“Thanks so much for being here,” I said. “I wasn’t sure if you guys were going to show up or not.”
“You did a good job,” he said. “I can tell that you really put some time and effort into this.” He looked over my shoulder at Graham. “Hi there, Graham,” he said.
They shook hands. “It’s really something, isn’t it?” Graham said. The four of us stood there, looking at the sculpture.
“I like the symbolism,” my mother said. “I like that you’ve got two creatures that are generally considered enemies, yet here they are, in love.”
“Well, I don’t know if they’re in love,” my father said. He cleared his throat. “Regardless, it’s impressive work.”
I could tell by his tone that he wasn’t just saying it, that he actually was impressed with what I had done. And that made me feel better than any of the other compliments I’d received so far.
“That really means a lot to me, Dad.” There was an ache in my throat and I tried to swallow it away, not wanting to cry.
My mom spied Claudia near the back of the gallery and wanted to go talk to her, so Graham and I stayed behind as my parents walked off.
“They came,” I said. That feeling in my chest had started to unknot, and I realized how nervous I’d been that they wouldn’t come. I exhaled. “And I think my dad actually liked it.”
“I’d say he did. And look,” Graham said, nodding.
I looked, unsure of what he was gesturing at. I didn’t see anything at first, or nothing out of the ordinary; just my sculpture there, a few people looking at it.
“What?” I asked.
“On the display cube.”
I looked again, squinting a little. And there, covering the price tag, was a sticker emblazoned with the word SOLD.
*****
We’d both gotten a little tipsy on the free champagne, but by the time we made it home late that night, the buzz had worn off and we were both mellow and happy. We undressed and climbed into bed. The art opening had gone successfully. In fact, it had been better than I even imagined.
“You’d think we were like Romeo and Juliet or something,” I said, “the way our parents were acting.” I felt a heaviness in my chest, though. Summer was going to be over soon; I’d be going back to school, which meant I’d be leaving the Cape. I knew people did long distance relationships sometimes, but I had gotten so used to seeing Graham every day. I didn’t want that to suddenly stop. “I’m going to miss you,” I said. “I really wish I didn’t have to go back to school.”
He stroked the side of my face. “Don’t say that. You’ve worked really hard to get where you are.”
“Well, then, I wish that you could come with me.”
He smiled. “Now that, that might be a bit more feasible.”
“Wait—what? You’d come with me? How would you do that?”
“I could open a shop in the city. On Point, the city version.”
“But what about the one here? You’d sell it?”
“Nah. Helena could run it, and it’s close enough I could come down a few times a month, even. Plus, it’s a lot slower here in the winter than it would be in the city.” He shrugged. “It was something I’d kind of been thinking about for a little while now. Expanding. I have been on the Cape here for most of my life, you know. I wouldn’t mind venturing to other parts of the world. Well, other parts of the state, as it would be in this case.”
“Wow.”
That was the last thing I’d been expecting him to say. Sure, the thought might have crossed my mind, but not as something I ever imagined would happen. But now that he’d said it, I started thinking how great that would be. And also crazy.
“I would be so happy if that happened,” I said. “But is that crazy? I mean, will people think we’re insane for doing something like this? We haven’t been together that long.”
“I don’t care,” he said. “It doesn’t matter to me what other people think.”
“But what if it doesn’t work out? Then you’ll have uprooted your whole life and opened a new business and—”
“Are you breaking up with me?”