To Sir, with Love - Lauren Layne Page 0,78

“Hugh—or Myron, I didn’t catch who was who during the flurry of introductions—said one of their regulars came by earlier today and offered twice the asking price. They accepted, hoping it would give a sense of urgency to the other potential buyers.”

“Well, it worked,” Rachel says gleefully. “You’re never going to be able to keep up with the demand now, Gracie.”

“Of course she will,” May says. “But we’ll figure all that out later. I think what we all want to know is why is he a no-show.”

All of my friends’ and family’s eyes swing toward me, plainly curious, and I smile even though my heart feels like it’s beating a million miles an hour in anticipation. “Not a no-show,” I explain. “I told him to arrive an hour after this whole thing started. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to meet everyone Hugh wanted me to. And to spend time with you guys.”

“Okay, we’ve got—” Lily tilts Alec’s wrist toward her so she can see the time. “Well, any minute now.”

My stomach flips, and it takes all my self-control not to turn and stare at the front door until he comes through it.

“Or, he could already be here, mingling among us, planning his move,” Caleb says, rubbing his hands together and peering at the crowd, which has gotten noisier and noisier as the champagne’s been flowing.

“He’s not.”

“Well, respectfully, babe, you wouldn’t know,” Rachel points out.

“We agreed on a visual cue. He knows I’ll be wearing a pink-and-white dress—”

“Which is stunning on you, by the way.”

“Thank you,” I say, smiling at Caleb’s girlfriend, who’s obviously looking for brownie points with the family, but I don’t mind it in the least. “And he will have… well I’m not going to tell you; you’ll think it’s corny.”

“Probably,” Caleb confirms as I continue to scan the room for the agreed-upon signal.

Me in a pink-and-white dress, him with a single pink rose in his suit pocket.

It had been Sir’s idea, and at the time it had seemed like a good one—romantic. But now, pink flowers make me think of the bouquet sitting on my kitchen table, which makes me think of Sebastian…

“Oh, excuse me,” I say in apology to my group as I see Hugh pointedly waving me over to where he is speaking with a white-haired man.

“Gracie, this is Doug Frey,” Hugh says. “One of our most enthusiastic patrons.”

The older man shakes my hand with a firm grip and friendly smile. “I was just asking Hugh here if I might be able to commission something like this.”

He points, and I turn to the Central Park–bench painting Lily had taken a fancy to. The one that was so quick to sell.

“My grandson proposed to his girl on a bench in Central Park a few weeks ago. I wasn’t there, obviously, but they had a friend take a photo, and it wasn’t too unlike this, though he was on one knee.”

Hugh’s eyes are wide, and he’s nodding dramatically behind Mr. Frey’s shoulder indicating that I’d be an idiot to say no.

“Of course,” I say, smiling at the older gentleman. “I’d love to hear more about what you’re looking for. Perhaps we can discuss it next week?”

“Hugh has my info. Though, damn—you’re sure I can’t sweet-talk you into giving me the name of whoever snatched this one up before I saw it?” he asks, turning to Hugh with a mischievous smile. “The colors would look fantastic in my living room, and the foil wrappers remind me of lunches when I was a paralegal in my twenties over on Fifth and Sixty-Third…”

“Sorry,” Hugh says, not looking even remotely sorry. “The buyer of this one seemed quite set on it. I can’t imagine him wanting to sell.”

“Me neither.”

I whirl around at the familiar voice, though it’s one I hadn’t expected to hear tonight, no matter how desperately I wanted to.

I find myself grinning into his smiling aqua eyes, and acting purely on instinct, I fling my arms around his neck. “You decided to come!”

He hugs me back, strong and sure, and when I start to pull away, his arms tighten almost imperceptibly as though hesitant to let me go. He releases me and turns to Mr. Frey.

“Doug, good to see you again. It’s been a while.”

The older man smiles and shakes Sebastian’s hand. “You’re not usually so quick on the draw with Hugh’s pieces, but I should have known you’d get the drop on me one of these days.”

“I’m not usually so quick on the