Page 76 of March

“Bryce?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. I know you’re busy figuring this thing out with Sophie, and you still took the time, so thank you.”

“Always, Kels.”

They hung up, and Bryce tucked her phone away.

“So, she’s going to tell Megan?” Sophie asked.

“Apparently,” she replied. “Megs and the woman Kelsey only refers to aswhat’s her nameended things tonight, I guess.”

“Kelsey’s going for it. Good for her.”

“Yeah. We went for it, and it seems to be going well so far,” she replied.

“Hey, I have an idea,” Sophie said, lifting her head to look at Bryce.

“Okay.”

“There’s this art gallery that’s open at night. It’s new, so you wouldn’t have been there when you were here last time.”

“You want to go?”

“I think you’ll like it. It’s different, and it’s on the next block.” Sophie nodded ahead of them.

“Let’s do it,” she replied.

They continued to walk in comfortable silence until Sophie pulled them onto a street and into a building with an open door. When they got inside, though, the lights were off, surprisingly, and it only took a second for her to understand why.

“Glow in the dark?” she asked as she turned to take it all in.

“Cool, huh? I discovered it last month. It’s all these artists working with paints that show up in the dark. They’re pretty amazing.”

Bryce had to agree with Sophie. There were probably about thirty paintings hanging on the walls in the relatively small space, and they were all really good. Landscapes, mostly, with a few portraits tossed in. Most of them showed New Orleans at night in luminescent paints that gave the paintings a life of their own. They walked hand in hand over to the first one they saw, which was a musician playing the saxophone standing in front of a sign for Bourbon Street. The second one was of the bayou. The water, the hanging trees, and a bird that Bryce didn’t know the name of were heavily featured. Sophie walked them onto the next painting, which was a line of bars on Bourbon Street, and all of the colors made it pop off the canvas in a way Bryce hadn’t ever seen before.

“That’s our bar,” Bryce noted, pointing to the spot she believed their bar to be located.

“Yeah, it is,” Sophie replied.

“Are there prints of this for sale?” Bryce asked.

“Oh, I don’t know. I’ve never asked.”

“Excuse me,” Bryce said as she let go of Sophie’s hand and walked over to someone who was wearing a name tag. “Do you have prints of that one available?” She pointed to the painting.

“Not yet, but I will. It just came in today, actually. I can put your name down on a list and give you a call when they get in.

“How much is the original?” Bryce asked.

“Four hundred,” the woman replied.

“Sold,” Bryce said.

“Bry?” Sophie asked as she walked over. “You’re buying that for four hundred dollars?”

“Yes,” Bryce said. “Can you wrap it up for me?”

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