LATER Rowena stood, letting the fire warm her hands as she stared up at the painting. She felt Pitte come in to stand behind her, turned her face into his hand when he touched her cheek.

“I had higher hopes before they came,” he told her.

“They’re bright, resourceful. None are chosen who aren’t capable.”

“Yet we remain in this place, year by century by millennium.”

“Don’t.” She turned, slid her arms around his waist, pressed herself to him. “Don’t despair, my dearest love, before it really begins.”

“So many beginnings, but never an end.” He bent his head, touched his lips to her brow. “How this place crowds me.”

“We’ve done all that can be done.” She laid her cheek on his chest, comforted by the steady sound of his heartbeat. “Have a little faith. I liked them,” she added, and took his hand as they started toward the doors.

“They’re interesting enough. For mortals,” he replied.

As they passed through the archway, the roaring fire vanished and the lights snapped off, leaving behind a trail of gold in the dark.

Chapter Three

SHE couldn’t say she hadn’t seen it coming. And James was certainly gentle, even paternal. But the boot was the boot however it was administered.

Being prepared, even having the miraculous cushion of the twenty-five thousand dollars now tucked away in her account—a fact that she had confirmed that morning—didn’t make being fired any less horrible and humiliating.

“Things change.” James P. Horace, natty as always in his bow tie and rimless glasses, spoke in modulated tones.

In all the years Malory had known him, she’d never heard him raise his voice. He could be absentminded, occasionally negligent about practicalities when it came to business, but he was unfailingly kind.

Even now his face held a patient and serene expression. A little like an aged cherub, Malory thought.

Though the office door was closed, the rest of The Gallery’s staff would know, very shortly, the outcome of the meeting.

“I like to think of myself as a kind of surrogate father, and as such I want only the best for you.”

“Yes, James. But—”

“If we don’t move in some direction, we stand still. I feel that though this may be difficult for you initially, Malory, you’ll soon see it’s the best thing that could happen.”

How many clichés, Malory wondered, could one man use when lowering the boom?

“James, I know Pamela and I haven’t seen eye to eye.” I’ll see your cliché, and raise you. “As the new kid on the block, she’s bound to be a bit defensive, while I tend to be territorial. I’m so terribly sorry I lost my temper. Spilling the coffee was an accident. You know I’d never—”

“Now, now.” He waved his hands in the air. “I’m sure it was. I don’t want you to give that another thought. Water under the bridge. But the point is, Malory, Pamela wants to take a more active role in the business, to shake things up a bit.”

Desperation slithered into her belly. “James, she moved everything in the main room, jumbled pieces in from the salon. She brought fabric in—gold lamé, James—and draped it over the Deco nude like a sarong. Not only was the flow interrupted by the placements, but the result was, well, just tacky. She doesn’t understand art, and space. She—”

“Yes, yes.” His voice never changed pitch, his face never altered its placid expression. “But she’ll learn. And I believe that teaching her will be enjoyable. I appreciate her interest in my business, and her enthusiasm—just as I’ve always appreciated yours, Malory. But the fact is, I really think you’ve outgrown us here. It’s time for you to stretch yourself. Broaden your horizons. Take some risks.”

Her throat closed, and her voice sounded thick when she managed to speak. “I love The Gallery, James.”

“I know you do. And you’re always welcome here. I feel it’s time for me to give you a nudge out of the nest. Naturally, I want you to be comfortable while you’re deciding what you’d like to do next.” He took a check out of his breast pocket. “A month’s severance should help keep the wolf from the door.”

What will I do? Where will I go? Frantic questions flew around her brain like terrified birds. “This is the only place I’ve ever worked.”

“Which makes my point.” He set the check on the desk. “I hope you know how fond I am of you, and that you can come to me anytime, anytime at all, for advice. Though it would probably be best if we kept that between ourselves. Pamela is a little annoyed with you just now.”

He gave her an avuncular peck on the cheek, a pat on the head, then strolled out.

PATIENT and placid he might be, but he was also weak. Weak, and though she hated to admit it—hated to realize it after all these years—selfish. It took a selfish weakness to fire an efficient, creative, loyal employee on the whim of his wife.

She knew it was useless to cry, but she cried a little anyway as she stood in the small office that she’d decorated herself and boxed up her personal things. Her lifetime, career-wise, fit into a single storage box.

That was efficient again, practical. And, Malory decided, pathetic.

Everything was going to be different now, and she wasn’t ready. She had no plan, no outline, no list for what came next. She wouldn’t be getting up tomorrow, eating a light, sensible breakfast, dressing for work in the outfit carefully selected tonight.

Day after day without purpose, without plan, stretched out in front of her like some bottomless canyon. And the precious order of her life was strewn somewhere down there in the void.

It terrified her, but marching along with the fear was pride. So, she repaired her makeup and kept her chin up, her shoulders back, as she carried the box out of the office and down the stairs. She did her best to muster up a smile when Tod Grist rushed to the base of the stairs.

He was short and trim, clad in his signature black shirt and pants. Two tiny gold hoops glinted in his left earlobe. His hair was a shoulder-length streaky-blond, which Malory had always envied. The angelic face that it framed drew middle-aged and elderly ladies like the sirens’ song drew sailors.

He’d started at The Gallery the year after Malory arrived and had been her friend, confidant, and bitching partner ever since.