Page 78 of None Of Your Business

“You understand where people put tension. Hands. Shoulders. Backs.” He gestures toward the canvas. “Most painters would give me a face here. Tears. Something obvious. But you haven’t told the viewer what to feel. You’ve trusted them to find it.”

This is what I wanted.

I wanted somebody to look at them and feel something before they figured out why.

Alistair walks to the middle of the room and studies all three together.

“When I first saw your work, you were very good at grabbing people’s attention,” he says. “You understood color. You already had a distinct hand, which is rare in someone as young as you were. But you were careful.”

My smile fades. “Careful?”

“Beautifully so.” He gestures toward the paintings. “These aren’t careful, and they’re better for it.”

His approval means more to me than I know what to do with.

He saw one of my paintings at a group show two years ago, stood in front of it for ten minutes, then found me and asked if I had representation.

He gave me my first solo exhibition, and I gave him an empty room four weeks before opening.

“I’m very proud of you.”

Oh.

I turn toward the nearest painting before I embarrass myself. “Don’t be nice to me. It’s weird.”

“Would it help if I called you an emotionally constipated nuisance?”

“Enormously.”

“Consider it done.”

I smile, though my eyes still sting.

“I told you I’d have the work. I know last year—”

“I did not give you another exhibition because I felt sorry for you.”

I look down at my boots. “You took a chance on me.”

“I represented an artist whose work I believe in.”

“And I pulled out four weeks before opening. The press had already started. You had collectors coming. You’d spent money.”

“Yes.”

“And now you’ve given me the same room again. I wasn’t going to let you down twice.”

“The fact that you’re worried about disappointing me is not the problem with these.”

My head snaps up. “There’s a problem?”

Alistair walks back toward the first painting. “Do you know what’s missing?”

I scan it.

The faces are intentionally absent. The upper-left section could probably use more contrast, but I decided against it.

“No.”