Bring Me Fire (4 page)

Chapter 7

On Wednesday evening Julia came over with Thai food and offered her opinion on the various outfits Sky was trying to decide between for her first day of work. The pile of discarded clothes on the bed grew larger and larger.

"
How about jeans and that black shirt right there?" Julia asked, taking a bite of spring roll. Sky looked where she was pointing.

"
Julia. I’m not going into work wearing jeans and a t-shirt. At least not on the first day."

"
Well, it’s not like you’re going to be dealing with the public, right? This is his own private collection. I’d think you’d want to wear something comfortable."

"
Sure, but also professional. And professional trumps comfortable, at least in this situation. I think the reason I haven’t felt totally excited about this job is because I’m nervous about messing it up. I don’t want what happened at
Prelude
to happen here."

Julia nodded.
"Fair enough."

"
So I’m going to be as professional as possible. Dressing like it’s a gallery job, even if I’m not going to be interacting with the public. Not talking about anything personal. Which I think should be easy enough; he doesn’t really seem like the sort of person to really get into that sort of thing."

"
Here, try this curry before I eat it all," Julia said, handing one of the plastic takeout containers to Sky. "It’s deliciously awesome tonight. And Sky? You know I love you, and of course I want the best for you, but I don’t know if you’re going to be able to make good on that second one."

Sky took a bite of the curry, red, with chicken, over brown rice. It had a slight heat to it that was tamped down by the coconut milk, just the way she liked it.
"What do you mean? You think I’m just going to go in there and spill my whole life story to him or something?"

"
Well, not necessarily, but you really are like an open book. You kind of can’t help it. Which is one of the things that make you, well, you. Most people are more guarded with that sort of thing. It’s refreshing."

Sky smiled.
"You should meet Conner, the assistant. If I’m an open book, he’s like a tabloid magazine fluttering in the breeze. But really, though." She handed the curry back to Julia. "I feel like I’ve been given a second chance in a way. So I want to do things right. I don’t want to mess this up." She picked up a charcoal-colored pencil skirt and held it to her waist. "How about this and that pink turtleneck sweater?"

"
That would be good," Julia said. "Show off those excellent calves of yours."

Sky shook her head, smiling.
"That is not what I’m going for," she said.

"
I know. But still, it can’t hurt," Julia said with a smile.

Sky woke up early on Thursday and was dressed and ready to go nearly two hours before Conner was scheduled to come pick her up. She paced her apartment, fiddled with her hair and then switched out the pink sweater for a long-sleeved black and white striped shirt. Finally, she decided she’d go get a latte.

She went to
Café Del Mar
, in part out of habit, and in part because it was closest. She glanced at the clock hanging on the wall behind the counter as she ordered her drink. Someone would be opening
Prelude
shortly, and she wondered if it would be Ashley or Aidan or her replacement. Probably, they hadn’t hired anyone to replace her yet.

She went down to the end of the counter to wait for her drink, browsing through an issue of the
Bay Guardian
. She heard a familiar voice ordering a triple-shot skim milk latte at the other end of the bar and she glanced up. Right as she did, Ashley looked over at her, their eyes meeting. Sky smiled and gave a little wave.

"
Hi, Ashley," she said. She was still upset about getting fired but she didn’t want to be rude. San Francisco, though a city, had a small-town feel and it was easy to run into the same people over and over again, especially if it was someone that you didn’t want to see. And the art scene out here was even smaller. She wanted Ashley to know she could still be cordial.

Ashley’s mouth set into a thin line, and she held Sky’s gaze for a moment but didn’t say anything. Sky thought maybe she hadn’t heard her, so she started to put the newspaper down and walk over, but Ashley abruptly turned and walked off to the other end of the counter. Sky stopped, mid-step, aware of the girl behind the counter watching the entire thing.

"Okay," she said aloud, heat rising in her face. It was almost like going out to the middle of the gym floor, asking someone to dance, and being rejected, even if that person you asked to dance wasn’t someone you particularly cared for all that much. "That’s great." The girl quickly looked away to the next customer in line. The barista called Sky’s name and put her latte up. Sky grabbed the cup and hurried out of the coffee shop, hoping she’d never have to run into Ashley again, even though she knew the likelihood of that was very slim.

Climbing into Conner’s Audi felt like entering a safe zone, and Sky breathed a sigh of relief as they sped across the Bay Bridge and up into the Oakland Hills.

"Don’t stress, sweets," Conner said. "You’re going to be fine. Though I totally understand how normal it is to be nervous your first day on the job. Today I’m mostly going to be giving you a tour of the place. It’ll be a walk in the park."

"
Surprisingly enough, I’m not really stressing about that at the moment," Sky said.

"
Oh, yeah? Do tell, then." Conner pushed his sunglasses up on top of his head and looked at her, eyebrow raised. "It might still be insanely early for some of us, but I do love my gossip first thing in the morning."

"
I just ran into my old boss."

"
Ahhh. The awkward first ex-boss run in. I hate that shit. It’s worse than doing the walk of shame from Russian Hill all the way back to the Castro because you lost your wallet and you’re still too buzzed to drive. Not that I’m speaking from personal experience, of course."

Sky laughed.
"No, of course not."

"
So was it terrible? Cringe-inducing? Was there a big scene?"
"No, not really. It was actually very anti-climatic."

Conner shuddered.
"The anti-climax. That’s the worst. No, thank you."

"
I tried to say hi and she basically stared at me for a second and then turned and walked in the other direction."

"
Ouch."

"
Whatever. I mean, it’s not that big of a deal, I just thought if we could at least be civil to each other then maybe things wouldn’t be awkward if we ended up running into each other again, which I’m sure we will."

"
Some people like to keep things as awkward as possible. Plus, she’s probably pissed that you got a new job."

"
How would she know?"

"
She might not. Yet, anyway. But word travels fast. And anyone who’s anyone in the art world knows that Josh has a collection to die for, and when she does find out, it’s going to drive her batshit crazy. I all but guarantee it. So, looking at it that way, you have won."

Sky sighed.
"I’m not trying to win anything." And she wasn’t. It didn’t particularly make her feel better that Ashley might be upset that she had gotten a better job, that she was now having a chance to work with a coveted art collection. She knew she’d never be friends with Ashley, but she didn’t understand why they couldn’t at least be polite to each other.

"
Let me give you a piece of advice," Conner said. "Or maybe not advice, but a little insight. She is jealous of you. I don’t even have to know the whole story to know this. And you’re fabulous, so of course, who can blame her. And she probably figured that firing you from her little gallery would mean you’d go start slinging lattes or something, but instead you persevered, with a little help from her husband, and managed to land a better job. So even if you personally don’t care about winning, you already have, and just because it doesn’t matter to you doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter to someone else – especially to a person who thinks they’re in competition with you."

Sky could feel a headache starting to build in the front of her skull. She took a sip of her coffee and hoped the caffeine would help.
"I’d just like to forget about the whole thing, then, and concentrate on my new job, and be as professional as possible."

Conner smiled.
"If you really mean that, then I think you’re going to fit in just fine. That’s pretty much exactly what Josh was looking for."

Conner spent most of the morning showing Sky around. It seemed there were endless hallways, off of which room after room lay, filled with various types of art, ranging from framed oil paintings to charcoal sketches and clay sculptures. In one room, the table set in the center was covered with what looked to be African masks made of wood and affixed with colorful beads and feathers. Something large, like a rain stick or maybe a didgeridoo was propped in the corner.

"
I can’t believe this collection he’s got," Sky said. She moved to turn around and felt her elbow brush against a stack of frames that were leaning against the wall. She caught them before they toppled over. Conner laughed.

"
As you can see, assistance is needed. It’s just far too big a job for me to take on myself, and while I can certainly appreciate the finer things in life, art isn’t really something that I know too much about. Mostly, it all looks the same to me. But you see how it is. It’s like this in pretty much every room. Notice though, that the walls are bare. In a way, you get to be an artist yourself. But Josh was very specific with how he wants things done, which I’ll explain to you and then I’m sure he’ll explain again to you next time he sees you."

Sky nodded.
"Okay," she said. "Is he here now?"

"
I’m not sure. Probably not. He might be around later. He likes to pretend he’s very reclusive, but in reality, he just likes to be able to come and go as he pleases, without a lot of fuss. Basically, he doesn’t want to be noticed. Kind of a tall order when you’re as good-looking as he happens to be, but I think it’s less of a problem for him if he goes somewhere like, say, Europe."

"
Oh. So he might go off to Europe, just like that?"

"
Just like that. Must be nice, huh?"
Sky followed Conner out of that room and toward the end of the hallway. There was a large window that overlooked the side yard and a massive magnolia tree. Sky walked to the window to get a better view. As she was turning away to walk back to Conner, she glanced to her right and saw a short hallway off of the one she was on, with a closed door at the very end.

"
Do I need the tour of this room, too?" she asked, pointing.

Conner had been looking at something on his iPhone, but when he looked up and saw where Sky was pointing, he quickly dropped the phone in his pocket and hurried over to her.

"No, no," he said, putting an arm around her shoulders and steering her away. "That is pretty much the one place that I am
not
going to give you a tour."

"
Yeah? How come?" She felt her curiosity rising.

"
Well, for starters, I don’t have the key. So even if I wanted to give you the tour, I couldn’t. But it’s off limits. For you, for me."

"
You don’t know what’s in there?"

"
I don’t."

Sky glanced back toward the door, even though Conner seemed intent on leading her away.
A secret room. She couldn’t help but wonder what was in there. Could it be memorabilia from his Hollywood days? Maybe things like pieces from various sets, or different outfits he had worn. She could only imagine how much her sister would flip out if that were the case. But as Sky followed Conner back down the hallway, away from the room, she decided that it probably wasn’t. Because if he really despised acting as much as everyone said he did, then it wouldn’t make sense that there would be a secret room dedicated to something he didn’t like.

Conner had been saying something, Sky realized, her attention floating back to the present. She shouldn’t space out like that; there’d be time to think about what might possibly be in that room later.

"I’m sorry," Sky said. "What did you just say?"

Conner pursed his lips and frowned.
"I was saying I don’t like having to repeat myself because someone’s head is off in the clouds," he replied with a wry smile.

Sky felt herself blush.
"I’m sorry," she said, silently scolding herself for already not acting as professionally as she had planned. So her boss had a secret locked room. Its contents didn’t matter; it wasn’t a concern of hers.

"
What I was saying," Conner continued, "was that Josh has had a computer program designed which is basically going to allow you to catalog all of this art. It’s pretty straightforward. You’ll photograph the piece, upload the photos, create a file for each one. They can be grouped by artist, by type, by location, even, I think. That’s going to take you awhile, I’m sure you’ve figured, seeing the sheer amount of what he’s got, but it’ll be good because it will allow you to get totally familiar with it. And once you’ve finished with the database, that’s when the fun part starts: the arranging. Of course, you’re not going to entirely have free reign or final say in how everything’s displayed, but, depending on how good you are, your influence and input will definitely be there."