Complete Me(100)

I glance around, trying to imagine the walls in yellow. I have to admit, it might look nice.

She seems to realize she’s gone into the zone, and aims a ten-thousand megawatt smile in my direction. “Thanks again for letting me do this.”

“Sure,” I say. “I have to be honest. The rent on this place isn’t bad, but it’s more than I planned to spend my first year out of the gate. I don’t know that I can justify a decorating expense, too.”

She drops gracefully into one of the molded plastic guest chairs. “No, no. You misunderstand me. This is my treat. Well, for the first year. Then if you want to keep the canvases, you can either buy them or we can discuss a lease. As for the painting, this place is a shoebox—no offense—and I’m sure I already have the perfect color in storage.”

I tilt my head, trying to process this. “Giselle, I know that you didn’t mean to upset me when you told Bruce about the portrait. If you owe me anything, it’s an apology, and you’ve already done that.” I don’t mention Damien or my little stabs of jealousy. Other than having a history with him, she’s done nothing to incite the little green monster.

“I appreciate that, I really do. But I want to do this. I know how much all the press bothered you, and I can’t help but think that maybe that’s my doing, too.”

I sit up straighter. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I obviously wasn’t thinking. What if Bruce said something? What if I told someone else and just don’t remember? What if someone overheard us talking?”

Her words echo my earlier thoughts. “Even if that’s what happened, it’s blown over. And, honestly, Giselle, I don’t want to stick my nose into your business, but can you really afford to work for free?”

For the first time her expression loses some of the long-lost-girlfriend cheerfulness, and I know that I have hit a nerve. What I’m not sure is if I’ve crossed a line. I’m about to apologize and tell her that it’s none of my business and if she wants to work for free, then more power to her, but she continues before I have the chance to speak.

“The truth is that I can’t afford to make ends meet with just the gallery. I know that Damien and Evelyn aren’t gossiping about me, but at the same time, people talk, so I’m sure you’ve heard that my divorce is not, well, pleasant.”

She pauses, and I smile and murmur the appropriate condolences.

“Be careful of men,” she says darkly. “Fuck them, but don’t trust them. Not any of them.” She looks hard at me. “That’s a lesson I should have learned before I married Bruce. It sure as hell applied to the men in my life back then. All of them,” she adds.

“I couldn’t live like that,” I say coldly. I’m not sure if she’s trying to be a bitch or do the girl-bonding thing, but I don’t care. I don’t want to think about the fact that she dated Damien, much less discuss it. And I sure as hell don’t want to hear about why I shouldn’t trust him.

She exhales and slouches a bit so that she no longer looks like one of LA’s beautiful people but like a harried commuter. “Sorry. I’m too bitter by half. The point is that I need to increase my cash flow, and so I’m ramping up my design work again. And I could use this—doing your office, I mean. I don’t want to be crude, but having Damien Stark’s girlfriend on my client list isn’t going to hurt my business.”

Strangely, that makes me feel better. I don’t particularly want to be friends with Giselle, and I’m relieved to realize that she isn’t looking to be besties with me, either. Business is different, though, and if she wants to bling out my office so she can promote her talent, then as far as I’m concerned that’s a win-win. Especially if she can do most of the work when I’m not actually in the office.