Page 129 of Caper Crush
“No,” I say. “Recharging. It’s been quite a roller coaster.”
“I didn’t realize you needed to recharge.”
We really haven’t been dating that long. We still don’t know that much about each other.
“I definitely need to recharge,” I say. “Don’t you?”
“Yes, I’m tired too,” he says. My phone buzzes. I show him the text from Officer Johnson that they’ve interviewed Vinnie again and determined that he was just being used by Edmund. Vinnie also cooperated in the investigation by listing the Kimimoto for sale to flush out buyers. And Edmund admitted that he spoke to Fedora, using Vinnie’s name.
“Hey,” Peter says from behind me.
Not again. I’m a piece of Velcro that Peter is stuck to. He is being very persistent. I need to subtly suggest that we meet and discuss this tomorrow. I wish William and I could leave and go to his place, but I can’t abandon my party.
Peter says, “I emailed my friend at Gagosian, and he said to bring your portfolio by.”
“Are you serious?” I turn to William. “Gagosian is a big deal.”
“Dead serious,” Peter says. “I’m telling you—this is your moment. You need to move on this.”
This is my moment.
What if this is my moment?
It could be. Especially if Peter thinks it is. He wouldn’t lie to me.
“We should discuss how to maximize this,” Peter says.
“But we don’t need to do that now,” I say.
“Yes, we do,” Peter says. “Tomorrow, won’t there be an announcement that your painting has been recovered?”
“Yes,” I say.
Peter says, “You don’t mind if I borrow Miranda for the night? I mean, not the night. But to brainstorm how to spin this. You’re welcome to participate of course.”
“Not at all,” William says. “I’ll go home.”
Go home? Without me?I stare at him, confused.No.We were going to celebrate in a more personal manner. Does he really not care that Peter keeps staking his claim on me? Why doesn’t he want to stay and help brainstorm?
“You don’t want to stay?” I ask.
“No,” he says.
“It’s probably boring for him. C’mon, Miranda. It will be like old times. Remember when we launched our joint art installation piece in college with all those teasers, that guerilla-style campaign? We could even do something like that.”
That had been tremendously fun. For several weeks, we’d put up provocative posters. We had a huge showing for our exhibit. I hadn’t even thought about doing my own marketing for this exhibit. I had let myself stagnate.
William kisses me on the cheek. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” He walks toward my room to get his backpack.
“I’ll be back, Peter.” I run after William and tug his hand at the doorway to my room and pull him around to face me. “Are you sure you want to leave? I honestly don’t know if you’re upset or you’re cool with me hanging out with Peter. I mean, nothing is going to happen, but if you’re upset at all, I can say no.”
“I’m not upset. I’m just tired. And you shouldn’t say no. This is your career. And he sounds like he knows a lot.” He’s back to his Secret Service visage that I can’t read.
“He does know a lot. He’s been doing this full time since college,” I say.
“Miranda, have you checked your phone?” Max comes up as William walks away. “My friend texted me that she wants to buy another.”
“Did you tell her thatPlaying Around 1:30has been found?” I ask.
