I hadn’t grown up with either one of them, they were both friends and part of the larger circle of women I knew well.
I had texted Risa earlier today asking for some feedback on colors. “I thought we could take a look at your paint ideas and then hang out,” Risa explained.
“Sounds good to me,” I replied. Anything to keep my mind off of what to do about Elias would work for me.
I threw the bolt on the door and gestured for them to come over to the counter. I had spread the samples over the counter in front of the espresso machine. Risa and Jessa immediately began looking through the samples. While Risa ran the gallery, Jessa herself was an artist. She sold whimsically painted furniture at the gallery here and others in Anchorage, in addition to San Francisco. She was fun and creative.
“I think go with one of these brighter options for an accent wall, maybe the plum, and then keep the other walls something neutral, either a soft gray, or cream. Something cream will be a little warmer for the space. Are you planning to keep artwork on the walls here?” Risa asked as she looked around.
Hands on hips, I nodded. “That was the other thing. I thought I could talk to you about potentially rotating art for sale through here.”
Risa clapped her hands lightly. “That would be freaking perfect. I suggested that to the former owners, but they didn’t want to have to worry about managing commissions. I think we can run all the payments through my gallery, and I give you a cut of the commission. How does that sound?”
“Freaking perfect,” I said with a grin. Risa high-fived me. I turned to Jessa, adding, “We can always have a display of your furniture for one of the tables. It would be used, but it’s a great way to display your work. What do you think?”
“Freaking perfect,” Jessa parroted Risa and me.
We laughed together and then I brought my focus back to the color samples. “I think you’re right on the accent wall. Maybe that’s the one behind the register so the other walls are more neutral for displaying art.”
“So, I’ve ordered pizza, and Emma is bringing the wine,” Jessa explained. “Susie and Hannah will be here shortly, and Tess said she’s on her way.”
Within short order, our pizzas arrived, and Emma showed up with wine, declaring she’d offered to get it so she could vicariously enjoy it since she couldn’t drink. She was looking awful ready to burst at this stage in her pregnancy.
Once we were all settled in and chatting, Tess asked, “So, did you have fun at the fundraiser?”
“It was great,” I replied. “Your fundraisers always do well. Alaska is lucky to have you.”
Tess had come to Alaska on vacation and fallen for Nathan while she was here. Although Alaska was much more spread out and sparsely populated, she did a bang-up job of managing fundraisers online and traveling to the larger communities.
“I didn’t mean that,” Tess said with a slight smile. “I meant did you have fun with Elias?”
It felt as if all of my friends rotated to look at me. I took a swallow of my water. I wasn’t drinking because I needed to drive myself home.
“It’s fine, but we’re on a little hiatus while I get my shit together.”
“What do you mean?” Tess pressed.
Emma immediately chimed in. “Let’s not pressure her. We kind of have a crowd tonight.”
“It’s okay,” I offered. “Long story short, I kind of had a meltdown after that thing with his ex-girlfriend showing up. It’s fine. Turns out she needed him to do a paternity test, not because she thought he was the father of her son. It was because the actual father, his old friend who fooled around with her behind his back, died. His family was contesting her getting survivor benefits for their son. They claimed they thought Elias was the father.”
“Oh, that sucks,” Tess said.
Jessa reached over from where she sat beside me and squeezed my hand. “That’s what we call all-caps awkward. But, what’s the deal with you two?”
I took a bite of pizza before answering, “Well, I kind of flipped, thinking he was covering something up. And, we hadn’t even really figured out what we were doing. It’s not a shocker, but my baggage is recent and kind of heavy. I just told him I needed some time to get a grip.”
“Have you gotten a grip?” Susie pressed.
I narrowed my eyes