Page 78 of The Love In Sunsets

They had offers—probably from some they’d never even thought about. As it turned out, colleges wanted Eloise. She would look good to other prospective students. Every school that wanted her offered her full rides. Galleries wanted her. They enticed her with buzz words like central placement, VIP showings, and private viewings.

The same went for Kiel. When he had initially applied to grad school, he never thought about what kind of financial assistance he could get. He expected he’d end up taking out loans and would live off noodles and week-old pizza. But with his grades and letters of recommendations, schools offered him money, but only after he began rescinding his applications. Some more than others. He never thought about having options until now.

He carried take-out from Pearl’s into the apartment, set it on the counter and then shouted upstairs that he had dinner.

“I’ll be right down.”

Kiel plated their fish and chips, took the lid off the tartar sauce, and set everything on the table. Eloise came down, wearing her normal get-up of overalls, tank top, no socks or shoes, and her hair piled on top of her head. She came over and kissed him.

“This looks good.” She sat down opposite of him and then got up to go wash her hands in the kitchen sink. “How was your day?”

“It was good. I printed out all the offers and went over them with my dad.”

“Yeah? Did you decide?”

Eloise and Kiel had spent hours upon hours, going over his grad school options. He wanted to stay close to her, but she wanted him to choose the best school for him. Her reasoning was that if they were going to pay for him to go to school, to get the best education, he shouldn’t pass it up.

“Possibly,” he said with a sigh.

“You don’t sound so sure.” She sat back down.

“I’ll be honest,” he said to her before putting a fry dipped in tartar sauce into his mouth. “I don’t want to leave you, and since you haven’t decided on what you want to do, I think we should decide together.”

He had a few offers in the general vicinity of the schools that wanted Eloise to attend.

She took a bite of her fish and chewed. “Margaux offered me a job today.”

Kiel looked up sharply. “She did?”

“She wants to do some traveling and figured if I’m around, I can run the gallery.”

“Is that what you want to do?”

Eloise shrugged. “I like the idea of having a steady job, you know in case my creativity dries up.”

“Well, I’m your muse and I don’t plan to go anywhere.” He winked.

Eloise threw a fry at him. “Anyway, she wants me to help with the gallery. I’d still paint and could do the shows in the city, London, Paris—wherever I can book them.”

“I think that’s great and sort of goes in line with what I think I’d like to do.” Kiel clasped his hands and rested his elbows on the table.

“What’s that?”

“I’m going to pursue an MBA in accounting.”

“Oh yeah? What made you decide the math route?”

“Well, I figured if you’re bringing in the big bucks, you’re going to need a really good accountant.” He winked again and Eloise laughed.

“You’re probably right. When Margaux handed me my check, she said I need to put some away from taxes. I think my eyes bugged out and my head spun. I’ve never really messed with them because most people pay me in cash.”

“Well, I’ll be able to help. I can even help now if you want me too.”

Eloise nodded. “I need to open a new bank account. The one I have, my dad has access to and I don’t need him seeing the money.”

Kiel hadn’t met her father, and he hadn’t planned on it. If they ever crossed paths, he had some not so fitting words for him. Her father called after the showcase—he had read about it in the paper—and instead of congratulating her, he said that now the event was out of her system she needed to look for some work. Never mind the fact that she had two more showings already booked. Every day, Kiel reminded Eloise of how talented she was, and how toxic her father was.

“Yeah, we can do that tomorrow.”

---