The Art of Love

by Celya Bowers

  CHAPTER 2

  Saturday afternoon Peri and Kyla searched the Parks Mall for a cocktail dress to show Brendan how hot Peri was. Kyla’s words, not Peri’s. They stopped at an upscale boutique called Shai’s, known for their pricey yet one-of-a-kind dresses. Peri stood in the doorway, standing her ground. “Kyla, I’m not stepping one foot in this place.”

  Kyla laughed. “Oh, stop. It’s not like you can’t afford it. You just got that huge raise. Besides, this is a special occasion. You know when you step into that art gallery you’re going to have to bring it.”

  Tell me something I don’t know. Brendan was probably used to scantily clad women. That was so not her. “But dresses in this place range from five hundred to the thousands of dollars. I checked the website.”

  Kyla ignored her protests and pulled her inside the store. “This is like your coming out dress. This is your first real outing since your break-up. You want to look your best when Brendan sees you.”

  Peri sighed. She still didn’t believe that this hunky Irishman was attracted to her. “I still don’t see it, Kyla. I think he was just being nice to us. But you’re right for the most part, and since this is my first outing, I do want to celebrate.”

  “Finally.”

  Kyla walked further inside the store and stopped at a display of dresses that left little to the imagination. Peri ran her hand across one of them. Her hands glided over the smooth fabric. Silk? She glanced at the price tag and her heart almost stopped. Eight hundred dollars, and that was on sale! Was she actually thinking of buying this very expensive dress? Hopefully, there was something else that would catch her eye and not bankrupt her.

  “Peri, check this out,” Kyla said walking up to her with a strapless turquoise number.

  “It looks short, Kyla. Where am I supposed to keep my keys, or lipstick?”

  “There’s this thing called a purse,” Kyla teased. “I think this will look great against your slender frame.”

  Peri snorted. “You know sometimes I still see my old body when I look in the mirror. I mean, I know I’ve have lost weight, but you know.”

  Kyla shook her head. “I know. This is one way to get rid of that old image stuck in your head. I still think this will look hot on you. Get some matching stilettos, and Brendan won’t know what hit him.”

  “About that,” Peri started. “I just can’t see him being attracted to me.”

  “Trust this old married woman. He’s attracted to you.”

  Peri was about to refute her friend’s statement when Kyla’s cell phone started singing the latest Maxwell ballad. Kyla answered. “Hey, baby.”

  Peri knew it was Kyla’s husband, and she didn’t want to eavesdrop, so she continued shopping in the small store. She was in the middle of trying on her third pair of stilettos when Kyla joined her with a big smile on her face. “Ryan wants to have dinner later.”

  “That’s great, Kyla.”

  “Girl, that’s man code. He wants to have sex tonight and knows he’s going to have to work for it. I’ve not been in the mood lately.”

  She knew her friend’s favorite method for punishing her husband. “How long is lately?”

  “About a month or so.”

  “You don’t mean it?” Peri tried to hide her giggle. “Poor Ryan.”

  Kyla nodded. “Yes. I cut him off.”

  * * *

  Robert Evans watched the two women shopping in the pricey store, taking inventory of his ex-girlfriend. Two years was a long time. Maybe she didn’t think about him anymore.

  He sure thought about her. Twenty-four months in prison will do that. Especially since she was the reason he had been there. It was her fault that he flew into a rage, beat her and forced a miscarriage.

  And he was going to make her pay for every minute he spent in prison.

  Peri had lost weight, he noted. The shirt clung to her figure and the jeans were a little tight for his taste. He wouldn’t have allowed her to go out looking like she was a college student. Her slim figure reminded him of how she looked when they first met. Before all the lies started.

  At first she didn’t seem to mind the minor discrepancies in his stories; toward the end, she didn’t seem to care. Not until she found out she was pregnant. Then everything had changed. But he didn’t want the baby, let alone changing the set-up he’d worked so hard to get.

  He continued watching the women as Peri modeled a pair of stilettos for the other woman. The Peri he knew would never have worn those kinds of shoes. Apparently, this Peri was very different from that mouse of a woman he ran over years ago. It was pure luck he was at the mall and noticed her shopping. She’d moved from the condo they shared while he’d been in prison and he’d had a hard time discovering where she lived now. He’d almost given up finding her, but luck was finally on his side.

  * * *

  Later that afternoon, after Peri had purchased the dress, shoes, and matching purse, she sat in her condo with nothing but time on her hands. She could visit her parents, who lived at the other end of Arlington, but quickly nixed that idea. She’d see them tomorrow after church. She thought about her sister, Bailey, but came to the same conclusion. She was to see Bailey tomorrow as well. The entire Reed family attended the same church and they would convene at her childhood home for the traditional Sunday dinner. Kyla was otherwise occupied on her date with her husband. The evening stretched out before Peri. She was trying to fight the addiction, but it was so hard.

  An hour later she gave in to her emotional crutch. Well, not completely. She still went to the Olive Garden, an Italian restaurant for dinner, but this time she decided she would eat her meal at the restaurant. Normally, she got her meal to go.

  “One?” the cheery teenager asked.

  “Yes.” She glanced around the lobby area of the restaurant; there were couples and families as far as she could see, not another single person in sight. She noticed a man and his little girl also waiting for a table. The man was handsome and reminded her of Brendan. Great, now she was imagining that man everywhere. She had to get a grip on her rattled brain.

  “It should be just a few minutes,” the hostess said.

  Peri nodded and took the first vacant seat.

  “Donovan, party of two,” the hostess announced.

  Perhaps it was him, she mused. What would be the odds?

  “Peri?”

  She knew the instant she heard her name that her suspicions had been correct. It was him. She pretended she had a great interest in the floor as she sensed him walking past her. She didn’t think he’d recognize her, and she surely didn’t think he’d stop in front of her.

  “Peri?”

  She looked about and feigned shock. “Brendan! What a surprise to see you here.” She hoped he would keep walking, but he stayed.

  “Why don’t you join me and my daughter for dinner instead of eating alone?”

  Okay, he just announced to the entire lobby that she was a lonely, single woman, so she had few options. She could always take the high road and eat alone, but she knew the minute Kyla found out, she’d kill her. “That is very nice of you, Brendan,” she started in on her refusal. Unfortunately, Brendan only heard the beginning.

  “She’s going to join us,” he told the young woman. He introduced his daughter as the server gathered the menus. “This is my daughter, Chelsey. Chel, this is Ms. Reed.”

  Peri shook the little girl’s hand. Chelsey was the spitting image of her father, dark brown hair and bright blue eyes.

  “Hello, Miss Reed,” said Chelsey. She smiled easily at Peri and offered her tiny hand.

  “It’s very nice to meet you, Chelsey. You are a very pretty young lady.”

  “Thank you.” Chelsey looked up at her father.

  The hostess nodded, smiling at Brendan, but that smile didn’t extend to Peri. “Yes, sir. Right this way.”

  * * *

  As they were led to their table, Brendan gazed at Peri’s attire with approval. She was dressed in a clingy blouse, jean
s, and stilettos, his personal favorite. After they were seated, he had to think of something to say. “You look relaxed. Where is your friend?” The server handed them menus and took the drink order.

  “She is on a date with her husband,” said Peri.

  “That’s terrific! So why are you here?”

  “No date. This is my Saturday night ritual.”

  “Huh?” Brendan was confused.

  “Normally, I get it to go.”

  This had to be some kind of sign, he thought. This was out of his and Chel’s normal schedule as well. “Oh, ours is McDonald’s, but tonight I wanted some real food.”

  Peri nodded. “I know how you feel. Sometimes, I babysit my niece, Dakota. She’s seven,” she said to Chelsey. “She always wants to go to McDonald’s.”

  “I love McDonald’s,” Chelsey announced. “I wish we could have gone there.”

  “Chelsey,” Brendan admonished his daughter. “We can’t always eat where we want all the time.”

  “Yes, Dad.” Chelsey continued reading the menu.

  Brendan sighed. Not the ideal way to impress a future date, he mused. He saw the opportunity. He took it and damned the consequences. So what if his five-year-old daughter had accompanied them on a pseudo-date. “What are you having, Peri?”

  “First, I was thinking about the lobster ravioli, now I’m leaning toward the seafood fettuccine. What about you?”

  He glanced at his daughter. “I’m leaning toward some spaghetti. What about you, Chel?”

  “Lasagna.”

  The server arrived with their drinks, took their orders, and quickly left the table. Both Peri and Brendan had a glass of wine, while Chelsey had a glass of juice.

  Brendan decided to use this time to get to know the woman who had intrigued him the last few months.

  * * *

  Two hours later Brendan settled Chelsey in front of the TV in the game room and called his ex-wife. After the customary chit-chat with Oliver, Claire’s live-in lover of three years, he finally connected with her.

  “Yes, we had dinner at the Olive Garden,” Brendan said, opening his laptop. He sat behind his massive cherry wood desk, a find he was rather proud of. He had located the desk in Maine a few years back and only paid a few hundred dollars for it. It cost more to ship the desk back to Arlington than he had paid for it. Now it was worth thousands. “I know that wasn’t our usual place to eat, but I just wanted to eat some real food. We ran into Peri, she was eating alone, so I invited her to eat with us.”

  Claire laughed. “At least that was something. I hope you didn’t let Chelsey eat everything on the menu. Any luck with Peri?”

  Brendan smiled. “Yeah, she was a little hesitant about giving me her phone number.”

  “Oh, no. I hope you didn’t frighten her. I can just imagine your face when she hesitated.”

  Once his computer booted up, he signed on to the auction’s website. “Hey, were you there? I hate when you’re right about me. Yeah, I kind of went overboard. But I got it in the end.”

  Claire laughed. “Yeah, let’s hope you do.” She ended the call.

  * * *

  Peri returned to her condo after her dinner with Brendan and his daughter. Talk about a turn of events; Kyla wouldn’t believe it. Peri didn’t, either, and she was living it. She actually had dinner with Brendan and enjoyed it.

  She settled on her couch to watch Saturday night British comedies on PBS. She was in the middle of watching Are You Being Served? when her phone rang. A man’s voice asked for her. A chill went down her spine, awakening a fear she hadn’t felt in two years. Was it Robert? Was he out of jail already? The voice stated her name again. She relaxed as she recognized the caller’s voice.

  “Peri?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is Brendan. Are you busy?”

  Peri smiled. “No, just watching British comedies on PBS.” She tried to sound calm, as if men called her all the time.

  “You watch Britcoms?” He sounded surprised.

  “Sure. Every Saturday and Sunday night. I love them. You watch?” She settled back on her couch, turning the volume down on the TV.

  “Sometimes. I usually watch BBC America, but sometimes it just makes me homesick for my family,” Brendan admitted.

  “I guess that I would be homesick, too, if I saw my hometown on TV. Or homeland, for that matter.”

  “Where are you from, originally?”

  “I was born and raised right here in Arlington.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, my parents and siblings all live here in town. Sometimes living near your family is not all it’s cracked up to be.”

  He laughed. “Neither is living almost five thousand miles away from them. When I first moved to the states, I thought everybody talked funny.”

  “I know you’re from Ireland, but where in Ireland?”

  “A small rural village about twenty miles from Dublin.”

  Before she knew it, they had exchanged an abundant amount of information. They talked about his divorce, his ex-wife, why he was still in the area, his job, Robert, her job, her friendship with Kyla, and more things than she would have thought. She also learned that besides art, they had other interests in common.

  “I take it your break-up with Robert wasn’t a good one,” Brendan said.

  “No, it wasn’t.” Peri hoped her short answer would close that line of questioning. Normally that worked with her family.

  “I know he hurt you emotionally,” he said. “I know how that feels. You feel like your world has ended. At least that’s how I felt after my divorce.”

  Peri took a deep breath. Someone actually understood how she felt. “You’re the first person who actually gets it. I just wish Mr. Evans would get it.” Peri couldn’t believe the comfort she felt in finally saying it.

  “I’m sure he will,” Brendan said quietly. “I know you probably don’t believe it now, but things will get better between you and him. When Claire and I first divorced, we couldn’t even be in the same room without arguing. But now we’re really good friends.”

  She glanced at the oversized clock on the wall. It was almost eleven o’clock! They had been on the phone for three hours! When was the last time she’d ever talked to a man for this long? When was the last time she talked to a man that wasn’t a blood relative or her best friend’s husband? She had to get off this merry-go-round. “Well, it was nice chatting with you, Brendan, but I had better let you go.” Why was she so afraid of one Irish man?

  “Okay. I need to check on Chelsey, anyway. She’s supposed to be asleep, but I keep hearing giggles on the monitor. Talk to you soon.” He ended the call.

  Peri’s heart was beating twice its normal speed as she hung up the phone. She desperately needed to talk to Kyla, but she would have to wait until morning.

  She fell asleep on the couch, worrying about it. The doorbell woke her the next morning. Groggily, she stood and walked to the door. She opened the door to find Kyla dressed in polka-dotted capris and a matching knit blouse and polka-dot tennis shoes. “How was your date, or dare I ask?”

  Kyla glanced at Peri and walked inside the condo. She started talking before Peri could close the door. “Ryan was wonderful. Yes, he was really trying to seduce me last night. We even went dancing at Sambuca’s, the jazz club in Dallas.”

  “But?” Peri guessed as Kyla fell on the couch laughing.

  “I told him I was on my period!”

  Peri laughed. “That’s so wrong. Poor Ryan!”

  Kyla sat up. “No, poor me. I really wanted to make love last night. But one lone attempt is not going to cut it. He’s going to have to woo me again.”

  “Make him.” Peri looked away from Kyla’s observant eyes.

  “Why do you look like someone has come and pushed your panic button?”

  Peri sat on her couch, focused on Kyla for a little moral support, and began her story about the previous night’s events.

  “So?”

  “Kyla! You
know how on edge this whole thing with him has made me, plus the added factor of meeting his daughter and us having dinner like we had been doing that forever. Then, him calling me and finding out we have so much in common just scared me.”

  “Such as?”

  “We both love art, poetry, British comedies, even some of the shows that come on BBC America,” Peri said, still not believing it herself.

  “You mean even that crazy show about the priest and the bartender that you made me watch and got me hooked on?”

  Peri laughed at Kyla’s description of the show, but she knew what she meant. “Yes, that one. It’s just too weird. I can count the guys I’ve met on one hand who even know what BBC stands for. We talked like we had known each other previously or something.”

  “Peri, is his skin color stopping you? I didn’t take you for a racist,” Kyla taunted. “If he was a brother, would all this be non-issues?”

  Peri whispered, “It’s just… It’s just he’s the first man since Robert. I just don’t want to relive that by losing myself in the process.”

  “Nobody said you had to relive your abusive relationship with Robert. This is a totally different man.” Kyla laughed.

  “But what about if he wants to…you know?” Peri lifted her chin, not wanting to think about the probabilities.

  Kyla grabbed Peri’s hand. “Just relax. If you’re this upset about a phone call, what are you going to do at the gallery showing next Saturday? How are you going to prepare for that?”

  “Drink a little courage along the way.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Monday afternoon Brendan put the finishing touches on the arrangements for the opening on Saturday night. A lot was riding on one gallery showing with one shallow artist and his large, inflated ego.

  He walked to his office door, bellowing for his assistant. “Dante, come here.” He walked back to his desk, trying to calm down. Yelling would only make everyone in his office more tense, with the opening just days away.