“Oh, Alex. I’m so sorry.”
“Well, the good part is my schedule will clear up a bit. I was thinking about hopping on the jet and coming to see you.”
My insides warm, and it has nothing to do with the sip of hot chocolate I just took. But something doesn’t add up.
“Wait, what? I know your schedule. It doesn’t only consist of live events.”
“No, but I’ll ask Preston to move them around. I’d love to see you. I miss you like crazy. When I go to bed, when I wake up.”
My insides warm even more, and I’m so tempted to tell him to stamp all over his schedule just to spend time with me.
“But you’re flying to LA next, as far as I remember. You’re attending some important shows there. You can’t just hop on a plane and—I KNOW—gaaaaah!”
I finally realize what I can do to cheer him up. Unfortunately, I had a whole-body realization—I straightened with a start, jolting my cup. Half its contents landed on my sheet, the other half on my pillow.
“Summer?”
“I messed up my bed, but never mind. I had an idea. I could fly out to LA.”
“It’d be easier if I came to you, though. For you, I mean. In LA we’d have to be more careful. There are paps at every corner.”
I accidentally sat on the drenched part of the bed and immediately leap to my feet. “We’ll manage. It was getting dull around here without any James Bond-ish missions.”
“You’d do that?”
“Yeah. Olivia won’t be happy that I’m taking off again, but I have so much accrued time that she’ll have no choice.”
“I’ll talk to Preston, if you’re sure.”
“I’m sure. I’ll e-mail Olivia right away, tell her I want time off starting on Wednesday. I could stay in LA until Sunday.”
“I’d love it if you could stay with me for the entire tour, but I know that’d be pushing it with the paps, not to mention your job. Summer? This means the world to me.”
My insides flutter for the rest of our conversation, and even while I change the bedsheets afterward. I’m going to see him in two days. That’s so much better than two weeks.
I’m so proud of the way I just up and offered to go see him. The old Summer would have been afraid he’d think I’m suffocating or clingy, but Alex appreciates it. He appreciates me. I don’t know that there is a better feeling in the world. LA, here I come!
***
I downplayed Olivia’s possible reaction when speaking to Alex, because I didn’t want him to worry. But even though I have more accrued time off than anyone else, Olivia scowls and shakes her head when she corners me.
“You want to take time off, again?”
We’re on the ground floor of the gallery, in the back, packing up the Monet collection. It’s going back to Paris today. I’m in the supplies corner, searching for Bubble Wrap.
“It’s just three days, for personal reasons.”
“First volunteering, now personal reasons.”
“It’s unavoidable, plus, I don’t have any groups scheduled this week.” Even though it’s mid-August, and the constant stream of tourists means we have a lot of tours scheduled, Diana and Jacob agreed to jump in for me.
“I get the sense you’re not prioritizing your job anymore.”
I stop in the act of searching for Bubble Wrap. I’m acutely aware of Diana and Jacob watching us.
“It’s my right to take time off,” I say calmly. “Since you opened this gallery, I took less time off than anyone else, including you.”
Maybe that’s the problem in the first place. Olivia is so used to me being here, that she takes the hours I put in for granted.