by Ashlee Price
We talked for a few more moments before she was pulled away to talk to a few other people. It wasn’t just about her pictures that were up on the wall; this was also a way for her to get to know other people in the industry and make some connections that would help her later. I watched her for a time, wishing secretly that I could be as relaxed as she was in a crowd of so many people.
My attention turned to the small bar that was set up on the other side of the room. I just needed something to take the edge off. Soon I had a glass of wine in my hand and the slow sips were already making me feel better. I didn’t know many people there, so instead of trying to mingle with strangers, I took a look at the pictures that my friend had done on her trip.
They were grouped as collages and there was a lot to look at. I couldn’t imagine all of the places that she had been to. I was scared to fly, always had been. My father wasn’t much for flying, but we were always traveling together, so I had gotten used to boats, trains and cars instead of the faster way of going the distance. Now I started to think that some of the places I wanted to go might not be accessible by any of those modes of transportation.
A photo of Rose and her new love interest caught my eye. The dark-skinned man was holding a snake, and even though Rose was terrified of the slithering creatures, she had the biggest smile on her face that I had ever seen. She was happy. There was no doubt in my mind that this one was going to be the one for her. It was a mix of emotions. I would miss her, as I had more and more lately, but it also meant that my best friend was happy, and I couldn’t think of any other way that I would want it to be.
The collages were grouped and presented on pillars all throughout the room, as well as against all of the walls. There were hundreds of pictures. I started on the next pillar, this one of a river and lots of people on boats. It was clear that she loved everything that she captured, and I was again blown away by her use of light and how good she was at it. Rose Woods was going to go far, and I was glad to have known her before she made her way to the top.
My eyes flicked up from the mural of art and I caught the dark gaze of a man who was looking at me. It took me a moment to remember him from before. He had been at the museum on Wednesday, looking at the art but looking more at the structure of the building. I had noticed him because of those coal-black eyes that were looking at me now.
Looking away, I felt like my very eyes had been burnt by his searing gaze. I walked towards the next pillar and tried to look at the photographs that were matted in front of me. I tried not to feel the stranger’s eyes on me, but it was impossible not to feel his presence. He was handsome and had a rakish grin that told me he was a man who was used to getting what he wanted. The tall man exuded energy that made me blush a little.
I was chicken, and my discomfort made me turn away and change how I was going to view the exhibit. I went to the outer wall, as far away from him as I could get. I put my back against the wall and tried to take in what was in front of me, but my eyes were unseeing.
Chapter 2 – Drake
I couldn’t believe that the woman in front of me was the very same one I had noticed days before. She looked completely different when she was at work. I knew who she was because I had done my homework about what I was planning to invest in. Erin Adams was the curator of the Museum of Natural History, and though I wasn’t there to see anything more than the location and architecture for my new club, I had noticed more than just that.
Before, the young blonde was dressed as one would expect a museum curator to be, similar to a librarian. She had her hair swept up in a tight French braid down her back. Now that it was flowing and straight my fingers itched to touch her. That is all I wanted to do. I knew that I couldn’t, but there was an urge that I hadn’t felt in a long time.
As my eyes traveled down her body and over the tight black dress and bared shoulders, I was thinking more about what I would say when I went up to her. She was like a butterfly fresh from her cocoon, and I knew that I had to have her. It was a pull, a drive inside of me that I had felt from her before, even when she had been dressed so unassumingly. I almost missed the small pair of glasses that had been perched on her nose and then pushed back into her hair when she was talking to someone. Before she had been intriguing for an unknown reason, and now I knew why. It was hard not to feel it when she looked like that. My body must have seen her potential and knew that she would be something magnificent.
“Drake Calloway?”
I was a little startled when I heard my name. I turned to see the person I was there to see. My PR manager had insisted that I meet with Rose Woods about promoting the Dragon Fly. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that, but Mary had insisted, so I had agreed. There was no doubt in my mind that she was right. It was something that I dreaded to do, but instead of just ignoring her advice, I had heeded it and made my way downtown to see her.
She was not what I had expected, but there was an instant charm that was palpable. I put my hand out to take hers and shook it gently. Rose had been talking to Erin just a bit ago, and I wondered how the two were acquainted. I had a strange moment where I wanted to ask that very thing, but I didn’t, because I knew I shouldn’t.
“Yes, you must be Rose Woods? Mary Whethers has told me so much about you. You must have impressed her, which is hard to do.”
The girl smiled and played with the curly tips of her dark hair. That was the reaction that I was used to, not Erin’s stricken look when she had noticed me here and back at the museum. It was a sharp contrast, and the easy smile on my lips was a reaction to how she was looking at me.
“Thanks, you’re too kind. I just got back and thought to put a few up. The country is really beautiful.”
I agreed, and though I had spent most of my time since Erin walked in trying to adjust myself to her new look, there had been a time in the beginning when I had actually done what I was here to do in the first place.
“Well, I like what I see. When can we get started?”
Rose was taken aback, as most were the first time they did business with me. While it looked like I was making a decision on a whim, I had studied her and her career the last couple of hours and I knew that she was a good fit. She was low on controversy and was a rising star. I liked the idea of helping her kick-start her career while getting a good product as well. It was a win-win situation of the kind that I was always eager to get into.
“Get started? We just met!”
I kind of chuckled. I was trying hard to ignore the look in her dark eyes. If I hadn’t already been fawning over Erin and her new style, I might have taken the dark depths up on their offer. “Well, I have seen a lot of your work, especially what you did for Espe magazine. I am impressed as well. This meeting was more a formality than anything. I like to personally meet the people that I go into business with.”
Rose smiled, and I liked the open way that she did it. I was just about to ask her about Erin and how she knew her, but the place was packed and everyone was vying for the woman’s attention. I gave her my card and told her to call me on Monday.
“This is a project that you are going to want to take.”
“Thank you, Drake. I look forward to working with you and your company. I have been trying to get my friend to go to the Dragon Fly. It is a great place, but I haven’t managed it yet.”
I told her to just come by and tell them I sent her. “It would be good for you to get an idea of what kind of place it is. Have you been there before?”
She nodded, and I promised to set things up for a special time when she was there. I left her to her fawning fans and searched the room with my eyes until I found the blonde who had captivated me before. She had her back to me, and all I could notice was the slight roundness of her backside and the hair that flowed as she moved.
Erin looked back at me once and our eyes met for only a moment before she was back to what she was looking at. I knew that she had noticed me. She had noticed me in the museum, too, but like then, she wouldn’t even
meet my gaze for more than a few moments. It was hard to concentrate with her around. Why did I feel this way?
The wine was getting to me and I went to the bathroom. I needed to splash some water on my face as well. I wanted to think that it was all of the people crammed into one space that made me feel this way, but I had more inclination to believe that it was because of Erin that I felt all out of sorts. She had to know what she was doing to everyone who saw her like that. She was beautiful.
Peering into the mirror, I dried the water from my tanned face and tried to look relaxed. I wasn’t supposed to be worried about women like that. I didn’t usually worry about them even when I’d taken them to bed the night before. But Erin had stayed with me for some reason. The schoolmarm had captured my attention, and tonight it was impossible to look away.
Resolving myself and straightening the jacket over my shoulders, I made my way back to the exhibition to go talk to the innocent woman who possessed those topaz eyes that transfixed me. It was time to make my move. I knew that once I put my sights on her she was going to be no different than all of the rest. There was nothing that she could do. She would be mine.
But my eyes moved across the room and I couldn’t find Erin’s long, flowing blonde hair. It became clear that the party was starting to wind down. There were fewer people there than before, and it seemed that Erin was one of those who’d already gone. I took my time, sweeping one side of the room to the other several times before I accepted that she had gotten away. I wasn’t used to not getting what I wanted, especially something I wanted this badly. I wanted her so badly.
When I was sure that she was really gone, I didn’t quite know how to feel. In a way I was upset that I wasn’t going to be uncovering all of her secrets that very night, but there was no need to worry. I did know where she worked, after all, and I had a feeling that she was soon going to be a little more apt to hang around. Erin was about to get some news that was going to change everything for her, and I had a feeling that she would give me the time of day then.
Chapter 3 – Erin
“I am sorry Erin. I really am.”
“But me and my father lived here for years. Mr. Bishop, I have lived here all of my life. This is all I have left of him.”
The old man was softening, but I knew that my begging wasn’t going to make a difference. He had been offered a price that he couldn’t refuse, and he had given in. At sixty-five, he was ready to retire. He only came into the museum once a month to pick up paperwork, so I could see how the man must have been swayed by the temptation of a big pile of money all of a sudden. I knew that he wasn’t going to stop the sale. It was too much money. I was not only going to be out of a job, but also homeless. And the place wasn’t just my money and my home. It was the last place that I’d shared with my father. He had been gone a couple of years now, but I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. It was like part of him was still there, and that was always a comfort.
“I am sorry, Erin. You know how much the two of you mean to me, but I am getting old and I can’t do this anymore. The wife wants to move where it is warm, and my aching joints want the same. I just can’t hack it in New York anymore.”
I could have argued and told him that I would have done what was needed. I could have managed it, just like I had been for the last couple of years after dad died, but I didn’t. I knew that his mind was made up and I was going to have to figure it out somehow. I just didn’t know at the moment what I was going to do. I did know that I was going to have to do something quickly, because he was giving me a 30-day notice to vacate.
It was a shock to say the least. I thought he’d just stopped by for coffee, as he had done a few times a month in the several years since I had taken over. Even when my father was alive, Bishop was a normal fixture around the place. He said that he came for the conversation, but I was more apt to believe that he was there for the scones. Either way, it was hard to hear the news and even harder when it was coming from him. I could tell that he was as bothered by it as I was, so I decided I wasn’t going to make it harder on him, even if it was feeling hard on me.
Putting the most sincere smile on my face that I possibly could, I tried to think of something to say. In the end I just told him that it was okay, and for a moment the relief on his face made the blow from the news a little easier to bear. All I had to do was get upstairs without bursting into tears and I would be okay. It didn’t sound that hard, but I could feel the first tear running down my face when I was halfway up them. I moved faster.
My fingers squeezed on the banister as I tried to catch myself as I felt the stairwell around me sway. I didn’t know what I was going to do, and I didn’t know how I was going to figure it all out within 30 days. It just wasn’t enough time.
My resolve briefly took over from my nerves and I told myself that I was going to be okay. It wasn’t until I got behind the door that the waterworks really started. I couldn’t stop them and I didn’t really want to. I wanted it to somehow cleanse me of everything that I was feeling. It didn’t seem possible, but after only five minutes it started to ebb. I knew that I was just feeling sorry for myself and if I didn’t get it together, I was just going to make it worse.
Leaning against the hard wood, I looked around the apartment that I had grown up in. I had lived there for more than 24 years. It seemed like just yesterday that I was a kid, telling my father how much I hated the place. It was too small, too far from my friends and too old. Now I couldn’t think of living anywhere else. The very idea of having to give the place up was enough to start the tears anew.
This time, though, I didn’t succumb to the temptation to crybaby my way out of it. I had to think, and before long I remembered that I got a paper delivered and there would be places to rent. It was somewhere to start. I didn’t anticipate the prices, though. The museum had always been a perk that gave me a rent controlled option in a great location. It was considered part of my wages, and now I knew that I had gotten a better deal with that than I had first realized. I was starting to think that I was going to have to move out of the downtown area. There was going to be no way that I could afford to stay there.
I got up, trying not to let the information bother me, but it did. How could it not? It was going to be hard to find anything close to the sprawling two-bedroom apartment that I had now. Time was running out and I was feeling it more and more acutely. After a while I just lay down and tried to get some sleep. I had to remind myself that tomorrow was going to be better. It just had to be.
***
I went to work Monday morning knowing that everything was about to change. I now had a time limit of one month for my apartment and two months for the job that I loved. I couldn’t remember what all Bishop had said about either one by the time I got downstairs to work. I was feeling out of sorts and I didn’t even bother to do anything with my hair besides throw it up in a knot on the top of my head.
My brain was still a little fuzzy when the place opened, but before long I had a cup of coffee in my hands and I was looking through the calendar to see what I had to do that day. My plate was full and I was just not in the mood for anything. I was in the mood to go back to bed and wallow like a normal person.
I hadn’t gotten through the first cup when I heard a knock on the door. I had shut it so that all of the happenings didn’t disturb me and I hated to think of the look that I gave the mahogany wood. The last thing I wanted was to talk to anyone. I was feeling rather grumpy and coffee was the only thing that was going to change that in any way.
“Who is it?” I was taking no chances and sat up and straightened myself just a little bit.
It was Bishop. I was surprised to see him in the place. He had been there yesterday, so this was the most that I had seen him at the museum in years. He usually stayed away. It made me immediately think that something else was wrong. I really wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to take any more of his news. The last one had been such a doozy. I just knew that I was going to have to ste
el myself for whatever he was going to say.
“I thought you might like to meet the man who is going to be buying this place, Erin. Maybe if you get to know him, it won’t be such a bad thing. I really like him, and I think you are going to like him too.”
I kind of nodded my head, but I wasn’t really sure what I was going to say. I didn’t want to meet the man who was changing everything for me. I was under the impression that the museum wasn’t even going to stay open. One of the best and oldest museums in the city was going to be closed down and turned into another night club. It just didn’t make much sense, and I wasn’t really ready to celebrate that.
“I will if you want me to, but my schedule is pretty filled up for the next week. There is a lot to get done if we are going to have everything shut down and packed up by the end October.”
“Of course, Erin. I was just thinking that maybe you could see him this afternoon after you get off work? I could set something up. He is eager to meet you.”
I tried to keep the smile on my lips. The one that I knew wasn’t showing on the rest of my face. “I will see if I can push some things around, okay?”
Bishop kind of nodded his head, but I had a feeling that he was thinking of something else. I hadn’t agreed, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to have a choice. It seemed the buyer was sparing no time in throwing his weight around the place.
Chapter 4 – Drake
I hung up the phone feeling a little aggravated. I was feeling more of that emotion than anything else lately, and it was not a feeling that I was particularly used to. I wanted to see Erin, but it was becoming impossible. It was already Wednesday and I still hadn’t been given a time to meet with her. I wasn’t sure if she knew who I was, but either way, she didn’t seem to have any inclination to speak to me.
Bishop had assured me that I would hear something soon. All I had heard at the moment was that he was still waiting for her to find time for me. I wasn’t sure what was going to be said or what I would do, but I was sick of waiting. My impatience finally got the best of me, and instead of waiting like every indication from her said to do, I decided to just go down there. I was about to own it all, after all, and it just seemed silly that I was taking so much time waiting on other people to do what I should have done in the first place.