Second Chances (9 page)

David hugged her fiercely. His strong arms were warm and rigid around her, and she breathed in his spicy masculine scent before he let her go.

“I’m afraid we’re running a bit behind schedule, so it’s going to be a little longer. Can you stay?” He motioned toward the rows of seats near the stage.

“Sure, take your time.” Kristin settled comfortably in one of the theater chairs a few rows back from the front as David leapt onto the stage.

David’s performance mesmerized her. He transformed himself so completely into his character, and then so easily went back to being David again.

The group laughed and joked, but then listened intently to what he had to say. His experience and talent had apparently garnered him a lot of respect in his career. The other actors working with him seemed to be in awe of him. Time went so fast watching the interaction with the group.

Nothing should ever ruin what he had worked so hard to build.

Kristin bent and pulled her sketchbook out of her bag, deciding to use the time to her advantage. The chance to sketch the gothic architecture of the inside of the theater with such good lighting had never presented itself to her before, having been here only a few times to attend plays in the evening.

The countless items she kept stuffed inside the book tried to fall out as she opened the cover and retrieved a pencil. Her gaze roamed around the room as she tried to decide what area had the best lines and lighting to explore, but found her gaze riveted on David instead.

The slim dark blue jeans and fitted black T-shirt David wore made him look like a teenager, especially when he ruffled his hair and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Kristin’s pulse quickened as her thoughts turned to what it might be like to run her hands over his taught chest, or her fingers through his hair.

Every inch of him was captured by her pencil, which moved swiftly over the paper, guided by some unseen force. When her gaze returned to his face, his eyes locked on hers and heat rushed to her cheeks as she realized she had been caught staring at him yet again.

Looking quickly away, she tried to concentrate on the drawing in her lap.
Damn girl. Friends, remember
?
Just friends
. When she managed to look at him again, David was still staring at her, a gleam of interest in his dark eyes.

He smiled, and then made ridiculous faces at her, causing her to cover her mouth with her hand to stifle a fit of laughter. David winked at her, then turned his attention back to the rehearsal, leaving Kristin to her drawing. Soon, the actors broke to leave, and she shut her sketchbook and stuffed it hurriedly inside her bag.

David jumped off the stage and jogged over to her. “I hope you weren’t too bored. We ran a little longer than I thought we would.”

She hadn’t told David anything about her art, though she wasn’t really sure why. Actually, she hadn’t shared her artistic ability with anyone. The self confidence her mother had spent so many years dissolving saw to that. Even James had been kept somewhat separate from that side of her life.

Celia sniffed.
Was she crying
? “I’m sorry to bother you, Kristin. But I have a problem here.”

Celia didn’t upset very easily, and there was hardly a thing at the gallery she wasn’t qualified to handle. “What’s wrong?”

“Johnathan Bledsloe, the artist scheduled for an opening next week, wants to cancel his show. Apparently, he has a better offer from a larger gallery.”

Trepidation skipped along Kristin’s spine. “But we’ve already printed the invitations, and booked the caterers. He can’t back out now!” After juggling the books to find the money for this opening, Kristin had counted on the commissions from this artist’s sales to pay some of the other bills.

“I know that, and I’ve done my best to explain that to him, but he refuses to listen to me.” Celia sniffed again.

“He’s actually being quite beastly to me, and I think you should get here right away.” Celia’s lowered voice gave her a clue the man was near.

Kristin took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Don’t let him leave.” She hung up and walked back to David.

“There’s a situation with one of the artists at the gallery. He has poor Celia almost reduced to tears, so I have to go back.” Overwhelmed, Kristin hunched her shoulders, raw disappointment a bitter taste in her mouth. “Do you want to reschedule?”

David glanced at his watch. “We could probably still make the movie, and then just get something to eat afterwards. I can ride back to the gallery with you and wait, if you’d like.”

~~~

Kristin joined Celia and the stout bloke in the gallery lobby, as David headed toward her office. He plopped Kristin’s bag casually into one of the chairs and walked around to sit in the large chair behind the desk. As David sat, he surveyed the room.

The walls were a creamy yellow color, with white trim, offset by navy carpet. An image of Kristin sitting behind the large mahogany desk flashed through his mind, her small frame dwarfed by the piece of furniture, and the corners of his mouth lifted into a smile. There was also a computer, lots of filing cabinets, a mirror, and a few pieces of art on the walls.

There weren’t many personal items in the office.
Odd
.
Most people made their workspaces reflect feelings of comfort and home.
There were two framed photos on the desk. One was a picture of Kristin and the woman he recognized as her friend Ingrid Pierce.

The other was a picture of Kristin and a man David didn’t recognize. He picked up the photo, realizing it must be of Kristin’s late husband. James’ closely cropped blond hair and gray eyes were a stark contrast to Kristin’s fair skin and dark coloring.

James’s arms were draped around Kristin’s shoulders, and his large arms almost swallowed her inside his embrace. Her eyes danced with laughter, and David wondered what could have made her smile so brightly right then.

That smile lifted his heart in his chest. It had become a regular part of his day this past week, a part he had come to depend on for his own happiness.

He sighed and set the photo back on the desk.

Raised voices sounded from outside the office and he walked to the door, peering around it out into the lobby.

The angry artist stood with his back to the office and shouted at some poor soul on the other end of a cell phone. Kristin stood in front of the angry man and glanced over his shoulder at David. She shrugged helplessly, mouthing the words
I’m sorry
.

He smiled and returned the shrug before he turned back to the office interior.

David started back toward the desk, and he felt the hard edge of the door push into his back, forcing him awkwardly into the chair where he’d set Kristin’s bag. The purse toppled to the floor, scattering the contents everywhere on the carpet.

“I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” Celia clapped her hand over her mouth.

David straightened up and grinned at the assistant. “Quite all right. Aye, no broken legs.”

“I came in to get a copy of the contract, and now I’ve made a mess.” Celia stooped and began picking up the items that had spilled from Kristin’s bag.

Celia smiled weakly and moved toward one of the filing cabinets. She opened a drawer, flicking through each file swiftly. She pulled out a piece of paper and walked toward the doorway. “Thanks.”

David smiled and watched as she disappeared through the door, closing it behind her. He stooped to gather the items. Everything was shoved quickly back inside the bag as he dropped it on the seat of the chair once again.

Wanting to get to know Kristin better, he decided to investigate the art. Spending time with Kristin had given him back a part of himself. His time with her was freeing, a sharp contrast to his life with Sophie as of late. In his heart, he knew it wasn’t such a great idea growing so close, so fast, especially with Sophie becoming uncontrollable, but he couldn’t help himself. Something about this little American woman was utterly fascinating.

At moments, her strength soared, like the birds that flew across the sky in the painting he studied on her office wall. But there were moments so defenseless at the same time. She had a dark, quiet beauty, and the sadness that often tinged her dark eyes made her even more compelling. It was so easy to be around her, and he could talk to her so effortlessly. He and Sophie had never talked so freely with each other.

He glanced at his watch. They were going to miss the film now as well, thanks to this temperamental artist.

As he strode to the other side of the room, he examined another of the works of art on the wall, and the toe of his boot hit something on the floor.

Perplexed, David stepped back and crouched to look under the chair. A book that appeared to be the one he’d seen Kristin working in back at the theatre sat on the floor with papers sticking out at odd angles.

The worn edges of the book and stray sheets of paper appeared awfully disorganized to have anything to do with the running of the galleryespecially since he’d just discovered how neat and clutter free Kristin kept her office.

Several of the stray pages fluttered to the floor as he picked it up.

“What the hell?” David’s eyebrows rose as his breath caught in surprise. The loose pages as well as those within the book were filled with drawings, not notes or figures, as Kristin had led him to believe.

There were landscape scenes, interiors, and portraits. Some were quick, fluid sketches while others were more detailed drawings. As he stood and leafed through more of the pages, he realized that another part of Kristin existed that he didn’t know.

Toward the end of the book, a picture of himself stared back at him, like a reflection in a mirror.

What on earth had made her keep this from him? She’d never mentioned that she was so talented during any of their conversations.

As he turned the pages, more sketches of himself flipped by. Lastly, he came to what she had apparently been working on at the theater earliera sketch of him on stage.

Suddenly, all those times he’d caught her brown eyes staring fixedly at him made complete sense. She had been memorizing every single detail of him in order to transfer it to paper.

He’d known there was something she’d kept from him, but he hadn’t expected it to be anything like this. Well, truthfully, he hadn’t known what he’d expected. Her talent for bringing out the true self of the object she sketched should be shared, not kept hidden in a book.

David couldn’t see why she would be reluctant to share her talent. Kristin was good. Really good. And, surprisingly, he was pleased to find himself the subject of more than one of her drawings, despite the fact she hadn’t told him about any of it.

Smiling to himself, David settled in to examine her sketches more closely.

Chapter Five

David heard the main door of the gallery open and close and jerked in surprise. He had immersed himself in Kristin’s drawings, studying them in the hope they might shed some more light on that part of herself she kept hidden from the world.

Quickly, he closed the sketchbook and tucked it back into Kristin’s bag. Maybe someday she would share the book with him. In the meantime, she could keep her wonderful talent to herself. Leaning back in the chair again, he clasped his hands behind his head and tried to look as though that’s what he had been doing the entire time. Kristin opened the door and walked briskly inside the office.

“I am so sorry to make you wait.” She sat in a breathless heap in the chair next to the one that held her bag. “Things just haven’t been running smoothly at the gallery lately. What is it you lot say? Things have gone all ‘pear shaped?’”

“That’s what we say.” David leaned forward and chuckled at her trying their slang. “But is it all sorted now?” He patted her forearm across the table.

“Not exactly.” She leaned back and tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “I have a hundred flyers and invitations for an opening that I no longer have an artist for. All because another gallery romanced him away from me, pointing out a glaring flaw in the contract, which doesn’t mention compensation to me for a change of heart on their part.”