d have asked me a week ago, I’d have said Sebastian and I had been over for twenty-five years.
When I hear another long honk outside, a smile touches my lips. I reel my mind back into control and hurry to the front door in time to see my sister exiting her vehicle with a broad smile on her face.
In the back, her two sons are clawing at their car seat buckles and opening the doors. I laugh, spreading my arms, and wait for the six- and eight-year-old boys to come crashing into me. Seconds later, the boys are wrapped around my waist and my sister is smiling, hugging me over their heads.
“It’s good to see you,” Piper tells me.
The hard shell around my heart softens. “You too, Piper.”
“Whoa!” Nate shouts, grabbing his younger brother Alec. “Look at the house! It’shuge!”
“Cooool,” Alec replies, eyes bugging. “You live here, Georgia?”
I ruffle his hair for a second before he dodges my hand with a scowl. “Sure do. You like it?”
Nate is already peering in through the front door. “It’swaynicer than our house.”
My sister gives me a half-embarrassed, half-wry smile. “He’s not wrong.” Her gaze shifts to her sons. “Shoes off in the house, boys!” my sister yells, then turns to the car and says to me, “Help me with my bags?”
The boys kick their shoes off so hard they land halfway into the kitchen. I grin. Maybe my big, empty house needs a bit more chaos to fill it, which I’m sure two little boys can provide.
“Hey!” Piper calls out, hands on her hips. I hadn’t even realized she was watching them, but she stares at her boys with a stern expression on her face.
“Sorry, Mom,” Alec says. He and his brother pick up their shoes and set them by the front door, giving her a furtive glance before hurrying deeper into the home.
“Don’t touch anything,” Piper calls out for good measure. My sister clicks her tongue, then pops the trunk of her car. I help her with bags and backpacks, and we talk about nothing except my new house for the first few minutes. She loves the hardwood floors but thinks I should do something with the bare white walls. Her eyes gleam as she sees my big kitchen, mouth dropping open at the sight of the ocean view.
“Wow,” she breathes. “The boys were right. This iswaynicer than our place in Clare. It’s probably even nicer than the Wilsons’ place.”
I snort. The Wilsons own half the town. Their house is a monstrosity. “That’s not the high praise you think it is.”
She laughs, and we carry the boys’ suitcases into the first spare room upstairs I prepared for my nephews.
Piper’s bottom lip wobbles as soon as we enter. “You got bunk beds for the boys,” Piper whispers, her voice tight.
“They were a royal pain in the ass to build,” I admit. “But it gave me something to do.”When I was trying not to think about Sebastian.
She drops a Batman-themed suitcase next to the bunks and wraps her arms around me in a bone-crushing hug. It takes me a minute to realize my sister is sobbing.
“Hey.” I pull away, hands on her shoulders. “Hey, stop. What’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing.” She sniffles and laughs, shaking her head. That’s just like her—to put a brave face on, to laugh and pretend everything’s okay. We’re similar that way. “I think I’m just nervous about the future.”
“You’re going to be fine,” I tell her. “You’ll find a job soon, and everything will work out. Maybe you’ll end up somewhere new!” I spread my arms to indicate my new town. “That’s not a bad thing.”
She nods, the bobbing of her head becoming more vigorous with every second that passes. “I know. You’re right.” She takes a deep inhale as she smooths her hands down the front of her pants. “It’s just a lot of big changes all at once.” She takes another deep breath and gives me a brave smile. “But what about you? An art gallery! I can’t wait to see the space. I’ve come up with some mood boards for you to review. I have ideas for lighting and display plinths. We can do temporary moveable walls too, if you want to switch things up for different exhibits.”
I want to ask my sister more about her state of mind and all the upheaval in her life, but I resist the temptation. Piper is the kind of woman who needs a lot of time to process her emotions, and she doesn’t like to talk about her feelings until she’s made sense of them.
