Perfect 1 - Almost Perfect by Julie Ortolon

Author:Julie Ortolon
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Texas Author, Army Ranger, Santa Fe, Contemporary, heartwarming fiction, Romance, Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction
ISBN: 0451216407
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2004-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

While success takes hard work, there’s something to be said for taking the path of least resistance.

—How to Have a Perfect Life

The day of the show arrived with a flurry of activity that kept Maddy so busy she could almost ignore the butterflies in her stomach. Since Mama had agreed to take over at the Craft Shack, she had the whole day off to help the gallery staff get ready.

One of the back alcoves had been set aside to showcase her work. After stripping the walls bare, she and Juanita started rehanging the area, filling it with her vibrant landscapes, jewel-tone wildflowers, and dramatic cloudscapes.

“Wow,” Juanita said, stepping back to admire the progress they were making. “This looks great. I’ve already told you how much I love the pieces you brought in, but now that they’re on the wall, they really pop.”

“Thanks. The guys in the frame shop did a fabulous job.”

“It’s more than that,” the gallery manager insisted. “You weren’t kidding when you said you were good at displays.”

“That’s why I offered to help.” Tape measure in hand, Maddy stepped around the framed pieces they’d laid out on the floor in an intricate grouping. Sylvia and some of the framers were working in the other alcoves, going through the same process. Tipping her head, she read off the measurements for the next nail placement.

“This is something the other artists rarely do.” Juanita wrote down the numbers on a scrap of mat board. “Not that we mind. Their job is to create the art. Ours is to show it and sell it. To be honest”—Juanita lowered her voice—“most of them would muck this up if we let them try.”

“Hanging a gallery wall is an art form in and of itself.” Maddy pulled a nail from the pocket of the shirt she’d tied at the waist over a pair of tattered jeans.

“You got that right.” Juanita laughed.

As Maddy drove the nail in, she realized how much she’d missed this world—not just the art itself, but the showing and selling too. Leading customers through a gallery was so much more than quoting prices. It was a performance, with stories to tell about each artist, the history of each piece, its connections to other works; and designing the displays was all part of setting the stage.

“What next?” Juanita asked when they’d finished hanging all of Maddy’s pieces.

Maddy looked about. “Let’s get a few bronzes in here to add dimension.”

Together they muscled tree-trunk pedestals into position and topped them with bronzes.

“Perfect,” Maddy announced as she dusted off her hands. The area looked as good as any Canyon Road gallery. Unfortunately, three hours remained until the show started, which left too much time to obsess about the coming night and thoughts of Joe.

He’d been friendlier toward her the last two days, but they still needed to sit down and really talk. So she and Mama had formed a plan for her to get Joe alone tonight after the show.

Nerves fluttered in her belly, so she pressed them down with a hand.

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