Bone Walker by Idella Breen

Author:Idella Breen [Breen, Idella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-01-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

“Right, this way, Ms. Trust.” A woman, not much older than myself, said as she directed me down a hallway.

“You’re Jessica, right? Henry’s assistant?”

She paused and nodded. “Please, call me Jess. I don’t think we were ever formally introduced.” She held out her hand.

“Then I insist that you call me Eliza. You can’t be much older than me. It would be strange not to.” I chuckled and reached out to clasp her offered hand. When we touched, a static shock seemed to transfer into my hand and up my arm, making it numb for a brief moment. I tried to pull back, but Jessica held me tightly. I looked up at her questioningly, only to see her eyes seemed to be glazed over, as if she wasn’t quite all there at the moment. It was disconcerting. This all happened in the span of a few seconds, before Jessica was back to normal, and squeezed my hand once before releasing me.

“Looks can be deceiving, Eliza. You should be careful who you offer your hand to.”

I frowned, unsettled, as the same feeling of reality shifting around me disorientated me. I slowly nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Like a light switch, Jessica smiled brightly, and the tension between us lifted instantly. “Good, now that we are introduced, how about I take you to Mr. Smead so you can sign that contract?”

I followed her through a side door leading away from the gallery and into a hallway with several office spaces. We paused in front of an open door. Entering, I was greeted by Henry, as well as two other men, one of which was Peter. They all stood as I entered.

“Sorry, am I late?”

Henry shook his head and led me over to the seat next to Peter. “Not at all Ms. Trust. We were all just early. Your lawyer was just asking us some preliminary questions about the contract, but now that you are here we can begin negotiations. Please, take a seat.”

I smiled, trying to shake off the nerves. This would be my first major contract with a big gallery. I was good at dealing with negotiating industrial machinery, or deals that would better my current company at the time, but those all dealt with things that I knew the value of. Angela was always telling me that I was a talented artist, the problem was that I didn’t entirely believe that, and now I was going to negotiate the value of something subjective, my art, my talent, and my value. I smiled at my lawyer.

“Hello, Peter.”

He nodded. “Eliza, it’s good to see you.”

Henry took a seat. “Well, gentlemen and lady, shall we begin?”

Three hours. It took three hours to sign one contract. Despite Henry’s upbeat personality, he was a true businessman. I could see why Philo’s has made a name for itself and was known to house some of the most renowned artists in Seattle. If it wasn’t for Peter, I don’t know if I would have been able to navigate the contract, let alone walk away with what I thought was a great deal.

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