Jai
We step into her house just before time for tea.
"There you two are," Hannah says excitedly. "I was afraid you'd miss dinner."
"No, we made it. There wasn't much traffic either," Meg says hugging her mum. Hannah hugs me as well.
"So, how did it go? Did you sell anything?" she asks.
"It went well," Meg says softly. "Maybe I should tell everyone the details at dinner."
"Sure," Hannah nods. "I invited Artie and the girls but he said weekdays are too hectic for them—you know, homework, dinner, baths..."
"What kind of teacher assigns homework in kindergarten?" Megan laughs disbelievingly.
"Oh, it's just reading the same little book every day or practicing flash cards, things like that," she waves a dismissive hand. "Why don't you two get settled? Dinner will be ready in maybe thirty minutes. I'm about to call your father to make sure he's coming home now."
"Alright," Meg replies.
We empty out the boot and take everything to our rooms. "Do you need to do some laundry tonight, or is it just me?" she peeks her head in my door.
"I can wait until tomorrow," I tell her. Maybe I should get her some more duds if that's the case. I finish unpacking and Megan sets her empty hamper in my room. I grin at her and load it up.
"Dinner is ready," she tells me. I smile and can't help but pull her closer kissing her gently.
I hear Hannah call us from downstairs.
"We better get down there. She's afraid it's going to get cold," Megan says.
"Alright, love," I agree.
We arrive to the kitchen and it looks like Hannah made this a little more special moving us all to the formal dining room. Hannah encourages us to sit while she calls for Mikey in the basement. We sit together in the same seats as last time. Nick joins us and welcomes us back. Mikey and Hannah take their seats and Nick leads us in a prayer. Then Megan serves me before she serves herself and it's very sweet. She gives me some sort of linguine with a cream sauce and some enormous scallops, I think. She gets me a salad and garlic bread.
"Where'd you find these, Mom?" Megan asks as she makes her own plate.
"Costco," she says.
Megan nods and I see Mikey eating.
"So how was Chicago?" he asks.
"It was good," I reply. "So busy. It's quiet here."
"We brought you some Chicago style pizza," Meg tells him.
"No way," he says disbelievingly rising from the table and rushing to check the fridge.
"You haven't been excused," Nick chastises him gently.
"Sorry," he apologizes returning and taking his seat again. "Excuse me, Dad." He turns his attention back to Megan. "What kind is that?"
"All meat," she smiles.
"Yes!" he says excitedly.
"Can you believe Jai had never had one before," she tells him. "We went to Uno because someone from our hotel said they were the best."
"And were they?" he questions twirling his linguine before taking a bite.
"They were. I only had Giordano's before that I can recall," she says.
"We always went to Gino's East," Nick mentions. "We took you there when you were little. We shouldn't have gone in at dinnertime, though. The wait was tremendous."
"I remember the wait," Megan nods. "I just couldn't recall the restaurant."
"So, you never had Chicago style, though?" Mikey asks me.
"Not until this week," I say trying one of those scallops. They're actually pretty good.
"But you filmed in Chicago like twice, right?" he asks.
"I didn't have someone who knew their way around," I shrug. I glance at Megan and our eyes meet. She smiles at me.
"So, how'd the exhibit go?" Nick asks.
"Everything sold," Megan tells him before taking a bite. I realize she's nervous about telling them.
"It did?" he asks excitedly. She nods. "Did you make a profit?" She nods again.
"Come on Meg? How much?" Mikey says getting to the point.
"Do you want the total, my cut, my take home after taxes...?" she asks taking another bite.
"All of the above," Hannah says smiling.
"Well..." Megan says setting down her fork gently. "The total was... 638. Eliza and Giles took about 255. After that was about 382 for me. After taxes and tithe... it'll be about 191."
She takes a bite of her breadstick.
"That's all?" Nick asks surprised.
"Add a comma and three zeros," I say.
"What?" Mikey laughs in disbelief.
Megan shrugs. "Some drawings I did there of Jai sold for 200,000."
Now Hannah laughs in disbelief. "How in the world did that happen?"
"She's talented. Everything else there was either mediocre, poorly displayed, or rubbish," I tell them.
"I knew you were talented, sweetheart, but I never expected this," Nick says in awe.
Megan shrugs and goes back to her food.
"Owen Reed was there," she mentions.
"How do I know that name?" Hannah says softly.
"The Blaze's Christmas party," she replies. "It was at his house."
"Why was he there?" Nick asks worriedly.
"Because Spencer and his dad wanted to distract my agent so we wouldn't make much money," she explains to them. "I felt a check in my spirit that something wasn't right and I told Eliza about it. I asked his address and it matched up. They were keeping her busy by outbidding the last one by a dollar. I told her not to sell my work to him," she explains. She tells them the rest of the story.
"Perhaps we should mention that shady dealing to the police," Nick says softly.
"He didn't do anything really. We caught it in time anyway. He knows we know and won't do it again. Eliza thinks she should get security for my exhibits in the future anyway so it should be fine and if anyone else does that kind of thing, we'll be looking out for it," Megan explains.
Nick nods. "Don't forget to take a portion out to pay your taxes for the hotel job, too," he advises her.
"Good point. I spent everything else I had," she agrees.
"What's your plan then?" Hannah asks her.
"I think I'm going to try this some more. It was fun and it works. I have more people than those who bought wanting my work. I figure that I'll do this and see how it goes," she replies.
"Are you going to get equipment?" Mikey asks. "The way those art snobs at your school behaved in class, I bet if they found out you actually succeeded and they might not, they may do something like they did before."
"That's a good point," Megan nods. "I didn't even think of that."
"What happened?" I question.
"Someone destroyed her negatives, they spit on some of her artwork... what else?" he asks.
"One of my projects got burned and another person urinated on my art. They called it Piss Christ because someone got famous for photographing a crucifix in urine. They thought it was funny," she says.
I look this up online and that's disgusting. "Why didn't you say anything?" I question.
"I did. Some of them were disciplined," she replies. "The spit one though, my teacher just told me to print another one and next time not to make it offensive. I just redid the whole project."
I rub her back. I remember how she told me art school was hard and I recall seeing a photograph of her university graduation on the piano. The frame said with honors and she had tassels on so it must've been the harassment that was the struggle, not the work.
We continue to eat in silence for a bit.
"So, the walleye are running. Arthur and I are taking tomorrow off to fish. Anyone else want to come?" Nick offers.
"Man," Mikey says. "I'm gonna miss it this year. They'll be done by Saturday."
"You're not skipping," Hannah tells him.
"Do you want to go then?" Megan asks me.
"Sure," I agree. "Where's it at?"
"The river," she smiles.
"I have an extra set of waders," Nick tells me.
"Alright," I smile. "So, you're taking a sickie tomorrow?"
He laughs. "Well, I am salaried but I generally use a day or two of vacation for this."
I nod. "How early?" I ask.
"Six or seven we'll head out," he says.
I nod and I'm looking forward to this.