Page 28 of Redemption
He pointed to the painting he finished a couple of days ago. Another abstraction, a blocky, flat silhouette of a man and a woman at the beach holding hands.
“How did I not realize that was the perfect choice!” I said with forced enthusiasm. Henry doubting himself was the first step toward an anxiety attack, so whatever he thought was right, I was going to support today. He looked at me with soft eyes and a half-smirk.
“This painting captures the essence of my heart.” He said.
I held back a laugh with a smile but almost lost it. I wasn’t laughing at him, but sometimes his quirks were just too much. He saw my smile and sank into it with a big smile of his own before taking the painting back to the gallery. The chime of the front door opening barely reached me in his office as I sat down for a break.
“Sorry, sorry, you have to leave. We are closed right now. Come back in a few hours,” Henry frantically said.
The other voice was quieter, and I couldn’t make out the words. “I understand, but we are very busy. Please leave. Oh, but come back later,” he added as the door closed behind the visitor.
The gallery was silent. Whoever that was wouldn’t be coming back.
“How about you take a break, Henry,” I heard Emma say.
“I can’t take a break,” he said with shrill finality. I slowly closed the door to his office, hoping that if I were out of sight, I would be out of his chaotic mind. I sank into a chair and let myself rest. All day I had been pushing away the thoughts, fears, and hopes Gabriel inspired. Being busy made it easier to distance myself from them, but I couldn’t fully escape. My phone vibrated, and I pulled it out of my tight back pocket. It took a long moment for me to realize what I was seeing. The words on my screen seemed like an arrangement of strange symbols with no meaning. But there was meaning. There was heart-sinking, fear-crawling-up-my-spine meaning. Cabana Cup was cutting all my hours for the next month. I gritted my teeth as all the puzzle pieces came together. The owner had me train his daughter forthe past few weeks, and now that she could run the place, he was giving her my hours, and all the tips I would have gotten during those hours. The tips from peak tourist season made all the difference, and now they were gone.
“Great,” I angrily said to myself while tossing my phone onto Henry’s desk before burying my face in my hands.
I made my way to the gallery, hoping to distract myself from yet another problem. Henry was lecturing Emma while she sat on the step stool, scrolling on her phone.
“Today’s event is one of the most important events of the year, as you know. When people are on vacation, they want souvenirs. They want art. So let’s get back to work and make sure everything is in order.”
Emma rolled her eyes at him. “Okay, okay. I’m just taking a quick break,” she said with a tired tone. Henry scoffed and disappeared behind rows of display cases as I sat on the ground next to her.
“Am I going to get paid for this?” Emma whispered to me.
“Probably not, but I guess it depends on how Henry feels at the end of the day.” Emma sighed and grabbed a broom.
“So, how have things been going with your new boss? I still cant believe he’s the same asshole from Cabana Cup.”
“It’s been... interesting.”
“Interesting?” she asked.
“To say the least,”
She must have noticed the shift in my mood and asked, “Are you okay? What happened with him?”
What didn’t happen with him.
I sighed. “Nothing. It’s just that Cabana Cup basically just fired me.”
“What? That’s so messed up. What are you going to do?”
I waved a hand at the display cases. “Well, half of the art in here is mine, so after Henry gets his cut, if I make just threesales, I should have enough to cover what I lost from Cabana Cup for a month or two.”
I couldn’t tell Emma about what Gabriel did or the raise he offered me. She would probably be happy for me and see it the same way as him.
Emma’s eyes widened. “Hey, remember Henry said if you finish your new painting by the end of the month, he would count it as rent? Let’s go paint at the beach tomorrow. I know a perfect spot.”
“That sounds like my only choice right now.”
“It will be fun. Everything will work out,” Emma said before Henry snapped his fingers at us.
“Ladies, enough chatter. Sophia come help me get this painting up.”
Emma walked away from us, dragging a broom behind her. I climbed the step stool with his odd beach silhouette painting in hand and put it on the shelf where the grade school class’s painting had been.
