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“She’s lovely,”Blake said with a casual smile as I watched him on the small screen of my iPad from where it was propped up on the gallery counter. “I’ve known her for years. We ran into each other a few months ago, and everything just kind of… clicked.”
“And she’s related to someone else that people might be familiar with, isn’t she?” Alexandra Ortega, the interviewer for the largest local news channel in NYC, asked.
“She is.” Blake nodded. “Jourdan Alcott, my best friend, and attorney, is her brother.”
Alexandra continued speaking, peppering him with questions about how we rekindled and how my family felt about us being together, but I began to tune it out.
I had gotten so used to how he was with me, to the warmth that he exuded when we were together and surrounded by people he cared for and respected, that I had forgotten what he was like from the outside looking in.
He was personable enough, giving charming smiles and hearty laughs when appropriate. But there was something so distant in the way that he answered everything, something designed to inherently make you want more, to crave more information even though you know he wouldn’t give it to you.
It was such a stark contrast to the Blake that I’d come to care about over these last few weeks that I was a little afraid it would give me whiplash.
My phone buzzed on the counter, grabbing my attention as I picked it up. I had another text message from Lex.
Are you watching it?
I smiled at my phone as I typed out my response, letting her know that, of course, I was.
It had been Lex who had alerted me to the interview in the first place. She had called me frantically, telling me to get to a TV and turn on the news.
Apparently, she had her first period free and had been watching it while she prepped for her classes. All of which she had hissed at me the moment I’d answered the phone.
After I pressed send on my message to her, I set my phone back down before glancing at my iPad, where I had been watching the broadcast before sighing and switching it off.
Clattering sounded from the back of the gallery, followed by a string of cursing, and I laughed. A moment later, Hugo appeared, his shirt splattered with paint.
“What happened?” I asked with a giggle as he stomped toward me.
“Knocked something over,” he grumbled.
He paused for a moment, glancing around at the silent gallery. It was still incredibly early, and we hadn’t officially opened yet. But it had started snowing about an hour ago, and people tended to not dawdle whenever the snow fell. So, I expected that we’d be slow today.
“I’ll go upstairs,” he announced with a huff. “Get cleaned up.”
“That’s fine,” I said, nodding at him. “I doubt there’ll be much to do. But if anything changes, I’ll text.”
“Thank you.” He shot me a grateful smile before turning and walking toward the back of the shop.
He lived above the gallery, and the door to his apartment was just off the back entrance. When he disappeared from view, I turned toward the computer at the front desk.
It was tempting to bring my iPad back out and watch the rest of Blake’s interview, but while I had the downtime, I figured it would be a great idea to finish up a bit of paperwork and email responses that both Hugo and I had been putting off.
I jiggled the mouse, bringing the monitor to life, before I started clicking away to bring everything up.
It was easy work, stuff that didn’t require a ton of brain power to complete, so my mind began to wander as I worked. As they so often did those days, my thoughts turned to Blake.
The other night at the museum, and then dancing in the street in front of the Christmas Tree. It had all been so perfect that I was finding it hard to describe.
And the way that he had opened up to me, even if I was still working through my own guilt surrounding it, made me feel closer to him in a way I hadn’t expected.
I glanced back at my phone, an idea striking me as I picked it up and fired off another quick text to Lex.
Blake had told me so much the other day, and it was something that I really hadn’t been able to reciprocate.
But maybe, I could.
Lex’s text came back almost immediately, and I grinned as I read it.
