Chapter 21
An uneasy truce and a weird atmosphere to the air seemed to hang around Richard and Cayce for the next couple days. Their relationship was moving forward as close friends, really close, but not yet lovers. The entire time Richard stayed with her at night, sharing her bed. She looked forward to seeing him at the end of the day. She looked forward to waking up and seeing his face the next morning. Since that first night when he had moved into her bed, he’d shown no inclination to leave. And she was just as guilty of letting him stay. She should never have let it happen in the first place. Yet she was happy that she did.
So far, their relationship was platonic, as if realizing crossing that line right now was something neither were prepared to do. She wanted him to focus on the case, and she didn’t want him to get in trouble for any relationship that the two of them had. Their relationship was friendly, intimate, and yet on the edge of being more. It gave her time to get to know him. It gave her a chance to spend time with him without the added pressure of dating and/or sex. She was really enjoying that.
Something was really special about a man who moved in to care for her without pushing her on a completely different level. Even though she was so ready for that next part of this relationship.
After her second day off, she was completely bored, and, on day three, she headed back to her gallery. The guard walked with her then left her there. “I’ll leave you here as long as you stay inside. And I’ll let Richard know you’re here.”
“Sounds good, thanks.”
She knew Richard really wanted her to stay home because he wanted her to stay safe, and he equated the two. But that wasn’t something she was prepared to believe.
When she walked into the gallery, Anita looked up and smiled. “I wondered if you were ever coming back,” she teased. “I was wondering if I needed to cancel the arctic piece.”
“Absolutely I’m here,” Cayce said with a bright smile which fell away at the mention of cancelling the show. She shouldn’t have taken off as much time as she had. “I’ll have to get over to the arctic installation and take a look.” All thoughts about her promise to the guard forgotten.”
“Good point,” Anita said. “I also need signatures, and you have a pile of messages.”
She looked at the stack and groaned. “Maybe I’ll do the installation first,” she said, backing out of her gallery.
Anita shook her head. “You can’t walk away from this. I need to deal with them today.”
“I’ll be back in an hour.” She checked her watch, shook her head, and said, “Make that two.” And, with that, she bolted from her gallery.
As she stood outside, she took several deep breaths, wondering if there was another way to run her life that didn’t involve having an office where she was forced to deal with this stuff; yet she really didn’t want Anita or anybody else in her house on a full-time basis. And she definitely needed full-time staff to handle the bulk of the business affairs, so her options were limited. Rather than drive again, she walked a little farther than she was comfortable with, but she hadn’t been outside for a couple days and wanted the fresh air.
She shoved her hands in her pockets and kept on walking, her mind thinking about her office problem. She didn’t have to have quite the same size gallery, if that’s what bothered her. She thought it was just the business side of life that irritated her. Was there any way that Anita could do some of this and take it off Cayce’s plate? Maybe that was something Cayce needed to look at. But then that also meant handing over control. Although Anita had worked for her for a couple years, if she ever quit, it would leave Cayce completely clueless as to what Anita did for her. The more control Cayce handed over, the harder it was to regain it.
As she made her way to the arctic project, she heard a call from behind her. She turned to see Frankie racing to catch up. She stopped and waited for him.
“Good to see you,” he said, in a breathless voice.
“I wanted to make sure this installation was ready to go,” she said.
He nodded. “As far as I know it is.”
“When were you there last?”
“Two days ago, with you,” he said.
Something about his words made her insides a little bit unsettled. “And there’s no reason that we should have posted security for it, right?” she asked hesitantly.
He looked at her curiously. “We never have before.”
She nodded and hurried faster. The thought of redoing a background of that size made her heartsick. It would take her days. She didn’t want to think about something like that. But it was a possibility.
When she got to the art center and stood before the wall that she had been busily working with over the past week, she was relieved to see that it was still covered with canvas and that the scaffolding was still in place.
Frankie looked at it as well. “Did you really expect it to be damaged?”
Her shoulders sagged with relief. “It’s so beautiful, but I had never contemplated vandalism on these pieces until just now. And these sites for my installations all have insurance coverage through their owners, but that’s just about money. It’s not about my time and my creativity invested already in these,” she said, shaking her head. “I should probably have my own security on these pieces from now on, while the artwork is in progress,
