Page 49 of All That We Are Together

“Don’t worry about her; she thought she needed to protectyou. You probably just seemed to her like a fragile little girl then, whereas he…”

“Sometimes strong people hide behind a shield to keep from showing their fears and weaknesses.”

He nodded, understanding what I meant to say. Because Axel wasn’t as strong as everyone thought, and I wasn’t as delicate. But appearances are deceiving.

“I’ll go talk to her.”

“No, I will.” I suggested.

“Are you sure?”

I nodded, smiled, and went to the kitchen.

Georgia was cutting the cheesecake she had just taken out of the fridge into small triangular portions. I remembered how whenever she got nervous, she had to keep her hands busy. The thought tugged at my heart. I walked up behind her silently and embraced her. She stood still, but I could feel the sobs escaping her as she moved. When she turned around and looked at me with damp eyes, I forgot why I’d gotten angry with her, because that’s how it is with family; you try and remember why you were mad, and it just doesn’t matter anymore.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I felt like I had to protect you, that it was what your mother would have wanted, and when all that happened…it was like I had failed you. It hurt not being able to take care of you when Oliver had to go away to work; there was no room here, and everything got so complicated…”

I smiled and shook my head. “You worry too much.”

“I don’t worry enough,” she joked.

“I’m not a little girl anymore, Georgia.”

“I guess not… So you always liked Axel. How is it possible that I didn’t realize that?”

I blushed and shrugged. “Mom certainly knew.”

“Rose? And she never warned you away from him?”

“I don’t think she worried about it.” I stared at the tiles while Georgia rubbed my shoulders softly. “Anyway, it’s done. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

42

Leah

We worked shoulder to shoulder the next two days until we had the layout of the rooms ready and all the pictures framed. It was easy. The way it used to be.

We took a break to get lunch with Sam at the café and then went back to the gallery one day; on the other, we went to Axel’s office to go over last-minute details. That afternoon, it grew hot.

“Looks like everything’s ready,” I said.

“Yeah, and tomorrow we’ll finally be able to try the menu Justin’s put together. There aren’t many dishes, but he seems to have taken it super seriously.”

Hearing that made me feel elated.

“Great. Anything else?”

“There’s a newspaper that’s interested. It’s not a big deal, but they want to do a short interview for their culture section.” He leafed through some pages on his desk. “When the pictures are up, we’ll work on lighting. Then there’s the most important part of the exhibition: you, the artist.”

“Are you talking about socializing and all that?”

“Yeah. This is an event, after all. When people come to see the works, they also want to talk to the artist, ask questions, have a conversation…”

“I’ll be awful at that.”

“I’d say the opposite.”

“You’ve got a lot of faith in me.”