Chapter 7
RAINE
Granted, if I’d finished my safe, boring-to-me major, I’d have had a job a long time ago. One with benefits and a nice salary that let me have an apartment with only one or two roommates.
But this painting—well, not this painting but one in a similar series—it changed me.
I take a few steps back and drop to the floor to look at it.
That’s the thing with Monet’s works: they can be enjoyed in so many ways.
From below the middle, it’s like you’re part of the painting.
It’s my favorite way to take the whole thing in.
But you can also stand back and have more of a scenic perspective.
Then when you’re done with taking it in that way, you can study it up close.
Examine each of the brush strokes. Marvel at the masterful use of colors.
And here, there’s no guard telling me to back up. I could touch it.
Holy shit. I could touch it. Actually touch it. No, it’s not that I could touch it, it’s that I should. As the curator for the collection, I will have to touch it. Take it down, photograph it. Catalog it.
So many things run through my brain at once. None of them are coming out.
“Miss Fischer, are you feeling okay? Are you ill?” Their voices circle behind me, and I shake my head.
“No, I’m good.” I stand up, my calves twitching.
“Whoa.” I grab the side of the desk next to me.
“I told you I’m a lightweight. A glass of wine and a sip of the Dragon Ale—guess that’s all it takes.
But no, that’s not why I sat on the floor.
I’m sorry; it was unprofessional of me. But this one of Monet’s Water Lilies—it’s similar to one of my favorite paintings in the whole world.
Can you imagine coming through the door and your favorite thing in the whole world is there?
And you weren’t expecting it? What’s your favorite thing? ” I point to Evander.
“Flying,” he says.
“Well, that’s kind of hard to surprise you with. Can you think of something else?”
“Well then, 1950 Dragon Ale,” he says.
“Dragon Ale?” Kieren asks him.
“It was the first thing I could think of after flying.”
“Okay, well, what about you?” I ask Kieren.
“My little sister, Aisling.”
“Right, okay, so both of you picture Aisling”—I point to Evander—“holding a bottle of Dragon Ale. Wait, how old is she?”
“Younger than me. She’s at the academy—university. But grown,” Kieren says.
“Okay, that’s good. I thought that might be weird if she was a young child.” My hand rests on the back of the sofa.
But Evander’s shaking his head. “It’s no good. Aisling holding my favorite bottle of Dragon Ale. She’d make me do something awful to get it. She’s little, but she can be vicious to anyone but Keiren.”
“True. But it would be funny for the rest of us, though.” Kieren’s laughing, and when he does, his whole face lightens.
I have to look away from my boss. Because that’s what he is, my incredibly handsome boss.
A boss with one of Monet’s Water Lilies paintings in his office.
My favorite quote from Monet is, “Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.” My boss doesn’t seem to know art, but he has love for his sister.
I hope I can make him feel the same way about the masterpiece before him.
I know a lot of wealthy people collect them for their monetary value. Art is so much more than an investment.
“But I see where you’re going. And it must have been a shock to your system,” Kieren says.
“Yes.” It’s taking every bit of strength to not run out of the room and text Wren. She knows what this means to me. And even on the other side of the planet, she’d understand.
“It’s obvious how much this job means to you,” Evander states.
“It does mean a lot.” But he has no idea.
Really, I have no idea how I’m here. Why did they pick me out of what must have been thousands of applicants.
My mother was right. Why me? Why me, indeed?
But I’m just so grateful. I’m going to do the best job I’ve ever done.
“I promise to do my best, and no more sitting on floors.”
“It’s getting late. We can do the NDA in the morning.
The legality of it would be questionable if it was known we gave you alcohol and then made you sign something.
” Evander places the electronic tablet in the middle of Kieren’s extraordinarily tidy desk, next to the computer the steward took away from the dining room table.
“I’ll call someone to take you to your room.
Unless you think you can find it on your own? ”
“Up the stairs to the fourth floor, second room on the right. I can find it.”
Kieren’s scowl returns. “Leopold put you on the second floor.”
“But my suitcases are on the fourth floor.”
“You’re on the second floor,” he says in a quick burst.
It makes my hackles go up. It’s a feeling that’s gotten me into lots of trouble before.
I don’t like being told what to do. It’s one of the reasons I changed my major without my parents knowing.
And by the time they found out, it was too late to switch it back.
And they took their money. I’m one semester away from a degree they say will never amount to anything, so why should I ever finish it, anyway?
That’s how I ended up living in my sister’s crash pad in NYC.
Did I lie on my resumé about graduating?
Yes. Yes, I did. And if they’d wanted to, they could have looked it up.
But when I’m done with this six months, I’ll have enough money not only to finish my degree but to get an MFA.
One that, with this experience, will allow me to land a great job.
But maybe not better than being able to look at a Monet Water Lilies painting every day.
“Don’t argue with your boss about something that doesn’t make a difference. Save your objections for something you have conviction about.” It’s my dad’s voice in my head this time. And I’m going to listen to it.
“Second floor. Got it. I’ll go get my suitcases and bring them down.”
“I’ll send Percy to get them,” Evander says.
“Right.” I’m beginning to not believe that this Percy even exists. It’s possible he’s just an imaginary friend of those who live in the castle. I hold in my laugh. “And in the morning, after I sign the papers, one of you will show me the collection?”
Evander nods. “Yes, we will make sure you see the collection. Breakfast is served in the dining room. It’s less formal, though.”
“Got it!” I nod. I need to go. The two of them have a look that says they need to talk, and it’s obvious it’s going to be about me. “I’ll show myself out.” I step out into the hallway and smack myself in the face with the curtain. “Oh, that’s there.” I smooth it away from my shoulder.
“Yes, it’s kept closed even when I’m in my office. I’m sure one of the staff closed it after we came in,” Kieren says.
“It’s really something. And they’re all different, and so large.” I push the curtain to the side.
“Yes.” Kieren glances up at them too.
“One more thing, Miss Fischer,” Evander says.
“The doors behind the curtain are off-limits,” Kieren finishes for Evander.
“Off-limits. Got it. Anywhere else? Not that I’m going to go prying open doors.”
“Of course. No, just behind the rest of the curtain.”
“Good. See you in the morning.” I give an awkward wave at the bottom of the steps and slowly make my way up the stairs.
There’s so much to take in that my senses fire on overload. Every detail of the wood on the way up has me hanging next to the wall. At the top, I can’t resist going to the landing at the top of the stairs and taking another look at the mosaic.
They are still in the foyer. Their heads are close together, but the acoustics of the dome are like the whispering gallery effect, where you can hear clearly because the sound waves travel along the walls at odd angles.
“She’s smart. Make sure you get her to sign tomorrow. Don’t touch her. And find Roark. They might have gotten it fucking right this time,” Kieren says. His voice is as clear as if he was whispering in my ear.
I take a quick step back. My heart thumps in my throat. What the heck does that mean?