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"I certainly hope I scared him straight, but I have another solution. One I pray works almost as well."
"I'm all ears. Because right now we're up the creek, no paddle, and the canoe is leaking."
I laughed. "Great visual."
"Isn't it accurate?"
I nodded. "That it is."
"Okay, so what's plan B?" Cassie asked.
I hadn't gotten much further than light a fire under the delivery guy's ass, but I needed to do something. This was going to break Alex's heart. She'd lost sleep over this show. Hell, she’d lost weight over it, not that she had any weight to lose. The stress was showing. All I wanted to do was help her. "Cassie, don't worry about this. We've got all the pieces we need."
"What do you mean? We're supposed to be exhibiting twenty pieces, and right now we only have thirteen. There are a couple of sculptural pieces in there too, but she's a bit nervous about those because she's known for her paintings."
"You won't be short on paintings. You might even have one or two extras."
“Are you going to go back to Catalina and ask her to paint through the night?"
"Next best thing. We can raid my piggy bank."
"Huh?" She scrunched her face.
"For every birthday and every celebration, whenever Alex asks what I want, I always tell her a new painting. I've got at least eight. They're currently displayed at my condo, but I can have them replaced with prints. Alex needs this. And of course they are pieces that have never been shown from my private collection. So they should make a mint."
Cassie's eyes went wide. "You would do that for her?"
"There's not much Iwouldn'tdo for Alex." And that was true. She deserved so much more, but this was what I could give her. I would make sure she had the gallery opening she deserved.
"Looks like she's lucky to have you."
As I walked away, I mumbled under my breath, "No, I'm the lucky one."
Chapter12
ALEX
Patience was notone of my virtues. Okay, patience and cooking. Though now, with Grandma Lucy's help, cooking wasn't nearly as bad. I’d made bread this morning. I'd actually even managed the sandwiches for lunch.
I was pacing in the library, waiting for Jensen to come back to the island. When Martin and his father and brothers had come back from golfing, they said Jensen had taken off early. They said the conversation hadn't sounded good, so of course, I'd worried. I'd tried several times to call Cassie, but Cassie didn't answer her phone. And neither did Jensen. Neither one of them were filling me with confidence at the moment.
When Jensen walked through the front door, I pounced on him. "What's the matter? Did you see them? Do they all look bad? Will I get laughed out of the community? What if everyone hates my pieces? What if none of them sell?"
Jensen was somber, but his lips twitched. "If no one purchases a single one, which by the way, isnotgoing to happen, I'll buy all of them. Remember, I had to fight Mr. Tamagotchi last summer for one of the pieces that's hanging in the condo."
“Yeah, but you're only saying that because you're my best friend and you have an obligation to. But I wouldn't let you buy them all."
He chuckled low, but I could see something was wrong. "What's the matter? You’ve got that look on your face like you're trying to figure out the best way to tell me something. How many times do I have to tell you? You don't need to sugarcoat things with me. Just rip off the damn Band-Aid!"
“Alex, it's not that easy. I want this to be great for you."
"You're making it worse. Just tell me."
He sucked in a deep breath. "Look, there was a problem with the delivery. Some of the pieces didn't quite make it there.”
My lungs constricted. Even as my heart hammered thatthud-thud, thud-thud, thud-thud, I couldn't get any air, and my head started to spin.
Jensen put his big hands on my shoulders and propped me upright. "Alex, breathe."
