Chapter 51 - Continuation

*

After their coming to Jesus moment, Beverly and Craig walked down from the Hill's property and onto the beach. They sat there and talked. All day. He didn't even remember the last time they had talked so much, but he was pretty sure that time was when Amanda was still around. He offered to take Beverly to her grave, but she couldn't yet. They've accomplished a lot in one day. Baby steps. You had to take baby steps with Beverly. He was the one to just jump in and do it. Beverly had to survey and watch if you survived, and then she MAY join. 

We all have our survival tactics. 

They sat on the beach and watched the beautiful sunset. Then they felt small drops of rain, and they ran into the house. But not fast enough, thankfully the housekeepers figured it was time to unlock the door, and they did before they rushed back in, soaking wet. 

"Babe, there you are," Brandon said as he walked into the room. "You two went swimming?" Then a small roll of thunder answered his question, and he finally noticed the rain outside. "Well, take your shoes off. You know how Ma is."

As they both did, a couple of housekeepers came in with big black towels. Beverly thanked them, and Brandon wrapped it around her and rubbed her arms trying to dry her off. He whispered something in her ear, and she giggled. 

"You guys hungry?"

"Not really..."
"Starving!" Craig and Beverly both said at the same time.

"Well, the chef is almost done. It's just us tonight," he said as he wiggled his eyebrows at Beverly. Craig cleared his throat. "And your brother..." he said sheepishly.

"You good. I'm going up to lie down. I'll be starving once I wake up, though," Craig said as he rubbed the towel on his head to dry his curls.

"You sure? You should really eat something," Beverly said to him.

"I'll think about it, but I gotta dry off."

"She does, too, unless you wanna go down to the indoor pool and take a swim. I can keep my clothes on, too," Brandon said to her, and Beverly chuckled.

"I've had enough water for the day. I need a glass of wine. And I need to go dry off."

One of the housekeepers heard her request and stepped forward, but Brandon stopped them. "I got it. Your usual white or your usual red?"

"Both," Beverly said, and they laughed. The housekeepers snickered. They could relax more when it was just "the kids," but once the Hills came home, it was back to business and being on their best behavior.

"Got it," Brandon said and walked toward the kitchen. The housekeeper kept herself busy by wiping the floor of the puddles the two siblings left behind. 

Craig and Beverly walked upstairs, and Craig stopped in front of the door to the guest room. "You good, sis?"

"Yeah. Love you, bro."

"Love you too," he said. He watched her walk down the hall to her room as she tried to dry her hair. He then walked into his room and closed the door. He leaned against the door once it was shut and closed his eyes. What a day. He dropped his wet Adidas on the floor and peeled off the rest of his clothing. He put his wet clothes in the hamper. One of the little housekeepers insisted on doing his laundry too. He decided against it and hung them over the shower rod to dry. He flipped on the heated flooring and did a double take when he glanced in the mirror. He rubbed his eyes, he still had water in them, but it was still there. 

"Where the fuck did this come from?" he said to himself as he turned around and looked at it.

It was Kehinde Wiley's painting of Adena, hanging on the wall opposite the mirror and toilet. Great, whenever he took a dump or piss, she was right there, watching him. He then remembered that Mrs. Hill was dying to buy a Richard Mayhew and Kehinde Wiley painting, and she would pay 'top dollar' for it. He wondered how much she spent...and why she put it in the guest room he was staying in. He surveyed the painting, and he had to admit it was dope. The green grass in the painting was the exact match to the green paint in the bathroom. It matched perfectly. Kehinde drew her perfectly. It looked exactly like her. From the regal way, she held her pregnant stomach to her gorgeous, smiling eyes. He sighed, he didn't know how long he stared at the painting, but it put him in some sort of trance.

He and Beverly had a major breakthrough today. Adena deserved that as well. The two talked a little bit about her while they sat on the beach, and Beverly informed him that it was Adena's father who got the background check, and Adena only kept it but forgot about it. She told Beverly she never even looked at it. He sighed as he ran his hands down his face. The envelope full of rent money, the 4-page letter he wrote her. Again, he acted too quickly. Somehow they skipped over the part about who actually wanted and needed the background check. They both were just pushed to their limit as far as trust. They both felt betrayed but also betrayed themselves too. He took his phone out of his pocket. "Shit," he said as he took the case off. It was soaked. He dried it off and found his charger, then plugged it in. He changed into a pair of boxers and lay on the bed. Regret filled his mind so much that he couldn't sleep. 

It was more likely the coke too, Craig.

He got back up, dug through his bag, and was relieved to find his weed vape pen. He held it to his mouth, and Adena's voice filled his head. "You better have a big life insurance policy if you plan on smoking that shit because it's gonna kill you. Then what am I gonna do? You'll most likely give it all to Beverly, and then I'll have to try to marry her too."

He chuckled. "Last time, I promise," he said to himself, just like he said to her then. He also told her that if she behaved, she would get part of it. She didn't believe him. He hadn't touched it since then, but he needed to sleep this off. He had to detox, and then he had to get his life back on track. He couldn't believe how much it fell apart in a matter of a day.

*

The Monkey is a curious person who can find interests anywhere. They are attracted to the new and unknown, and that makes them open-minded and knowledgeable, but their energy will quickly dissipate due to having so many interests. They must learn to stick to one at a time.

* 

Adena was talking to a customer, and they were discussing the Harlem Renaissance when a few girls walked into the gallery. "How can I help you? Are you buying or browsing today?" Lloyd greeted them.

"Oh! There she is!" one of them said as she pointed at Adena, and they rushed over to her. Lloyd looked after them in shock. Must be friends of hers. The gallery doors opened, and a couple walked in, and he greeted them. Donatella looked down from her office and was pleased to see so many people coming in. That pleasure only lasted so long when her phone started to ring again.

Adena heard the girls and turned around toward them. "Hi, how can I help you?" she asked with wide eyes but a professional smile. Did she know them? Why were they so excited to see her?

"Make sure first. She could be a doppelganger, you know, like in The Vampire Diaries?" one of them said. 

A doppler what???

"This is you, right? I know it is," one of them said as they held their phone in her face. They let her take the phone out of their hand and saw a post of Kehinde's painting of her posted to a Facebook group. 

"Yes, that's me," Adena confirmed.

"See? Duh, she's pregnant."

"How can I help you?" she asked them, still confused as to why they were there. 

"We're art students over at SCAD. This painting of you went viral on the Black American Art group on Facebook. Now it's everywhere. Instagram, Twitter, probably Tiktok by now."

Adena stared at them in disbelief. She looked at the number of likes on the post and was surprised to see over 300,000 likes. "Wow, ohmygod-"

"So apparently, this gallery had this big event where Kehinde Wiley auctioned off the painting? And we totally missed it."

"I'm so sorry. It was an event that was only thrown together a couple of weeks before."

"Couldn't tell; the place looked packed. And different," the other girl said as she showed her an Instagram post. It was a video clip of Kehinde unveiling the painting. It also had hundreds of thousands of likes. 

So much for being like the Mona Lisa.

"Are you selling any prints of this?" they asked.

"We did, but we sold out at the event."

"I wonder who got the actual painting."

"A very happy customer," Adena said. She was glad that someone she knew had the original. 

'Don't worry. I'll hang it somewhere quiet and safe.' Mrs. Hill had said to her. 

"I can show you around to look at some Kandinsky-"

"Where are all the black artists?" one of them said as she glanced around. "This was the same gallery?"

"Yes, it was entirely transformed. All the artists were vendors, independents from all over."

"And nothing is left??"

"Sorry, whatever wasn't sold, they packed up and took it with them."

"That sucks," one of them said as she crossed her arms. "I thought this was a Black gallery. We were so excited."

"Well, with a name like Donatella, of course, it wouldn't," the other said. 

"Sorry, it was just a one-day Juneteenth event-"

"There won't be any more until next year?"

"I don't have the details of that just yet."

"Can we at least get a selfie with you?" one said, and the other clapped in excitement. "No one has that. We gotta leave with something."

"Uh, sure," Adena said with a shrug. She was squeezed in between the two overzealous girls as she messed with her hair and fixed her dress.

"Oh, you look good, see, even without a filter. You're glowing, don't worry," she said as she held the phone in front of them. "On the count of three, cheese!" Adena tried her best to smile with her teeth, but she didn't know these girls. She appreciated that they were so excited about the event even though they did miss it.

"Thank you so much," they said to her as they showed her the pictures. They did look good. "So you work here like every day?"

"Every weekday, sometimes Saturdays, for art shows."

"We gotta tell the others."

"No, we don't, then everyone will have a selfie like ours, and it won't be special anymore." Adena chuckled. She felt like she was in The Twilight Zone. Did she have fans? A clearing of someone's throat made them turn around, and Donatella was standing there. 

"Adena, my office," she said to her.

"This is Donatella, the owner of the gallery."

"Hi," the two said to her but didn't pay her much mind. "We got to get back to class. Your name is Ad..."

"Adena."

"Adena! Bye, Adena," the two said, and then they left. Donatella and Adena look after them in shock. 

"This is why I don't like children in my gallery. They're rude," Donatella said. She wasn't used to people not recognizing her and treating her like a normal person. 

"They go to SCAD, so they're at least 18."

"Still children. You're not an adult until after college. Walk with me," she said to her, and Adena walked in step beside her. "So my phone has been ringing off the hook about that damn art showing you had. I am not a secretary. Kehinde also called, and I told him you would call back. I left the messages in your office. Talk to him about this. I don't need people calling my line like I'm customer service."

"Yes, Donatella."

"You're taking your probiotics?"

"Yes, Donatella."

"You're getting enough protein?"

"Yes, Donatella."

"Ok, well, go ahead and take care of that for me. Lloyd, hold ALL of my calls," she said to him, and he nodded. Adena walked into her office and found a small pile of Post-it notes. Wow. A few minutes later, she and Kehinde were on a Skype call. "I have so many messages. I even had two girls come in wanting to take a selfie with me. They were so disappointed that we didn't have anything still left from the event in the gallery."

"Yeah, Donatella's gallery is only for a certain type of people."

"Oh, I know."

"Well, I'm leaving for Italy tomorrow for a couple of weeks. I can try to call you back after that, but we need to get on this now while the iron is still hot."

"Oh wow. Well, what are you doing tonight?" she asked him. 

Kehinde paused, "Tonight? Nothing special."

"Maybe we can get some dinner and talk about the ideas we have," Adena said innocently. She was so excited about the reactions and didn't realize that she just made Kehinde's day...or month. She saw it as just a business dinner, and he saw it as something else.

"Great, what time is best for you? 6? 7?"

"How about 6:30?"

"Where do you want to go?"

"There's a diner around the corner."

"Oh no, no, no. This conversation is too important to have in a greasy diner. I can pick the place if you don't mind. I hear you women like that."

"We love it," she said with a smile. "See you then."

*

The Capricorn sign brings a lot of conflict to the Chinese sign of the Monkey. Capricorn brings with it a severity or strictness in manner, attitude, and appearance. Combining that with the witty Monkey produces someone confident, stylish, and charming. Complete opposites in one person.

*

Adena smiled politely as she sat across from Kehinde. She looked around at the luxurious space. Kehinde made sure to have their reserved table in the gallery where Solas DeWitt's art was displayed, one of the 'It Artists' of the Year. The restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, was voted #1 Restaurant in the World in 2017 and has continued that title since, even with an entirely plant-based menu. Now she felt stupid for suggesting the diner around the corner from the gallery. It was the Waffle House meets the diner from Grease. This place was upscale, with high-rising ceilings and windows. 

"Thank you so much," Kehinde said to the person who was asking for an autograph. He looked like a movie star himself, and in a place like this, he might have been. "Sorry about that."

"No problem," Adena said as she took a sip of the freshest water she ever tasted. "This place is amazing. I'm surprised but not surprised you got a reservation at the last minute for a place like this. I heard their waitlist is like two years long."

And she wasn't kidding.

"Well, I figured we could celebrate the success of our last-minute event in a lavish last-minute restaurant. Not to offend, I wanted to take you somewhere you have never been."

"None taken. Figured I'd jump at the chance to eat a dinner that was over $300 per person," she said with a wink.

"Someone read the website."

"I like to be prepared. I don't like being caught off guard, especially when it comes to food and especially since my diet is sort of limited."

"Well, while we wait for our first course, let's get down to business, shall we? We have a lot to talk about."

"Yes, I have press that wants to talk, mostly with you, and to write a few articles. I got a lot of messages about when the next event is. You should see Donatella's gallery now. I know she's noticed. How could you not? But there's a lot more of 'us' walking in. Phones are ringing off the hook about the event and not anything to do with the gallery. Some buy, but more are disappointed that it's all 'white,'" she said as the first course was delivered.

"That was the goal, right? I felt the same way when I walked in that cold January day. It's a shocking contrast. So we know what our next step is. Bigger and better."

"Exactly. When do you have time to do this again? I can't do it without you," she said sweetly.

Kehinde was beaming on the inside but kept his cool. She couldn't do it without him. She needed him. "So you want to be partners? Partners in crime?"

"You could say so. We work great together, don't we?"

It was getting harder and harder for him to keep his cool. He chuckled. "I feel the exact same way."

"Ok, let's do it," she said. "You'll have to show me the way. I've never been a 'partner' before."

"On one condition, though, if you don't mind."

"Anything," she said excitingly as she finished the first course. For $300 a person, their plates were terribly small.

"If I were to be a partner and fit you into my already busy schedule. I have to schedule things a year in advance sometimes. I don't want to come back just to do a one-day event-"

"Oh, like what two days? Like a festival?"

"Not quite. Something more concrete, something more substantial. Something permanent."

Adena narrowed her eyes, "I'm not following."

"I know I just realized we're not on the same page here exactly," he said. "What was it you called it? The event? You said it was like something, and I know I loved it, but I can't remember it, and it's killing me."

"An Art Amusement Park?"

"YES!" he said excitedly but a little too loud. Some patrons looked over at them. Adena giggled, and he did too. "The Art Amusement Park, and ever since you said that, the wheels were turning," he said, but she still wasn't catching on. "I want us to make an Art Amusement Park, somewhere permanent that's not in a White gallery. I want a place that's colorful, where people can learn. Where people can learn to appreciate art, take classes, do different events, host artists in the area, can rent space to sell their art. Something for everyone. For the kids especially, but for all of us too. No matter what age."

Adena stared at him. "Like a literal Art Amusement Park?"

"Can't you see it? Essentially our own gallery. Filled with our own people, our own history, they're so intent on trying to erase us these days. A place to call ours."

The waiter set down the second course in front of them and refilled her glass. She sat there speechless. "You want to open a gallery with me?"

"Yes! Just like the event, but it's like that every single day. Or every day it's open. How about it? That would be worth it. More worthwhile. When I'm in Paris or Milan or Japan, having my own gallery like that to come back to instead of a one-day thing is not a problem for me. At all. No matter how long the flight is. No matter how far."

Adena didn't know what to say. She literally clutched the pearls that were around her neck. "I...that's been my dream, to have my own gallery one day. I actually wrote a paper about it in school. I wanted my own gallery where I could give more people a chance to see and enjoy art as much as I do. Wow, this means a lot. Like, are you serious right now?"

Was she dreaming? One of her favorite artists ever wanted to own a gallery with her. That's like Shakespeare asking his biggest fan to write a play with him.

"I've always wanted one too. That's also a passion of mine," he beamed. "I'll give you some time to think about it. Doing something this big will mean a lot of work, and I know you have a baby on the way, and Donatella needs you, but maybe it's time to spread your wings. Be your own boss."

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "I don't need to think about it. Usually, I do with EVERYTHING in my life, but not this. I've always wanted this, and I've always known. I thought I was dreaming a dream, though. I also thought I was going to work for Donatella most of my life. I'm not exactly front-woman material. I get nervous in front of crowds of people like that-"

"You're perfect for it. We all get nervous," he said as he grabbed her other hand. "I saw something in you the first day I met you. I saw your potential, but it was stunted. You didn't seem happy either. You seemed nervous and anxious. You weren't meant to be in the background. You're not background material. Not at all."

Adena squeezed his hands in appreciation and mouthed, 'Thank you' to him. 

"So we got a deal, partner?"

"We got a deal, partner."

*

In reality, Capricorns that are also the Monkey sign are often hiding heavy and personal anguish, but you wouldn't know it because it's suppressed beneath smooth exteriors.

*

"Wow, yeah, these are perfect," Craig said as he looked at the dozen yellow roses that made up the bouquet that he was going to give Adena. Yes, he lost his mind for a minute there. Yes, he did some stupid shit in the meantime. Yes, he said he needed time and space. He thought he could handle it, but he realized he couldn't handle spending more than 48 hours without her, especially when he knew that he had broken her heart. He was an idiot for leaving her alone at a time like this after he promised he wouldn't. 

What if she didn't believe him?

He would work his ass off until he changed her mind.

Beverly had given him hope, and he hoped that was the same Adena he would see tonight, the girl she was before she saw that envelope. 

"They're lucky, whoever they are," the florist said as they rung up the roses. 

When Craig stepped out of the floral shop, he took a deep breath and sighed with relief. He had a good feeling. He felt like himself again. He felt confident.

Then he sneezed. Whew, all those flowers in there were strong as hell.

He felt his phone vibrate, and he dug into his pocket and pulled it out. He had to get a brand new phone because his phone died during that big storm. It got too wet. Now it was on, set up, and ready to use, and it had half a battery of life on it. And the first person he contacted was...

Adena, it's me. I'm on my way over. We need to talk.

Nope, that would scare her. 'We need to talk' made everyone nervous.

Adena, it's me. I'm on my way over. I need to see you.

He paused. He should call. She should hear his voice so she would know how serious he was. He sent the message and pressed call, and waited as it rang as he walked down the street. He should get a cab. The quicker he could get over there, the better. He stopped and stood at the curb and waited. The call went to voicemail.

"Adena, it's me. I don't know if you got my text yet, but I need to see you. I'm getting in a cab now. I hope you'll leave the door open for me. Love you," he said and hung up. He let out a deep breath. Why was he so nervous?

He glanced up, and then he did a double take. It took a minute to register because he thought his mind was playing tricks on him.

But it was her.

Adena was sitting in the fanciest restaurant in Manhattan, the world, actually. Everyone knew about Eleven Madison Park. Their waiting list was two years long, but there Adena was, beaming, happy, smiling bigger and brighter than she's ever been lately. The worst part was she wasn't alone; she was on a date with a world-famous painter in a world-famous restaurant. Holding hands. Both of their hands were clasped together, and they were staring into each other's eyes. 

That's like going on the most romantic dream date with Jason Momoa.

Craig's heart dropped out of his chest and shattered on the ground. He would look like an idiot walking in there with a bouquet of flowers saying he loved her when she was on a date with another man. They probably wouldn't even let him in. He couldn't go home. Home. He couldn't wait at the door with the roses because she may just bring Kehinde back with her, or she wouldn't show up at all because he would probably whisk her to a world-famous hotel. 

He couldn't look anymore. 

He started walking quickly and saw an old lady walking past him. "Excuse me. These are for you," he said to her and then kept walking. The woman stood still, smelling the roses, and looked after him in surprise. 

"Why thank you, young man."

He walked as quickly as he could, and then he heard a voice. He realized his phone was still in his hand. He then realized he had never hung up. 

'To re-record, press 7.'

He did. 

'Leave your message at the tone-'

He didn't.

At least he was able to delete that embarrassment. He hoped she never saw the text message either.

*

The next animal sign following the Monkey in the Chinese Zodiac is the Rooster. In China, the Rooster is associated with the five virtues: fortune, courage, goodness, confidence, and military honor.

*

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