One

“I’VE BEEN LED TO BELIEVE that you have created works so far beyond what is on display here that we won’t see them for twenty years,” Bob Bowers said as we toured around gallery.

Geez! What does the man want? I’d just completed a massive outdoor mural painting at SCU and the 8x4-foot rendering was sitting in the middle of the gallery with a $15,000 reserve bid on it. It was the night before Kate’s and my first gallery opening and we were previewing it with family and friends. But Bob Bowers was the art critic who almost single-handedly launched my career. I was still exhausted, but I owed the guy big-time. I took a deep breath.

“Oh, I’ve got some things that will be coming out before that,” I said. “That piece titled Pet? It’s part of a work that’s as big as the mural rendering and will be the center of my next exhibition.” I was damned proud of the painting I’d done of Amy, Sonia, and Rio and managed to get it in the catalogue for this show.

“And you, Katarina,” Bob continued as he turned to Kate, “have an amazing hand. I wouldn’t be surprised if that painting of the jeweler’s hands brought in more than any of Tony’s paintings. It’s stunning. Who is the model?”

“My mother,” Kate said. “She’s right over there. She’d be happy to tell you all about what she’s doing in the painting.” It wasn’t the same piece as the one that was over Gypsy’s mantel, but Kate had done another piece featuring her mother in her workshop that was more than stunning. The love and care that Gypsy was taking in pounding out a silver choker was matched by the love and care Kate had taken in painting it.

“Two youngsters have burst on the Seattle art scene with the impact of Kurt Cobain on Seattle music. If you miss this exhibition, you miss the future of Seattle art,” Mom read from the newspaper on Friday morning. Bob Bowers’s review of our opening was filled with accolades. It included the history of our work back to the Rhapsody Suite and my mural at PCAD last year. The opening tonight would be by invitation only. The public would be held outside the gallery and admitted just one or two at a time as invited guests left.

“I’m going back to bed now,” I said. “Wake me tomorrow morning when it’s all over, ‘kay?” I left the room. I really did want to sleep through the whole thing. I remember how excited I was last July when I talked to Clarice about it the first time. It had been almost a year and so much had happened that I didn’t care anymore. I wanted to hide my head under the covers and just sleep through it.

“Lover? Nap time is over, sweetie.” I opened my eyes slowly. I was sandwiched between Melody and Lissa. What a nice way to wake up.

“Where’s Kate?” I asked.

“She’s down with Wendy. I think she feels the same way you do. I don’t know if it was a good idea to have you sharing a debut exhibition,” Lissa said. “I hope she doesn’t feel like she’s second fiddle.”

“Oh geez, no!” I moaned. “I’d never have even finished the wall if it wasn’t for Kate. I need to go to her.”

“Here,” Melody said. “Take your clothes with you. You can dress together and commiserate.”

I went to Wendy’s room and knocked. Wendy came to the door and looked to see who it was before she opened the door fully. She gave me a relieved smile. Kate was sitting in her panties, staring at the mirror. Wendy pushed me toward her.

“Hey, Kitten,” I said. “Want to run away to Tahiti with me?”

“Yes please,” she sighed, leaning back against me. “Can we take our lovers with us and hide out down there for a few years?”

“Sounds like a dream come true.” I leaned over and kissed the top of her head, massaging her shoulders. She touched my hands and pulled them down her front until I’d cupped her breasts. She sighed.

“I still remember the first time,” she said, leaning back against me.

“I will never forget, but you can always remind me.” We looked at each other’s eyes in the mirror. “What are you wearing tonight, love?”

“I thought I’d toss on a T-shirt and my bib overalls,” Kate said.

“Going to call maximum attention to yourself, huh?”

“Oh. I didn’t think about that. Maybe the trio would all dress the same. I should wear the dress that Melody made for me. Help me put it on?” I picked the purple cocktail dress up from the bed and held it.

“This looks familiar.”

“She used the dress I wore to the party last spring as a pattern” Kate said. “She’s so sweet.” I zipped up the back of the silky dress then kissed her bare shoulder. “I can’t wait for you to take it off of me.” I turned to kiss her—so soft and sweet and gentle.

After the dedication of the wall and the accolades that accompanied it, the gallery opening was anticlimactic. Poor Tony. I got glad-handed and Clarice took inquiries for both Kate and me to do various commissions. My oils and acrylics were drawing higher bids than Kate’s charcoals and pastels, but her oils were creating a real stir. We’ve got such different styles that there wasn’t much crossover between the people who wanted her paintings and the people who wanted mine.

They had priced things differently than what I thought was going to happen. Clarice and I had talked about the value of our paintings and placed them in the two-to-five thousand range, depending on the medium, size, and subject. My two commissioned portraits had been done for between twenty-five hundred and three thousand, so I figured that would be a good expectation. The Gallery had set “reserve bids.” If a patron wanted to buy a piece, she had to make an offer that was at least as high as the reserve bid. If another patron offered more, then there was an auction. The auction was held in the gallery director’s office and I saw a steady stream of people going in. Occasionally a gallery runner would come out and place a “sold” tag next to a painting.

Chapter 2 »