Chapter 5
Cate wobbled on her high-for-her-heels as she made her way down the walk to the gallery where her daughter was, in theory, waiting. After the night before, she half-worried it was another set-up. Worried. Hoped. Whichever.
Armed with a stick drive of pictures she’d taken of her work and her best little black dress, Cate was ready for this. Or so she told herself numerous times during the short walk from her car. Why she had ever decided any type of heel was a good idea was beyond her, but it was too late now. In for a penny…
The gallery sat in her favorite part of the city. The energy of the unique businesses, cafes, and galleries bounced through the streets, and the hustle and bustle of the city seemed to slow down there so people could enjoy the true pleasures of life. Art. Music. Theater. It was an odd dynamic, and one that, if she were a city gal, she would have been completely enthralled by.
The gallery welcomed her, its door propped open and gentle music flowing out into the street. A few steps in and she was awed by a photo of a brick. Somehow the photographer captured something in that shot that drew her in. A brick, of all things. Art never ceased to amaze her.
“Welcome,” a short woman with glasses and a welcoming smile greeted her, hand extended. “You must be Cate. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“I’m not sure how to even respond to that.” Cate gave her hand a quick shake, trying to pull herself together and out of the nerve-induced meltdown she had begun to slip into. “Is Jamie here?”
“She was, but I sent her on a quick errand.” The warm smile she greeted Cate with never wavered. “She’ll be back before the official start.”
“Oh, sorry.” Leave it to her to show up too early on what could be a life-changing night. “I’ll come back later. I must have the time wrong…”
“Susan. Amelia’s wife.”
Cate’s eyes popped up to meet Susan’s. For some reason, she hadn’t put two and two together. In her mind, Susan had been this tall, glamorous woman who stole both men and women’s breath away with her sheer beauty and unapproachableness. She had no idea where that version of the woman before her came from, but it was so wrong in the very best of ways. Susan was much more approachable in her true life version than anything Cate had dreamed up. Suddenly, her nerves vanquished. She had this.
“Your timing is perfect. Jamie said you were a brilliant artist and I simply must show your work.” That sounded like her daughter all right.
“She may be a bit biased.”
“Truth, but she has a great eye.” In that, Susan wasn’t wrong. Jamie had never taken up creating art in the same fashion her mother had, but she always saw the art around her, even where it was unintentional. “I keep trying to snag her from all that computer mumbo jumbo, but you know kids with all their practical dreams of actual careers.” Susan shrugged her shoulders before signaling for Cate to follow her. “Did you bring anything to show me?”
“Sort of.” They stopped in front of a display with amazing lighting, so Cate took that as a sign to whip out her thumb drive, not that it would do well there, but the woman must have assumed a portfolio was hiding in her purse to stop somewhere with lighting as well achieved as here. “I took some pictures and put them on a stick drive. Hardly professional by any means, but they will give you an idea of what my work is like. I’m not what you would call traditional.” She held the drive out automatically, and Susan gladly took it before starting to walk again, this time straight toward the reception desk.
“Most excellent. I personally find ‘traditional’ boring.” She turned her head and called to the receptionist who had, until then, gone unnoticed by Cate. “Marjorie, please man the fort. I’ll be in the office with Ms. Rhodes.”
“Cate is fine,” she said as they walked into the small office adjacent to the desk.
“Well, Cate, let’s have a look, shall we?” Susan put the thumb drive into her machine, and Cate all but held her breath waiting for the files to load. This was her big chance, and the only thing that could make or break it was the talent and vision she had put into her work. It felt so raw. Cate had never felt more alive.
“Wait.” Susan’s head turned to Cate before all of the pictures had even loaded completely. “Are you Cate Taylor?”
“Yes? I mean I was.” How did that come up? She hadn’t gone by that name in an entire lifetime—Jamie’s, to be more specific.
“The Cate Taylor?” Cate shrugged, not knowing how to respond to that. Surely there were plenty of Cate Taylors, right? Or had her past come up as part of Levi’s past? How embarrassing that would be. Not that they did anything wrong, but still, if it came up, her relationship with him impacted Susan’s current wife’s last marriage. Cate was spiraling into thoughts that needn’t be, and was pleased when Susan’s hand touched hers, grounding her. “But of course you are. I thought you stopped painting.”
“Wait, what?” Painting? That wasn’t at all what Cate thought this had been about. “How do you know about me?”
“I’ve seen and tried desperately to buy two of your pieces. When I was turned down very firmly, I looked for more and never found any, so I assumed… well, never mind.” She shooed the thought away with a swish of her hand, as if none of it had any necessity. Cate begged to disagree because at no point in time had she guessed her paintings were anywhere, except possibly someone’s basement game room. “When can you do a show? Name a month, and we will make it happen.”
“Wait. I don’t understand. Where were my paintings? Which ones?”
Susan began to type away on her machine before pulling up two pictures. Sure as the day is long, they were Cate’s, with an estimated value slapped across them, the numbers of which floored her. There was no way her pictures were worth that… except they were, since someone paid for them. “Here… these are them.”
“And where are they now?” Not that Susan would know, but maybe since she tried to buy it, she did. And at this point, she’d already asked, so who cared?
“That’s Levi’s collection.” Susan pointed to a new picture Cate had somehow not noticed she pulled up. Sitting next to her painting was a Rembrandt. A freaking Rembrandt.
“But that’s a Rembrandt next to it.” She pointed to the spot on the screen as if the owner of a prestigious art gallery didn’t know which painting she was talking about.
“It is.”
“My painting is next to a Rembrandt.” Her voice gave away the awe she felt. Her painting was next to a Rembrandt. Levi’s Rembrandt, so she had an edge up in the matter, but a Rembrandt still the same.
“They are.” Susan clicked a second picture and sure enough, the second painting was sitting on the other side of the Rembrandt. This could not be reality. It just couldn’t.
“I saw your work in his conference room,” Cate babbled, hoping to move the conversation past the one she really needed to be having with Levi. How had he got her paintings, and did he really pay those insane prices? If so, that was another whole why question unto itself.
“I heard. A little birdie told me you were a fan.”
Jamie.
“More than. It was breathtaking. The layers. I could have spent an hour there just exploring the details.” She knew she sounded as amateur as she felt, but the piece had hit her so profoundly she couldn’t stop herself.
“Amelia just told me Levi said you liked it.” Huh? So Jamie and Amelia were closer than she thought. She just shook her head at the entire sequence of events. Today turned out not at all as she had envisioned. “I’m humbled by your appraisal. It’s my favorite piece.”
Cate could have sworn she saw the woman blush. Interesting.
“I can see why.”
“No, not because of that.” And that was when her blush deepened. It was adorable. “It brought me my Amelia.”
“Love,” Cate all but sighed. “The very best reason there is.”
“You’re as sappy as Levi,” Susan faux-scolded before retrieving Cate’s thumb drive and shutting down her machine.
“Thanks?”
“Mom, are you back here?” Jamie called, startling them both.
“We’re here, Jamie,” they both responded at the same time, causing a burst of giggles like high school kids. What an odd meeting this was.
“I’m not interrupting, am I?” Jamie came busting in, carrying a few small bags.
“Absolutely not,” Susan brushed her concern away as Cate was now seeing was her habit. “Did you get me the new cords?”
“Three stores, but I got them.” She handed the small bags to Susan.
“Excellent. I need to go and get the tech working. It was fabulous meeting you, Cate.”
“You too.” Susan flitted out before Cate finished saying good-bye, but she assumed it was the thought that counted and let it go.
“Soooooo …” Jamie so nonchalantly nudged.
“So, it went really well. She likes my work.” At that, Cate twirled around as if she were a child in a brand-new tutu. She felt fantastic. Susan loved her work. Levi somehow owned a bit of her, even though they hadn’t seen each other in years. How, she would figure out later, but for now, she was going to live on the high that having your work hanging next to a Rembrandt brings. No, scratch that. The high having your painting hanging in the collection of your first love brings.
“I knew she would.” Jamie reached out and hugged Cate just as she finished spinning. Yes. The day was pretty much near perfect. “Ready to go mingle?”
“Absolutely.”