A couple of days later, as I was getting Julia dressed, my phone rang. I reached over, grabbed it from the bed, and saw it was Sal from the art gallery.
“Hi Sal,” I answered.
“Hey, Ellery. My brother is opening up a large art gallery in Chicago, and he wants you to be a part of it. He was going to call you, but I told him to hold off until I talked to you first. His art show is going to be big, and he has a lot of influential people and critics attending. This could be a big break for you as an artist. He said he wants at least five of your new paintings to showcase.”
My heart began beating with excitement as I said yes right away. The thought of painting again thrilled me.
“Thank you, Sal. Tell your brother to call me and that I’m very excited.”
“I will, Ellery, and congratulations. I know you’ll do fantastic,” he said as he hung up.
I picked up Julia and did a little happy dance with her. I hadn’t painted since before she was born, and I missed it. Connor had already left for the office, and I was dying to tell him about the phone call from Sal, so I decided that we’d stop by his office after we picked up Camden’s birthday gift. When I took Julia downstairs, Claire took her from me.
“Good morning, Ellery.” She smiled.
“Good morning, Claire. Can you keep an eye on Julia for me while I finish getting ready? We’re going to go shopping today for Camden’s birthday and then we’re going to pay a surprise visit to Connor.”
Claire smiled as she looked down at Julia. “Of course I can keep an eye on this little doll.”
“Thank you, Claire. I won’t be too long.”
***
As Denny was driving Julia and me to FAO Schwarz to meet Cassidy, his phone rang. He looked at it and then at me through the rearview mirror. I found it odd that he didn’t answer it. A few seconds later, his phone rang again.
“You better get that. It may be important,” I said.
He picked up his phone and answered it. He kept watching me through the mirror. He didn’t offer much to the conversation except a few “Okays.” This was the second time he had behaved strangely with a phone call while I was around. I was beginning to think that something was going on that he didn’t want me to know about. I decided not to ask him about it just yet.
Denny pulled up to the curb and Cassidy was waiting outside the store for us. She walked around, opened the door, and took Julia from her car seat. After I thanked Denny for his help, he said goodbye and drove away.
“I want to hear all about your date with Ben,” I said as the man dressed as a toy soldier held the door open for us.
“It was a lot of fun. Not only is he hot, but he’s funny too.”
“I think I remember him being on the funny side.” I smiled. “Connor was upset that I said he was hot.” I laughed.
“Tell Connor he has nothing to worry about.”
“I already did, but he wants to be the only hot man in my life.”
“Of course he does. He’s madly in love with you. But the weird thing is, I didn’t think he was the jealous type.”
“I quickly put his fears to rest.” I winked.
Cassidy and I walked around the store for over two hours. Julia had just woken up and she was starting to get fussy. When I stopped the stroller and took her out of it, Cassidy lightly touched my arm. I looked over at her as she stared ahead. My eyes diverted over to where she was looking, and I saw my husband standing there, next to the big piano, with a wide smile on his face.
“What are you doing here?” I smiled as I walked over to him and he took Julia from my arms.
“I was hoping to take my three favorite girls to lunch.”
“Oh, so, now I’m one of your favorite girls?” Cassidy asked him as she kissed his cheek.
“You’ve always been my favorite sister.” He winked.
“Julia and I were going to surprise you and come to the office.”
“Well, it looks like I surprised you first,” Connor said as he kissed my lips.
Cassidy walked over and stepped onto the big piano with one foot. “Connor, do you remember when we were kids?” she asked with a smile.
“I sure do. Mom and Dad used to bring us here, and the both of us would try to play a song on that.”