Page 25

CHAPTER 25

CASSIE

N ew York has been a whirlwind of activity, which was the distraction I needed to not think about Gunnar. On our first day in Brooklyn, we went straight to the gallery and met with Michael in person. He showed us where my painting was located and walked us through the narrative of the other artwork leading up to mine. Imposter syndrome started to kick in while viewing the other incredible paintings and reading the artists’ descriptions behind their masterpieces. If my painting doesn’t sell on opening night, it will be displayed for a few more months before being shipped back to me. Regardless of the outcome, I’m forever grateful to Michael for giving me this opportunity.

We ate and drank our way through the city, went to every popular tourist attraction New York City has to offer and saw two Broadway shows. Grace and I went shopping for my big night because she claimed that my wardrobe was lame and I needed to look the part of being a New York City artist. I was skeptical of finding something within my budget, but as luck would have it, we found the perfect floral-print silk handkerchief dress at a second-hand consignment shop with matching emerald green heeled sandals and a clutch to complete the outfit. This week has been magical and tonight is going to be the perfect ending to one of the most memorable occasions of my life.

Despite my excitement for this evening, reality is starting to sink in of what’s waiting for me back home. I’ve been ignoring Gunnar’s texts and calls, but I wonder how I’m going to handle seeing him when I get back to Nashville. I thought I was doing well until Carter surprised Grace and showed up last night. She’s been sharing a room with me this whole trip, so a night to myself with my sadness and pervasive thoughts broke the dam that was holding my emotions back. While I’m happy for Grace, Carter’s sweet gesture was salt being rubbed into my wounds.

“There’s no amount of concealer that’s going to cover up these bags underneath your eyes,” Grace comments while helping me do my makeup. “Did you not sleep due to nerves?” She studies me a little more closely. “You’ve been crying, haven’t you?”

I give her a sad smile and nod. “All of the above. Guess my body needed it. Wish it would’ve chosen another night to be a running faucet of tears and snot.”

“Oh Cass, I’m so sorry.” Grace puts down the concealer brush and gives me a hug. “You should’ve called me. You know I would’ve come down and stayed with you.”

“And interrupt your sexy time with Carter? Not a chance.” Grace’s cheeks turn pink and she giggles. I grab her hand and squeeze it. “I’m really happy for you, Grace. Carter seems like a great guy.” Carter and Grace finally confessed their true feelings for each other and their relationship is no longer fake.

“He is,” she says with a smile and continues applying my makeup. “Not at all like his butthole of a teammate.” After I had told Grace everything that happened, she refuses to say Gunnar’s name out loud. “Carter says he’s been pretty miserable to be around, acting like the asshole that he is.”

I don’t say a word although a small part of me is happy to hear he’s suffering as much as I am.

“Let’s not even think about him. Tonight is your night to be happy and excited.”

“And I'm nervous. Very, very nervous,” I chime in with a laugh.

“What’s there to be nervous about? It’s not the end-all-be-all if it doesn’t sell tonight.”

“This is true. They will keep it for three months and ship it back if it hasn’t sold by then.”

“It will sell. It’s too beautiful not to,” she reassures me.

“I don’t know. It’s a very poignant piece. Not all people would want that hanging up in their personal space.”

“It’s going to sell. We’re manifesting it right now,” she says and I laugh, needing all the positivity and manifestation I can get.

* * *

W e arrive an hour before the doors open like Michael requested and meet the other artists whose work is also being displayed tonight. Michael goes through a rundown of events and lets us know he expects us to schmooze with the guests until it’s time for the Q&A session. Each artist will have ten minutes to describe their work and answer questions. Since there are six artists being featured tonight, the session will take us to the end of the show.

Once the doors open, I’m pleasantly surprised to see how quickly the gallery fills up. I get a lot of compliments on my dress, which opens the door for conversation. Michael comes around and introduces me to some other gallery owners and people in the industry. I’ve been so busy networking, that I lose track of my dad, Grace, and Carter. After I finish conversing with a potential buyer, I go on the hunt to find them. My mouth drops open when I see not only Grace’s parents are here, but so are Valerie and Rowan.

“What are you guys doing here?” I ask in surprise when I approach the group and start giving my new guests hugs.

“You’re like our second daughter. There’s no way we were going to miss this,” Katherine tells me after giving me a tight squeeze.

“You look absolutely stunning,” Valerie comments once we finish hugging. She takes a look around at the crowd in awe. “This place is packed, Cassie! I’m so excited for you.”

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you and your connection to Michael. Thank you so much for making the introduction.”

“Oh, please.” She flicks her wrist as if it was nothing. “You got in because of how talented you are. You would’ve gotten yourself here eventually without my help. Aly wishes she could be here, but a newborn baby had to spoil all her fun.”

I laugh and give her a fake pout. “We’ll just have to come back another time, just us girls.”

“Yes!” Valerie pulls out her phone and opens up her camera app. “Let’s take a selfie and make her jealous.” She positions the phone above us and takes our photo.

Michael comes up and gives Valerie a hug and meets Rowan for the first time. They chat for a couple of minutes and then he glances at his watch to check the time. “Excuse me, Val, but I need to grab Cassie and have her go to the back of the gallery for the Q&A session.”

I wave good-bye to my crew and follow him to the back. I get in line with my fellow artists and Michael uses the microphone to ask all patrons to come back for the Q&A session. He waits a couple of minutes for the room to fill up and then greets the audience and tells them each artist will speak briefly about our paintings and then answer a couple of questions.

I listen intently to my fellow artists, enthralled like the rest of the audience about their paintings and what inspired them to paint. My palms start to sweat when the artist next to me starts their turn. I’m not a fan of public speaking, nor do I like to be the center of attention, so my plan is to make this go as quickly as possible and pray that I don’t get asked a lot of questions. Pretty sure the person next to me had the same idea, because all too soon, it’s my turn and Michael is introducing me. He hands me the mic and I can hear Grace yelling out my name, her voice being recognizable as the loudest and most enthusiastic person in the entire gallery.

“Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for coming tonight. My name is Cassie Warner and my painting is called The Darkness In Her Light. It is a dualistic portrait showcasing the stark contrast between the woman’s radiant, well-groomed, sunshine and roses side versus her opposing dark side of being out of control, disheveled, and somber, that ultimately reflect her struggles with addiction. It’s what I imagine the fine line is before the addiction takes full control of your body.”

I hand the microphone back to Michael, who continues talking. “Cassie, what drew me to the painting was the details you used in her expression to convey her happiness versus darkness and the symbolism of light versus shadow to represent the dichotomy. I think it’s safe to say that all of us felt the magnetism of emotions and the painting sucked us right in. Am I right?” He looks over the crowd, who starts clapping with people shouting, “Yes.” I flush with embarrassment over his compliments, but seeing the crowd’s reaction gives me a sense of fulfillment and the awareness that I’ve made one of my dreams a reality.

“Let’s open up the floor to a couple of questions for Cassie.” Michael looks around and points to a woman with her hand raised. “Go ahead with your question for Cassie.”

Michael hands the mic over to her. “What was your inspiration for this piece?”

I look out in the crowd for my father and see him give me a nod of encouragement. “My mother was my inspiration. She died of alcoholism a couple of years ago.”

I hear a couple of murmurs in the crowd and I look down at my feet, not wanting to see the pity on their faces.

“This must have been a difficult piece for you to paint,” Michael comments, giving me a sympathetic smile.

“It was actually very therapeutic. Portraits are not something I normally paint and the vision just kept coming to me. I took it as a sign that I needed to paint her, almost as if it was closure for me. If that makes sense?”

I look out at the crowd and people are nodding. “That’s beautiful, Cassie.” Michael says, “And someone else must’ve thought the same thing because The Darkness In Her Light by Cassie Warner has officially been sold.”

I look at Michael in shock and the crowd cheers and he whispers in my ear, “I’ll introduce you to the buyer when we are done with Q&A.” I nod in excitement and look for my people. Grace and Valerie are giving me a thumbs up and my dad is wiping away a tear. Tears of happiness are threatening to stream out of my own eyes and I tell myself to keep it together.

Michael starts to introduce the last artist of the evening and I try to focus my attention on them, but I can’t stop looking at the faces in the crowd. As I scan each face, I can’t help but wonder which one of them is the buyer until I do a double-take at the face of an unexpected visitor.

Gunnar.

Gunnar is here? My eyes widen in shock and he gives me one of those heart stopping, panty-melting smiles of his that I can never resist. My emotions start swirling out of control like a tornado. I’m immensely happy that he’s come to support me, but in the next breath, weary about the reason he’s here. I briefly lose sight of him when he breaks our eye contact and he bends down. He pops back up and has Izzy in his arms. My hands immediately go to my chest, my heart wanting to burst with joy knowing she’s here with him to see me. He says something in her ear and points to me. She follows his finger and when she sees me, her face lights up in the biggest smile. She starts waving and I smile back at her.

My attention is snapped back to Michael when the crowd starts to applaud at his announcement that the artist next to me also sold their painting. Wait a minute… did Gunnar buy my painting? The thought sours my mood.

I’m going to punch him.

That man can’t just waltz in here and pretend everything is going to be okay if he buys my painting. A painting that I don’t even want due to its emotional baggage.

As soon as the Q&A session ends, I make a beeline straight for Gunnar to confront him. I’m tired of his mind games. Gunnar puts Izzy down, takes whatever she is holding from her, and she runs straight to me. I pick her up and hold her tightly, breathing in her scent. Her arms and legs tighten around me and I feel some of the tension leaving my body.

“I’ve missed you, Peanut,” I whisper in her ear before putting her down. “Thank you for coming to see me.”

“I made you a sign, but Daddy says I can’t show it to you yet.” She grabs my hand and we walk over to where Gunnar is standing. My eyes can’t stop assessing how handsome he looks in his black suit and it makes me even more mad. In one hand he’s holding a large bouquet of red roses and in the other, Izzy’s rolled up sign.

“Cassie!” Michael calls out as he briskly walks over to me. “I want you to meet the buyer of your painting.”

“If he’s the buyer,” I nod at Gunnar. “Then I want you to refund him. I don’t want his money.”

I see a flash of hurt reflect in Gunnar’s gaze, but my attention reverts back to Michael when he says, “He’s not the buyer. Mrs. Denise Ford is.” A woman with long silver hair steps next to Michael and holds out her hand for me to shake.

Embarrassment stains my cheeks red and I take her hand in mine. “Mrs. Ford, I’m honored. Thank you so much for buying my painting.”

“I knew I wanted it the moment I laid eyes on it, but it was your story regarding your inspiration for it that leads me to think this was fate. I own an in-patient addiction facility and was planning on hanging it there before I heard you speak.”

I gasp, grab her hands, and squeeze. “Sounds like you have the perfect home for it. Thank you again so much.”

“We’ll be in touch. I would like to commission some more paintings from you.”

“That would be wonderful!”

We say goodbye and Michael whisks her away to meet another artist she bought from. When I turn back around, my dad, Grace, Carter, Valerie, Rowan, and Grace’s parents are standing by Gunnar.

My father walks up to me and gives me a hug. “I’m so proud of you,” he whispers in my ear. “And she would’ve been too.”

I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from crying and squeeze my dad hard. After a couple of moments, we drop our arms from around each other and he steps back. “Is everything okay?” he asks with a nod at Gunnar.

“Not sure,” I respond, before Grace moves in to hug me.

“I promise you I had no idea he was coming and neither did Carter,” Grace says into my ear.

“I know you didn’t,” I reassure her as I look over my shoulder to see Carter and Gunnar in a heated discussion.

Grace’s parents come over next to hug and congratulate me. Then next is Rowan, with Valerie lining up last.

“I was sworn to secrecy that I couldn’t tell you he was coming. If it’s any consolation, I only found out this morning from Aly. Please don’t hate me,” she pleads.

“I don’t hate you. Besides, even if you did tell me, what was I going to do? Not show up to my own exhibition?”

She grins. “True, but we could’ve hired security to keep him out.”

I laugh. “That would make things very awkward for me when I show up for work on Saturday.”

She giggles for a moment but then gets somber, her smile fading.“Seriously, Cass, we can ask him to leave. Rowan and I will escort him out.”

I give her a hug, grateful for this new friendship of ours. “No, don’t worry about it. I’ve been ignoring his texts and calls all week, so I might as well get this over with.”

I let her go and turn toward Gunnar, who is holding Izzy’s hand and is waiting for me. “Isabear, go stand by Valerie and get ready for my signal to unveil your sign. Val, do you mind holding these for Cassie?” Valerie grabs the bouquet of flowers from him, cradles them in her arms like a baby, and places her free hand on Izzy’s shoulder so she stays in place.

Gunnar looks around at our group to see no one is leaving to give us some privacy. He smiles in appreciation over their protectiveness and turns his attention back to me.

“Why are you here, Gunnar?” I question with my guard up.

“I’m here because the woman I love is having a monumental night in her life and I need to be here to support her.”

“L-Love?” I stutter out in complete shock because that is not what I was expecting him to say at all.

“Pretty sure I fell in love with you the night you told me you would protect my daughter with your life and it has been slowly growing every day since.”

I give him a sad smile, my eyes watering up with unshed tears. “How can you love someone and treat them the way you treated me?”

He swallows and nods. “There’s no excuse for my behavior and I hate myself for hurting you the way I did. I know you probably think I’m the biggest asshole for the way I treated you and I’m so sorry, Cassie. I let my past heartache and resentment control me, causing me to be an idiot. I risked losing the best person besides my daughter to ever come into my life. I let my fear convince me that we shouldn't be together, but I promise you this.” He takes a step toward me, grabs my hands and squeezes. “I will never let that happen again.”

“How do you know?” I ask, giving him a skeptical look.

“Because once I realized what a fool I’ve been for keeping you at arm’s length, all my fear about us dissipated. My life is miserable without you in it. You bring joy, sunshine, and love not only to me, but to Izzy as well. You’ve turned our place into a home with love and warmth and it doesn’t work without you in it. I don’t want to be your boss anymore—I want to be your partner, your best friend, and your lover.”

I don’t realize I’m crying until he brings his hands up to cup my face, using the pads of his thumbs to wipe away my tears. “I don’t deserve you, Cassie, but fuck I’m going to beg you for a second chance. Please forgive me. Please let me show you how much I love you.”

He brings his forehead to mine and I grip his wrist as he kisses the tears from each cheek. “I love you, Cassie, and I know you love me too.” I swallow and stare in his eyes that are shining with love and admiration. “There’s only one more question to ask.” He drops his hands, steps back and walks over to Izzy. He slides the rubber band off her sign and whispers something in her ear. She nods and walks forward with him.

He gets down on one knee next to Izzy and helps her get the sign ready to unveil. He asks if she’s ready and she nods in excitement. “Cassie Warner,” he says loudly. “Will you please be my girlfriend?” As soon as he says the words, Izzy turns her poster around and in his horrible attempt at block lettering, it reads ‘Will you be my daddy’s girlfriend?’ in bright letters. There are pictures of butterflies, cupcakes, baseballs, bats, and hearts all over the poster surrounding the lettering, but what really pulls at my heart is the family of three Izzy drew on the bottom corner that has my name under the woman holding hers and her daddy’s hand.

I tilt my head to the side and press my lips together, trying not to cry even harder. I’m in love with both of them and despite his stupidity over shutting me out when Izzy discovered us, Gunnar is the man of my dreams. “Yes,” I whisper with a nod. Gunnar pops up to both of his feet, hauls me to his chest, and crushes his lips to mine in the most possessive kiss I’ve ever experienced.

“I fucking love you,” he growls after he reluctantly breaks our kiss due to the cheering and clapping from our family and friends.

“I love you too.”

He drops his forehead to mine. “Thank you for giving me a second chance. I promise you won’t regret it.”

I smile, feeling one hundred percent confident that I won’t. “Thank you for fighting for me.”

He gently presses his lips to mine. “Always.”

I feel something hit my legs and I look down to see Izzy’s arms wrapped around both of us. We break apart and I lift Izzy up and give her a hug. “I love you, Peanut.”

“I love you too, Cassie.”

A calmness washes over me, the ever-present fear of abandonment slowly leaving my body. I’m surrounded by family and friends who love and support me through thick and thin and a boyfriend who will fight his own demons to make sure I’m a priority in his life.

I leave the gallery that night with my heart full of love and my biggest dream coming true as I start the next exciting chapter of my life with Gunnar and Izzy.