Chapter 69
ACTUALLY, IT WAS A GIFT from the Harrisons.
When I wake up the next day, Lynne’s words are still going through my mind. She called this morning about driving Hailey to school, and I should have asked her then. But I was asleep when the phone rang. I could barely mumble, “Thanks.”
If it was a gift from the Harrisons, the painting must have come from his gallery. Wait a minute: The night of the gallery party, I secretly took pictures of everything on Ben’s bulletin board. Could that be where I saw it?
I check my phone. Lots of photos of paintings. But Lynne’s canvas is not there.
I google some of Ben’s previous exhibits.
In July, he had an exhibit called Recent Landscapes.
That’s where Lynne’s landscape would have been listed.
I scan through the catalog. It’s not there.
Like every gallery owner these days, Ben lists all his artworks online—Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube.
His social media team has built up an impressive following.
Catalogs have glossy photos of paintings, listed by number.
If you want to know more about the work (artist, materials used, dimensions, price), you need to go to the pages in the back.
I do. I notice one odd thing: Painting #43, The Boardwalk by Madelon Strauss, leads directly to #45, a charming watercolor, Nantucket, Midmorning by Richard Holt. But there’s no #44. And no explanation.
Another surprise: when I see the actual prices. All the paintings in the show range from ten to fifty thousand dollars.
Ben gave Lynne a painting that may have been worth thousands of dollars?
I’m sitting here gobsmacked.
I don’t even know what a gob is. But if I ever felt like I was suddenly smacked by one, it’s right now.