by Eva Luxe
“What?” she asked, looking thoroughly confused.
“Yeah,” I continued. “If you hadn’t have run off like you did last night, you would have been able to see how quickly your pieces sold. In fact, we had people asking where they could find more of your work. You have a list of clients already waiting for you to create new pieces and are willing to wait until you create more. Now, tell me, if you didn’t have talent, if this was all just some charade, do you think that that would be the case?”
A distance look was in her eyes as she considered what I was saying. She shook her head and sunk back into her seat, folding her arms.
“The only reason that that happened was because they probably wanted to have some sort of connection to the crazy whore artist at the gallery,” she said. The words landed hard, annoying me even more than I already was. I just couldn’t believe that she being so hard on herself. I took a deep breath, willing myself to stay calm. I knew that she was frustrated and me being frustrated on top of everything was not going to help diffuse the situation.
“More than half of your pieces had already sold before the whole scene with Harvey even happened,” I informed her calmly. “So, if people had only shown interest because of the scene that happened, most of your collection would have still been in the gallery. Instead, the pieces were flying off of the walls faster than we could get them down. The only way that something like that would happen, whether I had helped things along or not, is if you had real talent. It’s not like I hired the people to come to the show. Those were real art fans and collectors who wanted beautiful pieces to add to their collection and were willing to spend their own money to buy them. Give yourself more credit than that.”
I could see a smile beginning to play on Talia’s face, much like the sun peeking through storm clouds. But, it was so fleeting. Her eyebrows quickly furrowed and she frowned.
“Well, if all of that is true, why would you intervene and orchestrate things? Why not let things happen naturally and if I succeeded or failed, it would be because of my own doing? Didn’t you realize that if I ever found out what you did, I would be embarrassed, that it would be a huge blow to my pride?”
I let out a deep, long sigh.
“To be honest, I hadn’t even really thought of that,” I admitted. “My only thought was doing all that I could possibly do to make you happy and keep you happy. I didn’t expect that my feelings for you would grow as quickly as they did. But, they did. And I didn’t want to hide from my feelings anymore. I didn’t want to stop myself from doing the things that I thought would make you happy. And it worked. Seeing you smile, so full of light every day, fed my soul. I guess instead of wondering how things might end badly, my focus became how to make you happy and keep you that way forever.”
Talia nodded slowly as she let the weight of my words sink in. I wasn’t quite sure what to say after that or what was going to happen.
“I believe you about wanting to make me happy,” said Talia after a few minutes. “You have been so amazing toward me and I have been so happy and satisfied staying with you on the island. But, I’m not sure if I believe that you believe that I am really a talented artist. I just can’t be sure because of how things went. And I’m sorry for that.”
“It’s okay,” I said nodding. “In hindsight, I see how me keeping the truth from you would make you feel like I didn’t really believe in you as an artist. But, I really do. And I will do everything in my power to make sure that I prove myself to you. You can trust me, Talia. Completely.”
She looked at me as if she were trying to decide whether to believe me or not.
“So, what now? Where do we go from here?” I asked, almost afraid of her answer.
“Where do you want to go?” she asked quietly, taking a sip from her cold cup of coffee.
“Well, I want to go back to my island,” I said. “But, I don’t want to go back alone. I want you to come with me.”
I held my breath, hoping that she would agree to come back with me. I knew that there was a chance that she would refuse, that she would tell me that too much had happened and that she needed some time to think. We hadn’t talked about our arrangement since we had agreed not to, but the time was close for us to start talking about how we would part ways. And now that there was no art show for her to prepare for, I would understand if she decided to go back home.
I hoped against hope that that wasn’t the case, but I had to wait for her to speak.
After what felt like an eternity, she finally spoke.
“I’ll go back to the island with you,” she said. “But, that doesn’t mean that I’m not still upset with how everything happened. I want to know that I can trust you, but I’m not sure that I can completely. One thing that has been really bugging me is about you lying about being a billionaire. Why would you lie about that?”
I shook my head, staring down at the table.
“I hadn’t planned on lying about that,” I said. “It’s just-when I saw you, I liked you. A lot. And I wanted you to like me, too. Me. Not my money or any of that. I’m used to people like me for my position or the material things that I have. I wanted to see if you would like me for the man that I am, not for what I may have or may be able to do for you.”
She hesitated before answering.
“I guess I can understand that somewhat,” she said. “But, I need you to do me a favor. If there is any hopes of us being able to recover from this, I need you to promise me something. From hereo on out, I need you to be completely honest with me about everything.”
“Okay,” I said with no hesitation.
“No, I really need for you to understand what I’m saying. I don’t want any lies, whether it’s you telling me untruths or hiding things from me for any reason. I need to know that you’re going to be an open book so that I can trust the things that you say as being sincere. I need to know without a shadow of a doubt that you are a man of integrity.”
I nodded profusely.
“Yes. Yes. I will do whatever it takes to make you know that you can trust me.”
She smiled that sweet smile of hers, the one that eminated from her eyes and warmed my heart.
“Good,” she said. “Now kiss me.”
I obliged her, planting a juicy kiss on her perfect lips
Chapter 17 – Talia
“Are you going to sleep all day, sleepyhead?” asked Blake, wrapping his arms around me and kissing me softly on the neck. I moaned happily, smiling at this early morning playfulness.
“I just might,” I said, leaning into his embrace.
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” he said. “We’ve got a full day ahead of us, so sleep can wait.”
Blake hopped out of bed. I pulled my pillow over my head and moaned again. We had stayed in the city for the past week taking in the sights of the city. So far, we had visited a museum, dined at some of the finest restaurant, and had even taken a helicopter ride over the city. It was all romantic and exciting. But, that morning, all I wanted to do was lay in bed. I wanted to lay there and do nothing all day but bask in Blake and his tender affection. I was starting to get used to being around him all of the time. I had fleeting moments where I thought that I never wanted to leave his side.
Even though I had enjoyed the sights of the city, I felt distracted by Blake. We would be listening to the tour guide talk about some ancient artifact and its history and I would be staring at Blake, his broad shoulders high and wide. He would smile that charming smile of his, the one that took made me lose focus on everything else, and all I would want is him.
So, I decided to see if we could cut out the obtrusive activity and cut to the part that I wanted anyway: him and I getting sweaty in the huge bed.
“I might make it worth your while if you decide that you want to join me and stay in bed today,” I said, running my fingers around my hard nipples. Blake paused for a moment, staring at me playing with my breast, and gulped hard. I could see his breath quickening.
H
e shook his head as if he were shaking himself out of a daze.
“No, I have a really great day planned,” he said, pumping up as if he had been standing in lava. “I want to make sure that we have all the time that we need.”
I yelled out of frustration, ruffling my own hair. Before I had a chance to get up, my phone rang. I leaned over and picked it up from the side table. It was Linda.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Oh, hey, Talia! I’m glad I had a chance to reach you. I didn’t get a chance to thank you for being a part of the showcase…”
“Thank you,” I said, drily. “What can I do for you?”
“Well, I know that things didn’t go quite the way that we had planned them,” she said, nervously. “But, you were such a hit the other night that I was hoping that you might agree to be a part of the next showing. It’s not for three months, but…”
“No,” I said flatly, cutting her off.
“No? Are you sure? It would be perfect to follow up the success of this show with another soon…”
“No,” I said again, irritation in my tone. “I think that I need to take a break from art right now and figure out what I really want to do. Thanks for the offer, though.”
“But…”
I hung up before she had a chance to say anything else. I rolled my eyes and tossed my phone to the side.
“Who was that?” asked Blake from the bathroom.
“Someone trying to sell me something,” I answered as innocently as possible. I felt bad lying to Blake, but I just didn’t want to get into it with him. I still wasn’t fully convinced that the success of the show had been based on anything more than Blake paying people to play their role. I wasn’t sure how long it would take for me to live down the embarrassment of that moment, if I even could at all. At the very least, the blow to my confidence that I had taken was one that I was sure would take some time for me to get over.
I had had enough run ins with gallery owners and people who put on shows to know how it went. If they liked you, they would put you in their show, fully confident that it would prove to be beneficial to both them and the artist. Otherwise, they would put people in shows for ulterior motives. I had seen a girl be listed as part of a show because her father was a famous artist. Her art, on the other hand, looked like something that might come out of a kindergarten classroom. Everyone smiled and nodded at her when they passed her work. And she stood next to her work, chest out, proud of her work, egged on by the lying patrons of the show. I remember watching her. It was like watching a trainwreck. And the same people who smiled in her face and “oo”ed and “ah”ed over her work would walk away laughing, rolling their eyes, or making some other off color remark about her obvious lack of talent.
I was so embarrassed for her. I remember praying in that moment that nothing like that would ever happen to me.
And yet, it had.
Despite Blake’s many attempts to allay my fears, I couldn’t help but think that the only reason that Linda had invited me to be a part of her show was because of Blake’s influence and money. If he had not intervened, I’m sure that Linda wouldn’t have given me so much as a passing glance, let alone oggled my work like it was the best thing since sliced bread.
I winced remembering the way that she had reacted when she saw my work. I was so eager to eat up her compliment that it hadn’t even dawned on me that she might have been insincere.
And there I was, on the receiving end of what I saw that poor girl with the talented artistic father go through. So, turning Linda down for a future show, sure to be yet another embarrassment, was definitely the right thing for me to do.
I got out of bed and threw on a loose pair of jeans and a sweater. I knew that whatever plans that Blake had for us, I needed to be comfortable. He was going all out with his date ideas. I could tell that he was trying to impress me. I definitely appreciated the effort, but I was ready to head back to the island.
We spent the day at the zoo, watching all of the animals doing just about nothing in their cages.
“Great,” I said aloud. “I’m at the zoo watching animals do exactly what I want to be doing: laying somewhere relaxing.”
Blake laughed and pulled me toward him playfully.
“Does this mean that you’re ready for the vacation to be over?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, nodding profusely. “It’s been really fun and all, but I’m ready for things to get back to normal. Well, as normal as they have been for a while.”
“Yeah, I’m about ready to head back myself,” he admitted. “I’ll let the pilot know that we’re ready to fly out and we can leave tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I said, feeling a sense of relief at the idea of heading back to the island where it could just be Blake and I enjoying each other’s company. I wasn’t sure if I was going to use the studio to make any art just yet. I needed some time to clear my head from the messiness that had happened, first with Harvey and being kicked out of his show and the dramatic scene that happened at Linda’s showing. Or Blake’s showing. Since he was the owner of the gallery, technically it was his showing. I was the only one who wasn’t let in on the secret.
When we got back to the suite, I started to feel sorry for myself. I felt like I was running with my tail tucked between my legs. There was no way that I would ever be respected as a real artist. I excused myself and went into the bathroom and cried. I didn’t want Blake to know that I was still so upset. He seemed to have moved past it. But, then again, it wasn’t his dream that had been dashed to pieces. It was mine. And the fact that the man that I loved had played a part in it all made it that much worse.
We didn’t talk much for the rest of the night. Blake put in a movie and stared at the screen most of the time. Either he was really into the movie or he was deep in thought.
“I’m going to head out for a bit,” said Blake, getting up abruptly and walking out of the door.
“Where are you going?” I asked, the door closing before I could even get out the last word. I thought about calling him on his cell phone to find out where he was headed off to, but I thought that maybe he needed some time to be alone and think things through. Maybe he needed some air. We had been spending a lot of time together. I can imagine that for a man who went out of his way to set up his life on an island, being around someone constantly might be a lot. Or maybe he was rethinking whether or not he even wanted me on the island. Maybe things had gone too far and he needed to figure out a way to bow out of the situation gracefully without hurting my feelings.
My thoughts raced for a while as I imagined every possibility of where Blake had gone and what he might have been thinking. I didn’t even know that I had dozed off until I heard the door of the suite slam shut.
“Wha-what time is it?” I asked, groggily.
“It’s time for you to get a real wake up call,” said Blake. He dropped a pile of newspapers on the bed next to me.
“What’s all this?” I asked, still struggling to wake up.
“Look at them,” he said, standing back with his hands jammed in his pocket. He had a self-satisfied grin smeared across his face.
I picked up the papers and tried to see what he was showing me. My eyes tuned into my name on the front of one of the papers. I looked closer at what it was saying.
“New artist wins the hearts of all,” I read aloud.
“And that’s ony one of them. Take a look at the others,” he said.
I picked up one after another.
New Artist on the Rise.
A Breath of Fresh Air.
All headlines that were about me.
“I know that you probably think that I paid all of them to say nice things about you, but that would be a lot for even me,” he said. “Take a look at this one. Sean Rapport, THE Sean Rapport who has been a critic for all of the major shows was there last night. I saw him, but didn’t want to point him out. I was upset that he had left early, thinking that maybe he wasn’t as impressed as I would have
hoped that he would have been. He left long before Harvey even got there. Read what he says.”
I looked over his review silently.
“For the first time in a very long time, I found myself intrigued by Talia Romano, a new artist who emerged for the very first time in this showing. I would have thought, with her attention to detail and broad creativity that was clearly depicted in each piece, that she was an artist with many years of experience. I found out that she was brand new to the professional art world and became intrigued. I went home with two of her pieces and have proudly displayed them in my own gallery. They are already receiving rave reviews and I have had many offers from art collectors and connoseiurs who wish to purchase them. I graciously decline, of course, as I know that this artist will be one that will be sought after for many years to come. I want to make sure that when, not if, her name begins resounding from the lips of those held in high esteem in the art world, that I can proudly say that I currently have pieces from her very first showing. It will be a proud moment and I look forward to having it. Anyone who knows anything about art should look for this spectacular artist as she will definitely be one that history remembers as one of the most talented artists that ever lived.”
I read it over and over, tears beginning to well up in my eyes. His words were so beautiful. It was almost like I was reading it about one of my favorite artists. I couldn’t believe that the words had been penned about me and my art.
“Thank you,” I said, overcome with emotion. I lept out of bed and threw my arms around Blake’s neck, holding onto him.
“Don’t thank me,” he said gently. “Thank yourself for staying true to your craft and knocking the socks off of the world.”
I paused for a moment, thinking.
“You didn’t have anything to do with this?” I asked, giving him a sideway glance. “Like, you didn’t give him a bajillion dollars to write this, did you?”
Blake guffawed loudly.
