Page 4 of Becoming His Muse
However, he’d only had one exhibit so far, and Elion liked to do at least four a year—one each quarter, along with some unrelated collection pieces that he sold to private parties. Doing exhibits several times a year was how he remained relevant, kept his name out there, and garnered new clients. That was important, considering that was where his income came from, and it allowed him to live a pretty comfortable life while doing what he loved.
Once Elion finished eating, he turned the television off and took his plate and bottle into the kitchen. He threw his bottleinto the recycling before washing his plate and putting it on the rack to dry.
Returning to his workroom, he sat at his drafting table, staring at the blank page before him. He picked up his pencil and twirled it between his fingers for several minutes, staring at the large, white piece of paper. It was a canvas, there for him to allow his creativity to flow, and he was stuck.
Tapping the eraser end of the pencil against the table, he contemplated, willed a design, a creation, a theme to come to him, but he knew that if he forced it, it would be terrible. So, with a sigh, he stood, deciding that he was going to find a book on his shelf that he hadn’t started yet and see if it helped clear his mind and inspire him.
Olani looked at the request she’d gotten from a business in town. They needed four people to work their production line starting in a week. She hadn’t worked with this particular company before and decided to give them a call. She always liked to sit down with new clients and go over their possible needs and her company’s rate.
Dialing the phone number at the bottom of the email, she asked for Heather, the sender, and was transferred to the other woman.
“This is Heather.”
“Hey, Heather. This is Olani Morgan with Dedicated Temp Services. I received a staffing request from you.”
“Yes, Ms. Morgan. What can I do for you?”
“I wanted to know when a good time would be to come and talk to you. Whenever I receive a request from a new client, I like to have a face-to-face and find out any staffing needs you mayhave, along with qualifications you’d like them to have, the rate, etcetera.”
“Of course. I completely understand. I can meet with you tomorrow afternoon if that works for you. At two-thirty.”
Olani entered the appointment into her calendar: “Tomorrow at two-thirty is perfect. I’ll see you then. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
“You as well, Ms. Morgan.”
Olani hung up the phone, double-checking that she saved the appointment and pressing sync to make sure it also transferred to her phone. She checked a few more emails before she got ready to leave for the day. She and one of her employees typically worked seven in the morning to four in the afternoon since they had some clients who worked the same hours. The rest of her employees worked from eight to five.
After checking her emails, she packed her things for the day, said goodbye to her employees, and headed out to her car. She placed her bag in the backseat before sliding behind the wheel and putting her phone on her car dock.
Pulling out of the parking lot, she headed towards the supermarket. She and Xola were having dinner together that evening at her place, and she wanted to grab a few things she needed before stopping at the liquor store on her way home.
Once she’d made both of her stops, she pulled into the driveway, and grabbed her shopping, phone, and bag from the backseat before checking her mailbox and heading inside.
Olani locked the door behind her and entered the kitchen to put everything away and marinate the pork chops she planned to make. They only needed to sit for an hour and a half. She and Xola weren’t having dinner until eight, so she had three hours before her cousin would arrive.
She put the wine into her wine fridge and then went to her bedroom to change. She put on a pair of shorts and a tank top,slipped her feet into a pair of socks, and sat down to watch the latest episode she’d recorded. She’d gotten hooked on this soap opera about a year ago and always recorded the episodes since they came on while she was at work.
Once the episode was over, she glanced at her laptop. She hadn’t checked to see if she’d received any submissions on the website she created. Olani had been planning to give it a week but convinced herself to give it more time than that. She’d paid for a month’s worth of advertising. So, she figured she would check it two weeks in. She decided to wait until later that evening after she and Xola had dinner. Having her cousin there for support would be beneficial.
Olani decided to start on dinner since the pork chops only needed about fifteen more minutes to marinate. She gathered everything she needed from the refrigerator and cabinets, turned some music on, and started cooking.
There was a knock on the door, and Olani looked over to see it was almost seven forty-five. She’d just pulled the rolls from the oven. She didn’t bother answering the door since Xola had a key. They each had one to the other’s place but never used it unless they knew the other was coming over or they were house-sitting while one was out of town.
“Hey, Lani.” Xola greeted as she entered the house, closing the door behind her.
“Hey, Xo,” Olani responded, turning off the oven. “You’re just in time as always. The food is ready.”
The two of them made their plates, and Olani took out a bottle of wine for them to drink. They sat at her table and talked about work and Xola’s date for the upcoming weekend.
“So, any prospects from your site yet?” Xola questioned after they were both done eating and sitting on the couch with their second glasses of wine.
“I don’t know. I haven’t checked it yet. I was waiting for you to come over.”
“Well,” Xola started, getting up from the couch. Olani watched her cousin grab her laptop before returning to the couch and handing it to her. “Let’s look.”
Olani placed her wine glass on the coffee table and opened her laptop. She logged into the admin side and was shocked that she’d received over twenty-five survey submissions. She hadn’t known she’d get that many submissions in general, let alone in two weeks. She’d been specific in her advertising and had targeted a sixty-mile radius. So that many people within sixty miles in such a short time was mind-boggling to her. However, she wasn’t naive enough to suspect that some, if not most, weren’t just hoaxes—people who’d filled them out just for the hell of it.
“That’s quite the number of submissions,” Xola stated as she leaned over to see.
