Chapter Eight
Rachel
I was sitting at the front desk going over the website and responding to questions and comments that had been left around on different posts for a month now. The previous person had never responded to them, which wasn’t going to look good on James or his art company. I was determined to fix his image; he didn’t deserve a bad rap just because of his ex-assistant.
I responded to a few more comments, then looked up just as Nell and James walked into the gallery.
“Rachel!” she yelled and ran over to me. I stood up and wrapped my arms around her as she embraced me.
It took everything in me not to cry. Here was this beautiful, smart little girl wrapping her arms around me. It was one of the sweetest moments of my life, and I was really happy that I had taken Sadie’s advice and found a job. So far it had been pretty good, and I was still only on my first day.
“How was your first day of school?” I asked her.
“It was fun!” she yelled.
“Nell, remember your indoor voice,” James said.
She turned to her Dad, “Sorry, Daddy. I was just so excited.”
“I know, baby,” he said. Then to me he added, “Are you going to be okay down here with her?”
“Of course,” I said.
“If you need anything at all, you know where I am,” he said, then went upstairs.
I think he was a little surprised by how Nell had greeted me, and I wondered if it bothered him.
“What’s for lunch?” she asked me.
“You don’t get lunch at school?” I asked.
She shook her head, “No, but I will in first grade.”
I remembered that she was only in kindergarten. Of course, she didn’t get lunch; she was home at noon.
“Let’s go find something,” I said, and the two of us walked toward the back of the building.
James had told me before he left to pick her up that there would be food back there for her.
There was a kitchen back there, which I assumed was because of all the showings. They needed a kitchen because, based on the advertisements I’d seen, his art shows were usually catered.
The kitchen was huge, and when I walked over to the fridge, I saw there were a few Lunchables inside.
“Do you want one of these?” I asked her.
She nodded her head, “Ham cracker stackers, please.”
I loved how polite she was. It was so sweet. I grabbed the package out of the fridge, pulled the plastic top off and tossed it in the trash. Handing Nell the food, we made our way out of the kitchen and toward the couch that James and I had first sat on that morning. As we passed my desk, I grabbed my own lunch bag from the bottom drawer.
“What are you having?” she asked.
“I made myself a PB & J and some apple slices,” I told her.
“I love PB & J,” she said, her eyes lighting up.
“Do you want half of my sandwich?” I offered. It wasn’t like I was very hungry anyway. In fact, I didn’t really even want to eat food right now.
“Sure!” she said, obviously very excited.
Once we were settled, I pulled my sandwich out of the bag and passed it to Nell, thinking how lucky it was I always cut my sandwiches.
“Thank you,” she said, smiling at me so brightly like this was the best thing that had ever happened to her.
“You’re welcome,” I said.
She took a big bite, “Mmm,” she chewed the sandwich loudly. “This is so yummy.”
I loved how excited she was over a PB & J.
Smiling at her, I took a bite out of my own half of the sandwich.
“Do you want a cracker stacker since you gave me half of your sandwich?” Nell asked.
“Sure,” I said. I hadn’t had a Lunchable in a very long time and wasn’t even sure which ones I liked anymore.
I watched Nell as she grabbed a cracker, put a slice of cheese and then ham on, repeated the sequence, and then put them together and handed it to me.
“It’s much better like this; trust me,” she said.
I laughed, “Thank you, Nell,” I said.
I took a bite of it. “Yum,” I said, matching the enthusiasm she had over my sandwich, even though it wasn’t that good. I wanted to make her feel appreciated. “This is so yummy,” I said, now remembering why I hadn’t had a Lunchable for so long.
She smiled brightly, and pumped her fist in the air, “Yay,” she said.
We finished up our lunch and then we looked around at all the remaining art.
“Why is there so much left?” she asked.
“These are pieces that still need to be picked up by the people who purchased them,” I explained to her.
“Oh. We should wrap them up,” she said.
She wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t sure what James did when it came to them.
“Does your Dad normally wrap them up?” I asked.
She nodded her head and then pointed to a roll of special shipping paper next to us. “He uses that stuff.”
I chewed on my lip, “Let’s go ask your dad if he wants us to do that,” I said.
We walked up the stairs, and I stopped outside of his office. The door was open, but I figured I should knock anyways.
“Come in,” he said and looked up at us. He smiled, and we walked in.
“The remaining paintings. Do you want us to wrap them up for you? So, people can just pick them up and not have to wait for them to be wrapped?” I asked.
“We want to help out!” Nell said.
James laughed, “Sure, you guys could do that. I just need to send out some emails, and I’ll come help you.”
“Okay,” I said and smiled at him. I grabbed Nell’s hand, and we walked back downstairs.
I found scissors and tape with the wrapping paper, and we sat down. I cut out some strips for Nell to start wrapping with. I laughed at the way she started to wrap them up.
“Here, let me help you.” I moved over next to her and helped her wrap up one of the paintings. It was a small one, which was the reason I gave it to her to wrap. I was impressed that she was trying so hard and not damaging the painting.
“I have a new best friend,” she said, as I helped her tape a corner down.
“Oh really? What’s her name?”
“It’s Kassondra, and she’s in my class,” Nell said, excitedly.
I paused and smiled at her, making sure to give her my attention. “I’m so glad you had a good first day, plus you weren’t even scared.”
“That’s what my dad said,” Nell said, noticeably quieter.
I chuckled but wondered what had caused the change in her demeanor.
“My Mom died two years ago,” Nell said.
We were still focused on finishing up wrapping the painting. That was the last thing I expected her to say.
“Wow, I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” I told her.
I heard James walking down the stairs, but I didn’t want to press the issue, whether he was there or not. It wasn’t my place to do that, but I couldn’t help the sadness I felt for her. It all made sense now. The sadness I’d seen in his eyes was because Nell’s mom had passed away. Two years ago, the same time as— I didn’t want to think about that tragedy it was a whole different thing from the divorce.
“Hey ladies, need some help?” he asked and sat down next to us.
“Sure, we could use it,” I said.
When I looked at him, he was staring at me. He had a look on his face that I hadn’t seen in a while. It had been years since I dated a man. My ex-husband had been my high school sweetheart, and we had been together for nine years when we got divorced. The way James was looking at me was causing old feelings deep inside of me to stir. Feelings I hadn’t visited in a very long time.
James helped Nell and I wrap the rest of the artwork. And then we had to wrap the cool sculpture I had seen last time I was there. I helped him wrap it up, and since it was so large and awkward, it took both of us to get the wrapping around it.
Our fingers brushed as James took a corner of the wrapping from me and I felt a chill run down my spine and old feelings bubble deep inside of me. I pushed the feelings away and focused on finishing up the job at hand.
“Thank you so much,” James said when we were done wrapping it all up.
We placed it by the front door so it could get picked up later that day. I loved this so much. Being able to be helpful, but also working with the art. It was two of my passions combined into one.
“You’re welcome,” I said.
Nell was sitting on the couch flipping through one of the magazines. She had lost interest in what we were doing about fifteen minutes earlier.
“I’m serious. Thank you so much. It really means a lot.”
“It’s my job,” I said, reminding him that assisting him was what I was there for.
“I know, but you have no idea how nice it is to have someone that actually wants to do their job.”
“The last one was that bad, huh?” I asked.
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“I wondered. this morning I responded to comments or questions on the website that were like a month old. I’m going to help you turn your online presence around because it seems like she didn’t do a very good job of it.
James smiled at me. He was so handsome when he smiled, but I just wished it would reach his eyes. As soon as I thought it, I realized that must be what I looked like when I smiled.
“Thank you, Rachel. You’re seriously the best assistant I’ve ever had.”
“I’ve only been here one day.”
“So you can see what a bad run of luck I’ve had with assistants.”
I gave him a kind smile.
“You can head home, and I’ll see you tomorrow morning, okay?”
“No! I don’t want her to go,” Nell said, jumping up from the couch and hugging me.
I got down to her level. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Nell. Maybe I’ll bring some games with me, and we can play together after you get out of school.”
Nell’s eyes brightened, and she hugged me again, and I had to fight back tears.
After I stood up, I told James I would see him the following morning. Then I grabbed my purse and headed out. As I walked home, I couldn’t believe how good I felt. It was just a little bit. But a little glimmer of happiness and hope was better than none at all.
I thought about what Nell had told me. It broke my heart to heart that she had lost her mom at such a young age. She didn’t seem too bothered by it, though. She probably didn’t really remember her much.
A purpose. That was had me feeling better. After all this time, I finally felt like I had a purpose in my life. Something that would keep me moving forward. Keep me getting up and leaving my apartment. I felt good, and I wanted to hold on to that feeling for as long as possible.
As soon as I got to my apartment, I went right to the fridge and started to make my lunch for the following day. I made a second one, exactly the same, just in case, for Nell. Then I went to my hall closet and pulled out a simple board game I had, figuring she might enjoy playing it.
With everything together, I found that I was really excited to go to work the following day. Sadie had been so right. One day on the job and I was starting to feel better already. But I knew little Nell had something to do with that.