DOE FROWNED AT her phone.
Door you’re not answering
…
Sorry this phone keeps calling you Door
…
maybe if I came to the party it would be a good chance to meet her
You said there could be something in send a product
…
Said a panic
…
autocorrect is killing me softly
You know, the town
“Sagaponack,” Doe said to the phone. And texted not now see u at home.
She heard the shower turn off. Lark was up early. It would be a busy day. Lark would be at the museum installing Dodge’s inflatables, but Doe really had no reason to go and would be in the way. She didn’t want to go home and bump into Shari, and she didn’t like staying here without Lark.
Lark emerged from the shower in a towel. “Hey, sleepyhead.” She bent over and kissed her, lingering so that Doe slipped her arms around her neck. Lark pulled away.
“Don’t you dare distract me, I am a professional person today. Meeting Dodge and the crew at the Belfry.” She stopped to look at her face in the mirror and ran her fingers along her cheekbones. “I need my game face. Do I look as scared as I feel?”
“I didn’t think you were scared of anything.”
Lark turned. “Hey, I do have a sense of my limitations. Rare, but it happens.”
“High five on your voyage of self-discovery,” Doe said with a straight face.
“Brat.” Lark grinned. “But, really? Sure, I’m stressed, but I’m pumped. It’s my first real curatorial gig. I get to run a crew!”
“Is Tobie helping you?”
“No, I want to do it myself. Prove I have the chops. Besides, it doesn’t seem fair if I’m laying her off. I’ve got a whole list of curators to interview in New York.”
“Wait a second.” Doe struggled to sit up. “Are you firing the whole staff?”
“I don’t know what I’m doing yet,” Lark said. “I mean, maybe people will just want to leave if they aren’t comfortable with the new direction.”
“But…they do good work.”
“I know.” Lark sighed. “I feel bad about it. But really, what’s more important is the new direction, so. And you’re the one who told me I’d just have to hire the right people.”
“What about Catha?”
“Daddy thinks she’s useless. If I hire the right curator and a development person, he doesn’t think we need her. Plus he’s lining up this really amazing consultant.” Lark adjusted the towel. “Okay, right now I feel like you’re thinking I’ll fail.”
“Of course not. I think you can do anything.”
“Because I really think I can do this.” Lark hugged herself for a moment, and the bright hope in her face made Doe wish she really believed in her the way she wanted to. It didn’t matter, though. She was here to protect Lark. Lark would have the title, and Doe would make it look authentic to the world.
Lark disappeared into the dressing room. “I’ve been checking the weather incessantly. Chance of t-storms after midnight, so we’ll be fine.” She stuck her head out of the door. “Guess who I forgot to invite to the party? Lucas!”
“Accidentally on purpose?”
“Maybe.” She ducked back inside. “Anyway it’s weird because of course he knows about it, he lives in Orient, plus Daddy invited Adeline.” Lark came out in a pair of shorts and a lemon-colored lace bra. “I just remembered last night because Daddy told me Lucas was coming over this morning for a breakfast meeting. So I quick sent him a text saying, Hey, you didn’t RSVP. You know, pretending it got lost. And so he texts back, I’ll be there, pretending that I didn’t forget. Modern manners, right?”
“A breakfast meeting?”
“Can you imagine, he hates going anywhere before noon.” Lark pulled a tissue-thin T-shirt over her head. “He brought over a painting. Apparently he made this amazing discovery. A lost painting by his father. From, like, the nineties, his best period.”
Doe sat up. “What? How?”
“I don’t know, he cleaned out his mother’s storage unit? Found it.” Lark twisted her wet hair into a bun on top of her head while she hunted for pins. “Pretty big news. I mean, it will be, once it gets out. Lucas is totally into it while trying to act all Oh, this old thing. And get this—it’s a portrait of Adeline. Looking horrific, I must say. Naturally Daddy is thrilled. No way he won’t buy it, it’s a steal. He told me Lucas is asking ten million but Daddy is going to offer eight. Even if something’s a steal, you don’t meet the price if you don’t have to. He says. He still thirsts for revenge on Adeline. He has it on approval right now. So listen to this. Daddy wants me to hang it at the Belfry for the party! Right in that front gallery so that everyone can see it. I mean, it’s a lawn party so nobody will be inside except for staff and caterers. But we’ll light it so it will practically glow. If Adeline comes she’ll have a fit. Not that I want that, but Daddy does. So what can I do.”
“Say no?” Doe suggested, but Lark had disappeared into the closet again.
She came out in a pair of sandals, frowned, and kicked them off. “Daddy is delusional if he thinks that Adeline will come tonight.” She ducked into the closet again and came out wearing fawn-colored boots. “I think this is the end of our families meeting, like, ever again. I liked Adeline fine, but what a relief. No more Lucas for me. Hale Channing swears he stole a pair of Buccellati cuff links from him.”
Doe swung her legs out of bed. Her brain was buzzing. “His mother’s storage unit? How come he didn’t find it before?”
“No idea. Gotta run, angel.” Lark pressed herself against her face and nuzzled her like a sweet pony. “Do you know what, you,” she murmured. “I think this director thing is going to work out. And we’ll be together every day. I’ve never, ever been so happy.”
And then she was gone in a moment, before Doe’s skin had even cooled. The way she did. The way she would do for good one day.
Lucas had crammed everything in the trunk of his car, hadn’t he? Thrown it all away? Unless he’d lied to her? But she’d seen it, she’d seen the empty storage unit, she’d seen him close out the account.
Lucas discovered a painting worth ten million? It didn’t make sense. What would Shari say?
If an asshole sells you a story, why be surprised if it smells?