Ashlynn didn’t seem sorry to see him go, but Lauren offered a little wave.
Once they got to the door, Willow pushed out a breath of relief. Still not fully dressed, she didn’t accompany him outside.
“I’m sorry about… 75 percent of tonight,” she told him.
“Hey, it would’ve come up eventually.”
“You’re the best,” she informed him, flashing him an exaggeratedly moony smile.
Leaning in to give her a brief kiss, he said, “Right back at ya.”
Grabbing him by the shirt, she pulled him in for a longer, lingering kiss, then she released him and stepped back inside. “Bye,” she said, with a little teasing wave.
Grinning like an idiot, he just watched until she shut the door.
---
“Explain this to me again.”
Ethan was lying on the couch in his apartment, popping chocolate covered raisins into his mouth.
Glancing up from her laptop to look at the television, she s
aid, “They went to law school together and they both liked each other, but of course neither of them knew, because why would two attractive, smart people with a lot in common like each other? And then her more assertive bestie, that’s Kate Hudson, was all, ‘if you’re not going to ask her out, you should ask me out—”
Rolling his eyes lightly, Ethan interrupted, “No, not this horrible, horrible movie—that internship thing you’re doing over there.”
“Oh,” she said, her eyes going back to her laptop. Her finger moved across the touchpad and she brought up the email she had just received, the one that distracted Ethan from the glory of their current chick flick. “Okay, that’s a little less convoluted.”
“Go figure.”
“Only a little though,” she added. “So, I didn’t really mention it, because… you know, obvious reasons, but since I didn’t want to go to New York but I also didn’t want to lose out on a great opportunity, I decided to try to use my offer to work for Celine Holland as leverage and get a position here. It hasn’t resulted in a bunch of gallery owners leaping at the chance, though.”
Cracking a smile, he said, “Their loss.”
She smiled and rolled her eyes. “Sure. But I did some digging and found a Chicago based gallery owner who has bad blood with Celine Holland. On a chance, I emailed her with the same goal in mind, thinking, hey, you never know, maybe she dislikes Celine enough to want to steal away her intern?” Tapping the touchpad with emphasis, Willow looked back at him and grinned. “And what do you know, she emailed me back saying she would love to meet with me, and I have an interview with her on Thursday.”
Grinning, Ethan said, “That was smart, and that’s incredible.”
“It’s just an interview though, so you never know. But I was talking to Kendra at work, even though I hate talking to her about stuff because she’s such a gossip. Anyway, since she sticks her nose in everyone’s business, she told me the owner of our restaurant has a sister-in-law who is big on the New York art scene now, but she used to live in Chicago and she’s bound to still have plenty of contacts here. So I’m thinking if this one doesn’t pan out, maybe I can even ask Aaron and see if he might know of any leads. Worst case scenario he doesn’t, but… I’m feeling pretty optimistic about things. I think it’s all going to work out.”
“You’ll be queen of the Chicago art scene in no time,” he teased.
Rolling her eyes indulgently, she said, “I don’t know about that, but eventually, that’s obviously going to happen.”
“Literally the only possible outcome.”
Sighing, she leaned back against the couch. “And then I’ll whisk you away to museums you have no interest in going to and introduce you to artists you’ll have no desire to meet.”
“At least a few of whom I’ll be convinced want to sleep with you,” he put in.
“Obviously. The dead ones will be your favorite; no threat. You’re gonna love Jan. He keeps me hooked, but he can never steal me away.”
“Jan?”
“Jan van Eyck? He was a Flemish painter who left little secret messages in his paintings. Anyway, this one painting of his, I can show it to you later, but I always feel like he must’ve hidden messages that nobody has figured out yet. And I know it’s probably dumb, I’ve looked at it myself a few dozen times and for literally hundreds of years it’s been around, so the likelihood that I’d find something no one else has is ludicrous, but… I don’t know. I always look anyway.”
“You’ll have to show me,” he said, smiling tenderly as he reached over to rub her shoulder with his thumb.