Chapter 9: Gut Feelings
POV: Gabby
Word Count:3265
March 9, 2009
We were at the studio on time but Isaac was leaving early to meet Nicole for the apartment. Everything had been destroyed so all she could do was clean it out and start over. Given they were moving in together shortly anyway, she just decided to go ahead and move. She would take the next few weeks and go through the apartment for anything salvageable. She and her mother were devastated that the dress was beyond repair, but Elaine was willing to get them both in for an emergency dress selection. I wasn’t necessarily disappointed that she hadn’t asked, but she and Stella were both going.
We were expecting a call from the bank today to let us know if the paperwork went through, but I got an early morning call from Debbie, apparently she had clients that wanted to speak to me about a commissioned piece. They would be at the gallery at 10 so I agreed to meet her. I was glad I dressed nicely this morning. I decided that I would walk because it wasn’t that far and they were going to cram as much as they could into the morning since they would miss Ike for the afternoon.
I left the studio about 9:30, using the alley to head down to the street, where I walked up to Gunthrie Green and then down to the gallery. She let me inside quickly.
“You didn’t have to walk!”
“It’s not a problem, I was at the studio anyway, it’s a few blocks. It got me moving and not sitting all day.”
“They have yet to arrive, they should be within the next few minutes.”
“Okay, are the paintings still doing well?”
“Yes. Your husband set up the automatic deposit which is so much easier. I did a deposit on Friday to you.”
“Okay, I didn’t know he set that up. Do you need some more? I can work on them this week.”
“They are selling very well, normally within weeks of being posted. The medium size one seems to go quicker, so you could put more effort into that size. But the individuals I am having you meet this time aren’t looking for a canvas.”
“What are they looking for?”
“Something a lot bigger.”
“Okay.”
We waited another five minutes before Sidney and Gale Brooks came into the main doors, they were in their 30’s and lived in the area where that million dollar house was. They were dressed very nicely and had this happy vibe about them.
“Mr. and Mrs. Brooks, this is Gabriella. She’s the artist to the painting you purchased last week.”
They shook my hand and we exchanged greetings.
“I really expected you to be much older.” She said.
“I get that a lot really.”
“We purchased the sunset over the lake canvas, the attention to details were superb.” He said.
“Thank you.”
“Is there a private place we can speak Debbie?”
“Yes, follow me.”
We all followed her to a conference room but Debbie didn’t stay, she instead left us alone.
“Debbie mentioned you weren’t looking for a canvas, may I ask what you are looking for?”
“The subject is kind of sensitive but we are expecting triplets very soon, um we used a surrogate for reasons we will not discuss.”
“Mr. Brooks the reason you used a surrogate is none of my business. Congratulations on the triplets though, that has to be exciting.”
She smiled. “We’ve tried for years, eventually going this route, we didn’t expect three but that is fine. We will take them all. Added, three girls.”
I was amazed that he seemed proud of that. “Daughters, very nice. What exactly are you looking for from me though?”
“We would like a custom nursery, something no one else has, something very unique.”
I swallowed not expecting that reply. I really hadn’t ever considered a nursery design, but I could do that.
“Did you have any specific theme?”
“We’ve talked about that for months actually, my wife wants something very girl like Cinderella or something, I was more timeless and endearing like a farm scene or something tranquil.”
“Will they be sharing a nursery?”
“Yes. The room is very large.”
She handed me photographs of the room, which was enormous, the room had tan carpet and was empty. The walls were plain white and they even had the curtains down. These were clearly taken after the room was emptied.
“Mrs. Brooks, did you have a specific character or specific look in mind?”
“I’ve always loved snow white, it was my absolute favorite Disney movie and it still is. I however would not want the evil aspects of the movie, the queen or the step-mom, the castle. But the forestry scenes I believe fit well with Sidney’s view of tranquil.”
“It really does lend itself well to that frame. Were you looking to do the entire room?”
“Ideally, yes. We’d like a room no one else has.”
“Do you have plans for the where the furniture will sit?”
“We do.” She said.
“So I understand your wanting the entire room painted with a theme, which is yet set in stone, and you’d like something no one else has?”
“Yes. Money is no issue, but we are on a bit of a time crunch, um the due date is June but she could deliver really anytime before that. Ideally we would like to have this completed before May.”
It was a huge project and I really had no idea what to charge.
“How often would I have access to this room?”
“Anytime. My husband works during the day but I am usually home. We do have a few days where no one will be available, but it’s entirely possible we could have someone be there when you are. As far as time frame for the day, anytime really. I am usually awake before six am, but I do go to bed about 9.”
“Not a problem, I wouldn’t want to be there very late at night, it’s intrusive and about the only time I see my husband.”
“Oh? You’re married?”
“Yes, ma’am. Two years in November.”
“Who is your husband?” he asked.
“Zachary Hanson, he co-owns a studio just up the road with his brothers.”
“Ah, we are familiar with them. Hometown boys.”
“Is there any way that I can come by today to get measurements of the room?”
“Yes. We have several errands to run but we can call you when we’re headed home. We can also give you a better idea then exactly what theme and you’ll be able to see where things can go.”
“Perfect. I will also have a price for you then.”
“That’s fine, again money is not an issue. We’ve seen several paintings and your attention to details are really what we like. We’ve also seen some portraits so we knew if a princess was to be done you’d execute them in the way we like.” She smiled.
I smiled. “Thank you.”
We exchanged information and she gave me an approximate time of three, which would be perfect because that’s about when they were knocking off today, so Zac could come with me. They headed out and I spoke with Debbie about potential pricing guides. I then headed back to the studio, this time I cut across the road and headed toward the hotel, intending to just cut across the lot. I was walking behind Caz’s, admiring the large paintings here and thinking about what the design could be when I heard my name.
I turned and Max was coming up from the hotel area.
“Gabby.”
“What do you want Max?”
“I want to talk to you, without fearing that your husband or brother will attack me.”
His nose still looked off a bit and there was a plastic wrap around his arm, to stabilize the arm.
“You know he only did that because of what you were saying.”
“I can’t believe he got away with it.”
“Yeah, well, he was here with me when you were attacked.”
He paused and maybe considered his next words. “Well, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“I thought I told you to forget about me? If nothing else your broken nose should have been the clue to ignore me from now on. So, what do you want because I don’t have all day to stand here. I have to get back so I can go over some plans and then go to a clients house.”
“He your pimp now?”
“Not even dignifying that question with an answer. Speak or get out of my way.”
“You need to come back to him Gabriella. He’s not happy. Come on, you know it’s him.”
“Are you admitting that Simon is behind the fire and the break in?”
“I never said that but you know who did it. Just come with me, I’ll take you back and you’ll be fine.”
“I’ll be fine? Max get off that bullshit. If I wanted to be controlled by an asshole I’d have stayed with you. I have no desire to return to Simon, I don’t care what you think or what you believe.”
I started to go by him, there was no point in arguing with him anymore but he grabbed my arm.
“You are not listening. No one is giving you the choice Gabriella.”
I looked at his arm around mine, which did hurt. “Take your hands off of me Maxwell. I have no problem breaking your nose again. I am a grown woman and I will say where I go and who I live with. Not you. Not Simon.”
“Don’t make me hurt you Gabby. There was a time where I loved you but you aren’t making decisions very well right now. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to.”
“You don’t want too, but you have to? I guess Simon sent you to fix your mistake? Is he fucking you too? Is he threatening to cut you off from the money? You’re a grown fucking man, act like it. You don’t have to do a damn thing he says.”
“Just come with me, peacefully.”
“Let me go. I’m going back to the studio to discuss my clients request with my husband.”
I never expected it, not until I was on the ground. The entire left side of my head hurt like hell. He’d actually punched me, which needless to say hurt a lot more than a slap.
“You should really quite being a fucking bitch. Simple fucking request. Now I guess it’s the hard way.”
I went to move and pain exploded on my side, very close to the surgery spot. Pretty sure he’d kicked me. I rolled away to protect the right side, because I did not want to cause any issues, even though I should be fully healed but the back shot is what caused the scream of pain.
“Now, you are going to get your bitch ass up and come with me. Otherwise Simon’s paddle will be the least of your worries.”
I was about to get up when I got another kick in the side, but then I heard him grunt which was weird. I could hear scuffling and turned to see if Zac had come after me. I was rather shocked to see Taylor standing over him, and Max’s nose was bleeding again.
“You need to stay the hell away from her!”
I saw him deliver a kick to the gut which doubled him over and then he was helping me up.
“Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“I’d advise you not be here Max, when Zac sees her face he’s going to be fucking pissed.”
The walk back to the studio really didn’t take long. Taylor was coming to get me to pick up lunch and heard me. I guess I had guardians everywhere. But he was legit right, Zac was not happy when he saw me.
“What the hell happened?”
“Maxwell. No need Zac, he’s probably already gone.”
He fretted over my face, which considering it looked pretty bad I couldn’t blame him. But, I was shocked he called the police and he filed a formal complaint, the officers even came out and talked to me and took pictures. I gathered Zac was tired of dealing with Max and honestly the charges may help him realize that I wasn’t Simon’s.
“How did your meeting go?”
“It went very well. They’re going to call when they are home so I can come see the room.”
“The room?” he asked.
“They want me to paint the nursery, there having triplets by surrogate. Three little girls.”
“Damn.” Taylor said.
“It’s a massive room though, I was coming back to talk to you about price and about time frame. They want it done by May and I’m not sure if I can.”
He frowned as he looked at me. “I really hate that bastard, you know that right? Every time he’s around you he does something that hurts you.”
“I know. He was sent to bring me back. I guess I should have filed a report the first time he hit me. Getting tired of people hitting me.”
He kissed my forehead gently. “We’ll tend to the clients of yours and see what we can do. I’ll hate leaving you at their house.”
“Honey, their house is secure.”
“Speaking of house! The bank called and the loan was approved. We have to go sign the papers, which we can do because there’s nothing Tay and I can do without Ike.”
“Really? That is awesome.” I gave him a big tight hug, the paperwork going through was a first step though, so I’d contain my giddy jumping for another time.
“How is Nicole?”
“Stressed, their wedding is so close and she has no dress now. But, Isaac said he was going to help her do whatever he can and I told him after you know what we can help too.”
He didn’t want to say Taylor’s birthday party, because Taylor didn’t know about it. I agreed with him and since we could get to the bank now we went ahead and left.
“Is your side okay?”
“Yeah, just sore now. Much like my face. It’s not real bad is it?”
“Your cheek is bruising.”
“Least I can see!”
The bank’s representative was a little concerned about my appearance and while we were there Mrs. Brooks called and I told her we’d be over once we were done. We got the papers signed and became official for the loan and contacted the realtors, but no news on if the offer was accepted yet. So, we headed on over to the Brooks.
“How do you explain your face to them?”
“The truth. An ex-friend hit me.”
That was my exact story when she asked me what happened and they were super nice about it too. The room was up-stairs and it really was a huge room.
“Wow.” Zac said.
I had my tablet with me and I did a footprint of the floor with measurements, then asked where they were placing furniture, because the last thing you wanted was to have a crib or dresser in the way of the main character or one of the seven drafts. Or whatever they decided on. Once I was sure the layout for the room was right I asked about the specific look.
“We talked while away and when we got home and I believe I agree with Gale. Snow White is her favorite movie of all time and I have no doubt that the girls will like it also. It’s whimsical, it’s playful, and as long as we don’t include the queen or a castle I think it can translate well with what I wanted also.”
“Do you have any specific aspects you absolutely have to have?”
“Definitely snow white and the seven dwarves. I would like the cottage to be included somehow.”
“What color are the cribs?”
“There white, plain and simple.”
“Do you want the inside of the cottage or the outside?”
“Outside, I want as much natural as possible.” He said.
“Can you give me about twenty minutes to draw something up?”
“Absolutely.”
They stepped outside and with Zac’s help we sketched out a plan for the entire room. I did three walls, incorporating the cottage on the main wall between two cribs, some of the dwarves were dancing and having fun on the right side, Sleepy was actually asleep against a stump with animals around him, Snow white was on the left side sitting with a ton of animals, which translated to the whole room. But the wall behind us had the closet, I utilized the doors as the cottage doors and used the rest as the outside. On paper it looked awesome to us, but it was really up to them. They came back in and she was amazed I’d whipped it up.
“Keep in mind that I just did little outlines, detailing would be much more once it’s painted.”
We gave them time to talk it over and she asked for some minor changes, wanting to incorporate some Disney animals she liked from other movies and he wanted to add a bit more color, which was in the flowers. I gave them a price of twenty thousand and Zac felt for sure if I did five days a week I could do it in a month, maybe less. He even said he would come and assist with the wooded areas and large cottage. We agreed to start next Monday and they would have the floors covered for me, so they would be completely clear. It gave me a week to gather material, colors, and what I needed to complete the job. My first step was a scaled version of the final project which would help me know what colors to get and about how much. I also needed to get the right colors for Snow Whites clothes and the dwarves.
“You’re going to be busy.”
“Busy is good though, I mean it’s what I wanted to do anyway. Make people happy. Assuming they are happy with the finished product it could mean a lot more work like that and not just small and medium canvases.”
“Do we get a personalized mural at our hopefully new house?”
“Do you want one?”
“I was kidding. But, if you want to do one I won’t object.”
I smiled. “Maybe, we’ll see what happens.”
“Heather still accommodating us this weekend?”
“Yeah. Sierra should be in Friday. Stella has his cake ordered and Heather handled everything else. Invites, décor, everything. She’s got the bedrooms cleaned up too so if anyone gets too drunk to drive they have a safe place to crash.”
“Are we getting that drunk?”
“Duh? But I planned on staying anyway.”
“Oh?”
“One of the rooms has a stripper pole in it. I figured you wouldn’t mind if I brought something and showed off again.”
“Only if I can bring a camera.”
“Bring two. You did really good with those, think you got close a few times.”
“Oh, I definitely got close.”
“Okay, too long of a day. I think I want Tylenol and sleep.”
“Hurting?”
“It’s not bad, but it does hurt just a bit.”
He kissed my cheek carefully. “Let’s hit the hay and if you get to hurting too bad we can visit the ER.”
“It’s not bad, doesn’t feel like it’s anything major just soreness.”
We got ready for bed and he did check and the bruising was extensive, it wouldn’t be gone by Saturday. Which, we weren’t using the pool so that was a plus. Sleep called me quickly and the Tylenol helped keep the pain away.