Perfect Imperfections (7 page)

CHAPTER 12

It had been a long time since Sam had met her friend Sharon, so they decided to meet at a new coffee shop that had opened near Sharon’s house. When the coffees arrived, Sam emptied the brown sugar sachet into hers and said, “You know, I can never thank Dave enough for helping me get this job.”

Judith — she had been a mute pawn in this game. When Kim walked out on Dave, Judith had felt terribly let down. With all that Kim had put Richard through, the days of agony when Kim refused to come and meet him, that had been all for nothing. All that he had done for her and the Noyes family was of no use.

However, it was unfair on Judith’s part to force Kim to live with someone because they felt indebted to that person. That was wrong at every level. In fact, Judith should have felt better that Kim had finally ended the relationship that she and Richard had been against. But somewhere between not knowing this person Dave and getting deeply dependent on him, they had grown to like this person on an individual level. He had built a one-on-one relationship with Sam and Judith. Kim didn’t need to be part of every conversation they had, and Sam had grown to accept that Dave would always be a part of their lives.

Actually, even though Sam always knew that her parents’ initial resentment against Dave was because they considered him to be a cradle-snatcher, she had always been fond of him. He loved her sister and that was enough for Sam to love him and to accept him as part of her family. Despite all of Kim’s flaws and struggles, he loved her. He had been there for her when she had to support her family and be strong for them. It made Sam feel good that there was someone looking after her big sister when she looked after the family.

Dave had brought out the best in Kim. He had encouraged her to be her individual and unique self. But now, they were at a crossroads that Kim had imposed on them. It was difficult for her to think about what Kim had done and to imagine what it must have done to Dave.

Sam had thought of meeting Dave after that evening, but Dave just didn’t seem to want to meet anyone from the family. He had only told her on the phone the morning after the proposal, “Sam, take care of yourself and of your family.” And that was that.

“You know, Sharon, sometimes it makes me so angry that Kim can be so blind.” Sam took a sip of her coffee and placed the mug back on the table. Her eyes didn’t stray from the tissue paper held in her fingers. “You know what the worst part of all this is?” she continued. “What she did to Dave… it just doesn’t make any sense. They were so happy, he made her so happy. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

There was a long pause before Sharon asked, “Have you or Aunt Judith spoken to Kim about it? Or, has she come up to either of you and discussed what went wrong all of a sudden?” Sharon was one of the few people who had actually been present at the party.

“Oh, you know how Kim gets!” said Sam. “She will keep things bottled up, never share her feelings. And, God forbid if you try.” She raised her hands as she spoke. There was real annoyance in her voice now. “If you try to coax her, or try to have a conversation that even remotely involves her feelings, she just clams up. You know, like one of those touch-me-not plants. I don’t understand why she has to make things more difficult than they need to be. You just have to wait it out, wait till she figures things out for herself. Then, she will come to us. But how long will that take? That is anybody’s guess.”

“Is she still at home these days?”

“No, she goes out. Wanders around, I guess. Doesn’t tell us much of where she is or what she is up to. Just at the mall or at the beach, or something vague like that.” The waiter came with their order of some baklava to go with their coffee. “Thank you,” Sam said to the waiter and continued, “She is out tonight with Jake and his friends.”

“With Jake?”

“Yes, I know that’s odd, given that they don’t know each other.”

“I guess then that’s her point.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I mean… come on, Sam… of course, she doesn’t go out because everyone will either want to talk to her about this whole thing with Dave, or would remind her in some way about it. So going out with Jake and his friends, it’s good for her."

***

“Kim, you came!”

Jake strode towards her. He was dressed in the same clothes that he had been in earlier. His hair was all disheveled, just as it was. “You look,” he paused, gave her a once-over, clearly raising her shackles, and ended with, “presentable.” 

Presentable?
Kim's face felt hot. 

“And now you have some color in your face, which makes you look more presentable.” Jake made no efforts to make her feel comfortable. 

“That’s a rude way to receive your guest.”

“Guest? Who?” He looked around as though Kim was referring to another person. “You? You aren’t a guest. In fact, now that you are here, I can relax and enjoy myself.”

“Excuse me? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that we are all hosts here. Help yourself,” he pointed to the bar, “and find yourself a good company. And before leaving, do say goodbye."

Leaving Kim still shocked and trying to understand what she had just heard, Jake smiled and walked away to join the rest of the group. She stood there all by herself, feeling awkward and a little foolish for having come at all. She couldn’t believe that, after all that show of insistence, Jake could be so cold and rude to her. She wanted to storm out, but she wasn’t going anywhere.
I’ll get through this evening with a little dignity
, she decided.
One hour — see and be seen.

She looked around, found the bar counter and went to get a drink for herself.

“One Long Island iced tea, please,” she said, clambering on the high barstool.

“Sure!” the man said.

“Scotch, two, on the rocks, two ice-cubes each,” a hoarse voice said from behind Kim.

It was a short guy dressed in khaki pants and an olive shirt. He stretched his hand and wished Kim, “Hi!”

Kim shook his hand and responded with another, “Hi!”

“Rob.”

“Kim.”

“Hello, Kim. Having a good time?”

“I just came in.”

“Oh! Know anyone here?”

“Not really.”

“That’s fine.” He took the two glasses the bartended placed in front of him and gestured Kim with a flick of his head to follow him. “Get your drink and I’ll introduce you to some guys here. They are good company.”

Kim followed and Rob went on, “That one over there is an art collector and a gallery owner, Jake. His gallery is setting up for its first exhibition this weekend. He was just telling us how he became interested in art at such a late age. I always thought you knew what you wanted to be when you were young. But, apparently not everyone knows.”

“I know Jake….sort of…he ask me here tonight.”

“Oh, is it.”

“But I don’t really know him or anything about him. So all that you told me was new news.”

Rob gave Kim a smug smile, “Interesting. Jake invited you here and you don’t know. Hmmm…” and went on to introduce Kim to a group that consisted of four guys and one petite girl. “This is Kim. I believe she is Jake’s friend. Am I right?”

“Right.” Kim smiled as the group engulfed her in a sea of questions and bombarded her with information about everything. The conversation was so effortless that it flowed from one topic to another as easily as turning pages of a book.

Kim didn’t realize when she was on her third drink and had to admit to herself that she needed a ride back home.

“Calling home?”

Kim was startled at the voice that spoke behind her and disconnected her call to Sam. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” said Jake.

“It was just… I called Sam to pick me on her way home. I didn’t get my car.”

“So, I see you’ve met Rob.”

“Yes, he is nice.”

“Good. So you are having a good time.”

“Yes.”

“You can come to my gallery on Thursday. See the pieces that will be going up a day in advance.”

“That’s awfully nice of you to invite me. But are you going to be as rude as today when I show up?” The third glass of Long Island iced tea was doing its work and Kim found it easier to allow her thoughts to actually form words and come out of her mouth.

“Nah! You did well today on your own, by the way. And I think that is Sam.” He gestured towards her phone, “Say hi to her for me.”

“Yeah,” Kim answered the phone. “I’ll be out in five.”

“So I’ll see you Thursday.”

It took Kim some time to understand what he said, but she had already confirmed it and was walking out of the lounge.

Did I just say yes to another invite by Jake? What’s with me and what’s with him? —
she thought.

CHAPTER 13

Kim’s trancelike phase was punctuated by the sporadic invites to Jake’s gallery the next few days, where she met new people every day — Jake’s assistant and a few hired helps, the artists — and she spent time with Jake who joined his crew in the evening to catch-up on what seemed like heaps of paperwork. She learnt a lot about what went into an art exhibition. She hadn’t imagined it took so much coordination and extensive going-through of details, even after they were meticulously worked out. It also gave her insight to who Jake was, judging by the reactions of the people who worked closely with him.

“Jake is the only child and the heir to his dad’s cruise business in Abu Dhabi,” Deb informed her once.

“He doesn’t look rich. I mean well off, yes, but stinking rich, I assume, absolutely not,” said Kim.

“Yeah, that runs in his family though. His dad too is very… well, mild, I guess.”

“Mild? That’s an interesting choice of word.” Kim smiled at Deb who continued to tell how supportive Mr. Benson had been to Jake. He had always given him the freedom he wanted to figure things out for himself.

“Setting up an art studio is not an easy job, as you can see.” Deb gestured towards the room and the mess it contained, “but then if he had wanted things to be easy he would have been in Abu Dhabi and would have joined his Dad and the cruise business. I guess maybe someday he will. But right now, he says he wants to build something of his own from the ground up.”

“You know, he has always had had things easy in life but when he decided to set up his own gallery without any direct support from his family, Mr. Benson was so proud.” When saying this, Deb herself had a sense a pride in her voice. “So, Jake’s here. Figuring his own course. He does that with great ease, making most of the things look easy. I am sure you feel that it’s a piece of cake.”

“Well, yeah, I do,” said Kim. “I mean, I didn’t know there was so much to do. I initially wondered, how difficult can it be? Just hang a bunch of pictures on the walls of a humongous room. Job done.” Kim dusted her hands to show what an easy job it was. “But now that I am seeing the number of hours you guys put in setting up the details, visiting sites, speaking to owners. And you get your share of moody whimsical artists as well. But Jake handles them nicely.”

“He has a knack of getting people exactly where they need to be without seeming pushy,”
said Deb. “Jake is not the obvious kind of artist or the art-gatherer. He is into sports; he still enjoys a rough game of football. He has partied enough to know he preferred his nights to himself, not to partying. Overall, he has always been a likable person. You may have found him odd at times. He comes across indifferent and too casual. He is always at someone or the other’s case, but there are only a handful few who know he has a quiet, a sensitive side to him.”

“That’s a lot of information on someone with whom you have worked for hardly a few months, Deb,” Kim teased.

“Yeah, it may appear so, but I have worked for the Bensons for a long time. My parents work for Mr. Benson and I used to do odd jobs for him on his cruise, or in his office to earn extra pocket money. Then, after college I started working full time, assisting Jake mostly. When he decided he was moving here, he asked me to come and I did,” Deb said with a shrug. “It’s really exciting to have to build something from scratch. The feeling is amazing. You know.”

That was a rude reminder for Kim that while people around her were doing what they wanted to do, acting on their dreams and goals, she was sitting and doing much of nothing.

“So, do you like it here?” Jake came up and interrupted Kim’s thoughts.

“This place is a mess. But I like it.”

“Helps you take your mind off your own mess, doesn’t it?”

The words stung, and she looked at Jake clearly upset. “Well, I guess I should get going. Don’t want to be in anybody’s way.” Kim gathered her scarf, shades, and messenger bag and slung it around one side of her shoulder.

“Wait, I’ll show you something, come in here,” said Jake, gesturing to his office at the far end of the hall. Then he clapped around to get everyone’s attention and announced, “Okay guys, will see you all tomorrow afternoon. Have a good night.” Then, he walked and led Kim into his office.

The chaos in the halls of the gallery was in stark contrast of Jake’s office, which was in pristine condition, too neat for a man perhaps.

“Don’t look that surprised,” he teased Kim, whose eyes were wide and staring at the room.

“A…mm… well, I guess Deb is really good at her job.”

“Well she is, but it’s not her job to clean up after me, if that’s what you think she is here for. She is a very intelligent person and very good at her work.”

“Why the hell are you inviting me to your workplace to your parties, and then being so awfully rude?”

“I am not being anything to you, Kim,” said Jake in a calm voice and leaned at his desk. He folded his arms across his chest and looked straight at Kim.

“Well, you may not be aware of it, but you are.”

“No I am not. I am just not going out of my way to make you comfortable, to do things for you, because I think that’s the last thing you’d want anyone to do right now. I invite you to parties and here because that way you will get to interact with people — people who don’t constantly want to ask you about your messy past and you don’t have to live through it again and again. But you truly are clueless about what you want, aren’t you?”

Then Jake stood up straight and walked towards Kim. He came up and stood close enough to feel the heat of her anger. “You want exactly what you are getting, but you are so blinded… you are used to getting things without even realizing you need them. Toughen up, Kim Noyes, and move on. Get a hold on yourself and your life. There is the door, and you can storm off now.” He said and turned to his desk to get back to his paperwork, and by the time he got to his chair, the door slammed, leaving him alone in this office.