Page 47 of What I Should've Said

“I met her.”

Her eyebrows shoot to her hairline. “You met her?”

“Yeah.”

She shakes her head. “Wow. I’m surprised.”

Frown lines sink into the skin at the corners of my mouth. “Well, it’s not like I gave him much choice. I just showed up at his house, demanding to know about the job. I just…needed an answer. To be fair, I had no idea he was the artist, though.”

“Tread carefully there, okay?” she says then, surprising me.

“What do you mean?”

She shakes her head and purses her lips before letting out a sigh. “Forget it. Bennett’s a good guy, and it sounds like he’s going to pay you handsomely. The job’ll be great.”

Her cryptic warning would normally put me on edge, but today, I have to admit, I’m too tired to care. I got a good job that’s going to pay me well, and I don’t want to taint it with anything else.

And just think, all you need to do is find a way to work for Bennett Bishop without it ending in disaster.

I still can’t believe he’s the mystery artist. I figured he did something that required sweat and brute strength. But an artist? Color me shocked. And incredibly curious…

Scrambling to my bedroom, I ignore the mess of moving boxes, drop the box in my hands on the bed, and pull out my phone. I’m pulling up Google not even a minute later and typing my new boss’s name into the search bar.

In an instant, millions of results come up. A Wikipedia page. New York Times articles. Interviews. Gallery reviews. Auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

Bennett Bishop is, in fact, an artist. A very successful artist with a very famous past.

I tap on his Wikipedia page and scan the first few paragraphs.

Who is Bennett Bishop?

Bennett Bishop is an American artist and son of Henry Bishop, owner of Bishop Galleries, and grandson of the late Harold Bishop, founder of Bishop Galleries. He is one of theYoung American Artists (YAA) who dominated the art scene in the United States during his late teens and early twenties.At age twenty-five, he was reportedly one of the United States’ richest living artists.

Bennett Bishop is best known for defying rules within the art world. He has been nicknamed “the Chameleon” by American art critics, and European art critics have been known to call him the “bad boy” of the art world because he doesn’t follow rules. He is one of only a few artists who has been able to span different art genres with great success.

Life and death tends to be a central theme in Bishop’s works. A constant push and pull of living and dying is what Bennett Bishop is most famous for. He received notoriety at the age of eighteen after a series of impressionistic-style paintings showcased raw portraits that made distinguishing life from death impossible for the viewer.

Five years into his career, he sold an abstract painting called “The Mourning After” for a record-breaking $10.4 million.

I don’t even reach the end of the Wikipedia page before I come to a halting stop.

Bad boy of the art world?

10.4 million dollars? For one freaking painting?

And he’s been famous since he was eighteen?

None of this adds up with the man in the pickup truck and faded jeans who set me out in the dirt on my way into Red Bridge. Or the man who stepped into CAFFEINE and punched Thomas in the face…twice.

Or the grumpy bastard who seems to enjoy pissing me off to the point where I slapped him in the face. Or the mental case who kissed me after I did.

The article doesn’t say anything about Summer. To be honest, it’s lacking any and all information on Bennett for the last ten or so years.

Who Bennett Bishop Used to Be is what the title should have said.

I, for one, want to know who he is now. And since I start working for him tomorrow, I guess, maybe, just maybe, I’ll get to find out.

Friday, August 20th

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