Unbreak My Heart (18+, ManxMan)

Chapter 13 Making Friends

Chapter 13

Finn

Liam and I painted all morning.  He was working on the piece he was making for Jonah while I was working on another painting inspired by one of Elliott's sculptures.  We worked diligently until lunchtime and then cleaned up all our brushes and ourselves before we made sandwiches for lunch and then headed back into town.  I was dropping Liam off and then meeting with Garrett.  I asked Liam if he wanted to come with me, Garrett and I would mostly likely be talking about the gallery and the show, so it would be good for Liam to get used to that, but he was having a shy moment and asked me to drop him off at his apartment.  Luckily Aiden was home when I walked him to the door, because I knew that Jonah didn't like him left alone for too long.  His overprotection was sweet, I just hoped that when Liam was older, Jonah would know when to let him grow and experience the things he needed to take care of himself.

After I saw Garrett I planned to head over to my apartment to meet the delivery truck with my new furniture.  They would be there between 3:00 and 5:00 pm so I had plenty of time to linger over coffee with Garrett and get to know him better.  He was an interesting man and had spent several years in Europe working in some of the most famous galleries in the world.  He was also very supportive of my work and a good person to bounce ideas off so I enjoyed our now regular coffee breaks together.

Garrett and I had just met at our favourite café right across the street from Juntado when I heard a vaguely familiar voice behind me.

"Finn, right?"  I turned around to see a large body; the way the sun was behind him I couldn't see his face, only the well-built form of a very muscular man.  "Sorry," he said as he came around in front of me.  Garrett looked up at him curiously and as he came out of the sun and I could stop squinting I remembered him.

"Jacob." I stood up and shook his hand.

"You remember," he said quite pleased with himself.

"Yes," I chuckled.  I looked over at Garrett.  "Garret, Jacob; Jacob, Garrett."  The two men shook hands.  "Would you like to join us?" I offered, being polite.

"If I'm not intruding, I'd love to.  I was just coming for coffee myself, but coffee with company is always better."

"You work in the area?" Garrett asked.

"Yes, just a block up the street.  You?"

"I manage Juntado," he replied pointing across the street.

"Ah, it's a beautiful gallery," Jacob replied.  "I've been in a few times."

"Yes, and Finn is going to grace us with his paintings, we were just discussing his show in August."

"You're a painter?" Jacob asked me.

I nodded and Garrett piped up before I could reply.  "He's a rising star, he's already had several sold out showings in New York and now he's returned to dominate the L.A. Art scene."  Jacob looked at me and raised his brows with a smirk, I chuckled back at the inside joke we shared with Garrett's choice of words.

"Well, I'll have to attend, I consider myself an amateur art collector, I'd love to see your work." 

"Well, it's the last two weeks of August and the first week of September, but I still think we have plenty of tickets to the opening on August 18th if you'd like a pair for you and a guest," I offered.

"I'd love to come, but I'll only need one," Jacob replied, leveling a steady gaze directly at me.   I held his stare for a few seconds before Garrett interrupted.