Seemingly Perfect by Mary Strand

Author:Mary Strand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mary Strand

Monday morning, holed up in her office behind a closed door, Vic stared at numbers on the ledgers in front of her when she should’ve been finding new artists or artwork or selling something fabulous to someone with plenty of money.

And Dad was missing. She’d called him at home, and Mother had said in a frosty voice that he wasn’t staying there. Thursday night, over dinner at J.D. Hoyt’s, Dad had insisted he was still living at home with Mother—at least until something new happened.

She hadn’t thought something new could happen so quickly.

She closed the ledger after deciding not to make her headache worse by poking around in the computer financial program. She’d leave that, at least, to Sean.

Almost eleven. Sean and Hope must be here by now, and she needed to get out into the gallery. Last time she checked, she still had a business to run. It wouldn’t run on fumes.

Someone knocked faintly on her door. “Come in.”

Hope’s head poked into her office. “Are you busy?”

“No more than usual.” Getting up, Vic tried to look more friendly than under attack, which was how she actually felt. She tucked the ledger into the top drawer of her file cabinet and pushed the button to lock it, pocketing the key.

Hope stared at her pocket—or maybe it just felt that way to a woman overcome with paranoia—before pointing at the computer screen. “I can help you with your computer.” She rushed on when Vic immediately started to say no. “I mean, not just a website, although you need a better one. Inventory, financial statements—”

Vic shook her head. “Not necessary.” She glanced pointedly at the clock. A minute before eleven. “Time to open up. Is Sean taking care of that?”

“He’s not here.” Hope frowned. “And he hasn’t called. I was wondering if we should check up on him.”

“I’m sure he’ll be here soon. It’s summer, and Sean’s been putting in extra hours lately.”

“While you were in the hospital.”

She brushed past Hope into the main room of the gallery. “And before and since. We’ve had several exhibits and new artists, and it all takes time. I don’t mind if Sean’s a little late. Neither should you.”

Hope’s shoulders sagged. Her stomach had grown, although it was still hardly noticeable except for the fact that she rubbed it whenever she mentioned something that irritated Vic. “I just thought you’d want to know about Sean.”

“Thanks for the update.” Vic moved to the door, turning the deadbolt to unlock it. Swarms of art lovers were not standing outside waiting to get in. “And we’re open for business.”

“I think Sean’s been acting strange.”

Spoken by the girl who wouldn’t know what normal looked like if it walked up and smacked her in the face.

Vic moved along a wall of artwork, wondering whether she’d ever unload a couple of paintings that had been a rare impulse purchase. Hands on her hips, she stared at an oil painting by a hot young artist whose work reminded her of Dalí. Beautiful, in its strange, twisted way.

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