by Tina Michele
“It was three days ago.”
“No. I just wanted to believe it was. There’s a difference.”
*
Lee and Alex walked quickly down the three flights of stairs to Rita’s office. Lee wanted to get to her before her rage wore off. It wasn’t a problem because the closer she got to confronting Rita the angrier she became. She hoped that Rita would deny it. She didn’t want to believe that she had purposely manipulated Lee and sabotaged Morgan. When they arrived, she was disappointed not to find Rita in her office, but chatter and laughter from the next room led Lee right to her. Lee held up her hand to stop Alex as they approached the doorway. She wanted to hear for herself exactly what she had been told.
“I told you guys. That job was mine. Now she will have no choice but to give it to me. Unless of course, she has a hard-on for someone else.”
Lee’s temper flared red-hot. She wanted to burst into the room at that moment, but instead she gave Rita more rope.
“I thought that bitch was done when I forgot to schedule the preview of the Veronese. But no, she had to go and be a freaking hero. Whatever. I got her in the end, didn’t I? I planted that beautiful little seed in Lee’s ear and then sat back and watched it grow right before my very eyes. It was brilliant. Oh my God, you should have seen Morgan’s face when she saw me standing outside the gallery. Priceless!”
Lee’s stomach twisted inside out. She was disgusted not only by Rita’s actions but by her blatant pride at having succeeded with her plot. Lee grabbed Alex’s shirtsleeve and dragged her into the room with her. Rita stood so quickly that her chair slammed loudly into the cabinet behind her. The loud noise caused the two others to spin around in horror as they came face-to-face with Lee’s ferocity. They tried to skirt around her and flee the room, but Lee blocked their exit.
Rita’s face washed in stark white. “Ms. Dencourt. I…ma’am…we were just…”
“Save it, Rita. You are disgusting. You are the worst kind of person. You have tricked and toyed with people, and put the future of this gallery in jeopardy.”
“No! You put this gallery in jeopardy. You hired her. Not me. You shouldn’t even be in your own position, let alone hiring others.”
Lee was two seconds from clearing the desk and tackling Rita to the ground. “Do not test me, Rita. I warned you that I would not tolerate even a single word of bullshit gossip in my building.”
“Your building?”
Lee slammed her hands down onto the desk, and everyone in the room jumped. “Yes! My building. You underestimate my connections, Rita. You will have to move to Russia if you ever want to work in another museum or gallery from this point forward.”
“You’re firing me?”
Lee couldn’t believe she’d actually asked that question. “Are you kidding me? Yes, I’m fucking firing you!” Lee pointed to the other two people who stood paralyzed in shock. “And your little minions.” All three of them gasped in surprise and one began to cry, but Lee had no sympathy for any of them. “Alex, call security. I want all of them removed from the premises immediately.”
“I will sue you for wrongful termination.”
Lee laughed. “Good luck with that. I’m a Dencourt, and you don’t have a job.”
*
Lee needed to speak to Morgan. She had to beg for forgiveness, no matter how long it would take. Lee dialed her number and prayed for her to answer. After only a half of a ring, she was pushed to voicemail. “Morgan, please answer. I need to talk to you.” Lee hung up and tried again. This time there was no ring, only the voicemail so she hung up. “Shit, Morgan. Fine.” Lee dug the keys from her pocket. If Morgan wouldn’t answer her phone, she would go to her apartment.
Lee pulled up to the house and tried again to call her. There was still no answer. She went to the door and knocked. “Morgan, answer the door, please.” She rang the bell and knocked again with no response. She rested her head against the door when she heard a voice behind her. Lee spun around hoping it was her.
“She’s not home. Hasn’t been in a few days,” the neighbor said as she unlocked her own front door.
Lee heart sunk in her chest. “Are you sure?”
“Yep. I’m sure,” she said before she entered her apartment and closed the door behind her.
Lee slammed her head back against the door. “Shit.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
Morgan sat on the top of the large cement wall of the milk barn. She watched her brother move in the next round of cows as her father locked each one into their head bail. She wished everything in life could be handled in such a smooth and efficient process.
Her phone rang again, but she didn’t even bother looking at it. She was certain it was Lee again. She had called four times in the last hour, and each time Morgan sent it straight to voicemail. She wanted to answer it, but she wouldn’t have even known what to say. Maybe the farm, milking cows and shoveling manure, was where she really belonged. There was no shame in that. She just wished she hadn’t wasted her entire life and buried herself under a mountain of student loans before she’d figured it out.
Morgan hopped down from the wall once her father had secured the last of the herd. Each cow settled into its feed as the team went to work washing udders and attaching the milking hoses. Her phone rang again, and this time she took it out of her pocket. It was Lee. Morgan groaned in annoyance and shoved the phone back into her jeans as she rounded behind one of the milking cows. She wasn’t sure if it was the sudden noise or her quick movement that caused the cow to kick back at her. Morgan jumped backward just in time to avoid a full blow but didn’t escape it entirely. She grabbed her thigh and stumbled back in pain. She barely kept herself from bumping into the cow behind her and setting off a chain reaction of bovine panic.
Her leg throbbed beneath the mud and manure that streaked across the top of her thigh. She cursed herself for being so careless and distracted, and she cursed Lee for being the reason behind it.
“What’s going on over here, hon?” her dad asked as he came up slowly behind her.
“Nothing. I wasn’t paying attention and she got me in the leg. It’ll be fine.”
He looked down at her leg and touched it. The pressure caused Morgan to flinch. “Well, she coulda broke your femur, darlin’. Gonna be a nice lookin’ bruise though.”
“I know.” Morgan knew exactly what the bruise would look like. She’d gotten one once before on the back of that same leg. The first day she saw Lee at the Dencourt.
“Why don’t ya get back to the house and put some ice on that. Tell your momma, we’ll be up in a minute.”
Morgan headed back to the house along the quiet dirt road, with a searing pain in her leg and in her heart.
*
Lee just wanted Morgan to answer her damn phone. She wouldn’t even make her talk to her if she didn’t want to. Lee just wanted to hear her voice, and not in a voicemail. She had a feeling that Morgan had gone home to her parents’ farm. She could drive there, and that way Morgan couldn’t dismiss her as easily as she had done her calls. Lee called Alex into her office.
“Hey,” Alex said as she entered the room.
“Hey. What is Morgan’s address? Well, her parents’ address? Do we have that information in her file?”
“Um…why?”
Lee didn’t want to explain herself, but Alex wouldn’t cooperate if she didn’t. “Because I thought maybe I’d drive out there.”
“Lee.” Alex sat down. “She isn’t answering your calls. Hell, she isn’t even answering my calls. Probably because she thinks it’s you making me call her. So what makes you think it’s a good idea to drive out into the middle of the sticks and show up on a ranch in the middle of the night? Do you want to get shot?” Alex smiled.
“She wouldn’t shoot me.” Lee hoped anyway.
“No. But her daddy might.”
“Ugh. Even if I did go out there she probably still wouldn’t want to see me. I really messed up, Alex. I offered her the world, a
nd then I let my pride and insecurities rip it away.” Lee slumped down in her chair and covered her face in her hand. “I’ve lost it all.”
Alex scooted her chair up against Lee’s desk. “Just like that? Lee Dencourt is going to give up, just like that? I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed.”
Lee looked up at Alex and slammed her arm down. “I spend millions of dollars on this Venus exhibit, countless thousands on half completed renovations, fired my assistant curator, the corporate attorney, two preservationists, and the only person on this planet who could change that won’t answer her fucking phone! So, yes, just like that.”
“Well, when you put it like that.”
“Alex, this really isn’t any time for your misguided attempts to lighten the mood.” Lee paced near the window.
“Why don’t you do it?”
Lee stared at Alex as if she spoke a different language. “What?”
Alex got up. With each step she took toward Lee, she said again, “Why…don’t…you…do it?”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. You are the director, aren’t you? Doesn’t that make you more than qualified to curate an exhibit?”
“It’s not my project, Alex. I wouldn’t even know where to start. Morgan took that with her when she left me…us…the gallery.” Lee could never finish the exhibit the way Morgan had intended, especially not without her. Could she?
“The design is proprietary to the gallery, not to Morgan. Plus, she didn’t take it with her, because the entire project folder is on my desk.” Alex smiled slyly.
“It is? Go get it.” Alex hustled from the room. Lee couldn’t believe that Morgan had simply left it, proprietary or not.
Alex returned and handed Lee the thick yellow file. “Here it is.”
Lee thumbed through the pages. Alex was right. Morgan had left everything, right down to the preliminary sketches and notes she’d taken during the first meeting they had together. Lee had an idea. If it worked, it could save the gallery and get back what she had lost, Morgan. “How would you like to be the new assistant curator?”
“Me? Are you kidding? I’m just a secretary.”
“Nonsense. Morgan saw something in you the first day you met her. Let’s see what that was. Come with me.”
“She did? But I—eek,” Alex squeaked, as she followed quickly behind Lee.
*
Morgan sat on the porch in her favorite swing and watched the big gray barn cat, Whiskey, creep by. Everything moved so slowly in the country, even time. Yet she couldn’t believe that it had been nearly three weeks since Lee had last tried to call. Morgan wondered if she might have answered the phone had she called just once more. Would she have told Lee that she missed her? It was the truth, after all.
As Whiskey disappeared around the side of the house, Morgan’s mom pushed open the screen door. “Hey, kiddo. Will you come in here for a sec?”
“Sure.” Morgan stopped swinging and followed her mother inside. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to talk to you about something. Sit down.” Her mom sat on the couch and patted the cushion beside her.
The tone of her mother’s voice was bothersome. She slowly lowered herself down next to her mother, “What’s wrong?”
“Look, sweetheart. I wanted to talk to you about something. Well, I actually wanted to show you something, but I want you to keep an open mind.” Her mother got up from the couch and opened a drawer in the antique roll top desk. She pulled out a thick gold envelope and held it in both hands. “So, I got a call the other day from Ms. Canton.”
“Alex?” Morgan’s stomach somersaulted and her heart raced. “Lee? Is she okay?”
“Lee is fine, sweetie. Alex called because she wanted to let me know to expect this.” Her mother waved the envelope in her hands.
Morgan sighed. “Okay.” She was beyond relieved that Lee was okay. “So, what is that?”
“It’s an invitation.”
Morgan’s heart beat faster. “For what?” She reached out her hand for the invitation, but her mom pulled it back.
“Listen. I know what your first reaction is going to be, but just know that it’s not wha—”
“Give it to me.” Morgan grabbed the envelope from her mother’s hand and opened it. Morgan gasped. Her stomach turned, and she thought she was going to be sick. “She…this is….” Morgan stood and whipped the paper through the air. “She is unbelievable! She gave it to Rita, just like she wanted her to. They butchered the shit out of my vision and have the nerve to send me an invitation?” Morgan’s face burned like it was on fire.
“Morgan, wait. It’s not what you think.”
“Yes, it is! It’s exactly what I think. Lee and Rita made all their safe, politically correct changes, pushed forward with the opening, and sent me this so that I can see that they were right.” Morgan began to cry.
“Oh, honey. Don’t cry. Please.” Her mother wrapped her in a tight hug and stroked her softly. “Do you really think Lee would do that? And if so, why would Alex call and make sure that we got the invitation? She is your friend.”
She was her friend, but Morgan also knew that Alex was very loyal to the Dencourt and to Lee. “What did Alex say when she called?”
Her mom shrugged. “Not much. She wanted to make sure we got the invitation and made it very clear that all of us should be there.”
“You’re not telling me something. What is it?”
“I told you already. It’s not what you think. But we have to be ready in two hours if we want to make it there on time.”
“Tonight! It’s tonight?”
“Yes, dear.”
“No. We’re not going. I am not going.” Morgan tore the invitation in half. There was no way in hell she was going to show up to see her exhibit destroyed by someone else.
Just then her father and brother stomped through the front door. “I hope you aren’t wearing that tonight, honey. If I’m getting all dressed up, so are you, baby girl.” He kissed her on the cheek and headed upstairs.
Morgan looked at her mother in disbelief. “Momma. You can’t make me go.”
“No, darlin’, you’re right, I can’t. But I’ll say this, if you don’t go, you’ll regret it one day, real soon.” She patted Morgan softly on the cheek. “Trust me.”
*
“Is she coming?”
“I talked to her mom this morning and they still hadn’t told her about it,” Alex said as she looked over Lee’s shoulder into the mirror. “But her mom did say something about hog-tying her if she put up a fight.”
“Alex, if she doesn’t come, I…” Lee sighed in exhaustion and defeat.
“She’ll be here, Lee. Have faith in her.”
Lee did. She just hoped it wasn’t already too late to show her that.
Chapter Thirty
Morgan sat nervously in the backseat of the car as they waited in a long line of limousines and taxis in front of the gallery. Banners illuminated by bright white spots fluttered in the wind across the façade of the building. Her pulse raced as the vehicle inched forward in line. As they slowly drew closer to the entrance, Morgan became increasingly anxious. Her heart and mind collided as her desire to see Lee again battled with the truth of why she was there.
Hours earlier, Morgan had stood in her bedroom. She stared down at the beautiful peach gown her mother had laid out for her and held the crumpled invitation tightly in her hand. It was the exact invitation that Lee and Morgan created together. She let the tears fall. She cried for what she had lost—her career, her life, and her love.
Morgan felt her mother’s gentle hand on her shoulder as she sobbed. “I want to be mad at her. I want to pretend that the last six months never happened. That I hadn’t taken the job and that I hadn’t fallen in—” Morgan couldn’t say it.
So her mother did. “Fallen in love with her?”
Morgan looked at her mother through a fog of tears. “Yes. Then I wouldn’t want to see her. And this wouldn’t hurt so badly.” Morgan cl
utched the shirt over her chest.
“Does she know how you feel about her?”
“No.”
“Maybe this is your chance?”
“No more chances, Momma. This is about closure.”
*
Lee paced the room as guests began to arrive. She hadn’t seen Morgan in a month, and the anticipation of seeing her tonight was almost more than she could stand. Lee greeted the guests and mingled absently in the grand foyer with everyone bustling around, drinking champagne and snacking on the hors d’oeuvres and crudités. Lee was hungry but too nervous to eat.
She glanced at her watch and realized Morgan should be arriving any moment. As she looked toward the doors, Lee’s heart leapt in her chest to see Morgan enter the room. She came. Lee stared. She was frozen in place by the paralyzing beauty of Morgan. Her wavy hair blew to the side as a light gust of wind caught it. Morgan’s dress accentuated the milkiness of her skin and her fathomless eyes. Lee had been lost in those eyes once and longed to return. She had so much to say to her, and it was time. A tap on her shoulder drew her attention away.
*
As soon as the four of them entered the room, Morgan excused herself. She hugged tightly against the wall with her head down as she made her way to the exhibition gallery. She had to see it. Morgan snuck quietly into the room, and closed the door behind her. She gasped in shock. It was her design, right down to the very last detail. Centered on the head wall on the other side of the room was the Veronese.
Morgan floated slowly through the center of the room toward the centerpiece. The walls were draped with lush purple fabric and the black acid floors gleamed with perfect reflections. She came to a stop before the beautiful Venus masterpiece, and tears filled her eyes. It was even more stunning in this space than it had been the first time she saw it.