I had spent the last five days in the gallery. Thankfully I kept enough change of clothes that I only had to use the little shower in the third floor bathrooms. We were leasing the floor below us, the seventh floor, just for storage wile I painted the place. Besides that initial room, the different colors of blue, the rest of the rooms would be white, beige, or cream depending on what the artists preferred. My office would be locked except to those working the showing. There would be two floors total for the art showing. One of them would be split between my work, and a project I had the kids at a local school doing. The other would be for local artists to showcase their work. I had a deal with the artists that if they were selling their work, the art gallery got a 10% commission on it for using the space. If others were just showing their work, they had to pay 7% of what the painting was valued at. It was steep, but it kept people from simply being showoffs, and actually trying to bring business to the gallery. Surprisingly, there were a lot of artists just showing their work. They knew I would hold another showing in the next few months, and would hope to get more space there. Some people came to my showings just to look for newer artists, and liked it when it was mostly newer artist's work.

Surprisingly, I hadn't heard from Jamie since I had started hibernating in here. I had just finished the last wall, and would be meeting with the florist later today. For some reason, this showing wasn't taking as long to get ready for than the others had. I was almost done, I would be ordering all red flowers; roses, carnations, daisies, and anything else the florist could think of. The part that was reserved for the children's project would have all white flowers. They were told to draw what color meant to them. It was simple, and I was excited to see what they made. The showing would be in two weeks, and things were coming together perfectly. The flowers would be delivered the day before. The pamphlets of exactly what was being showed would be printed and delivered two days before to allow time for the artists to make any changes. Water bottles would be delivered the day before that for the children when their families showed up. Those families would receive 75% off admission, and those tickets had already been mailed. Guests would need to RSVP five days before the showing. We had given them late notice, but they all had suspected one would happen soon. Besides, if our regulars didn't want them we had plenty of people begging for tickets.

Martha came around the corner, "Jamie just called. He says that if you don't answer your phone one more time, he's sending a search party."

"I might even get some dogs to hunt you down," I turned around. He had walked right in behind Martha.

I looked at her and she shrugged. "Don't ask me how he got in; these floors are locked to everybody except the artists and the students until a week past the showing."

I turned back to Jamie, "Your security guard likes me. He used his key in the elevator to let me up." He held up my phone, "These things are meant to be turned on you know."

"What? It is on." I walked over to him. Was it still off from last week? "How many days have I been in here?"

"Six. I've come to kidnap you."

I looked at him, "I could have sworn it was only five."

He shook his head. "Five days since you turned this off; I saw you the day after you finished the blue wall, and have been calling every day since. I showed up here today and called Martha just to give you a heads-up, but this was easier."

"Oh. I may have lost my phone." I gave him an apologetic smile.

He nodded, "It was in your office squeezed between a used paint can, and the trash can." He threw a change of clothes at me. "I also stopped by your place. A neighbor let me in; she was restocking your groceries. She said she bought you some jerk chicken. Is that supposed to mean anything?"

I laughed and shook my head. "Don't worry about it." I looked at the clothes; they were a little nicer. "Are we going somewhere?"

"You have a choice. We either go to Sunday dinner with my family, or we go to a fancy restaurant. Now, since I know you only like to go to those restaurants in dresses, there is also a dress hanging up in my car."

I walked over and pecked him on the cheek. "Both of those sound fun, but I have an even better idea." I started walking towards the door, looked back at him, and smiled. "Let's go to the beach. You'll love my bikini."

He just gulped, dropped the clothes, and followed. Martha laughed, picked up my clothes, and told us to have fun.

An hour and a half later we were lying on our beach towels. I was lying on my stomach and leaning on my arms. Jamie was putting sunscreen on my back. He moved my bikini strap and I giggled, "That tickles. Be careful."

He did it again. I rolled over, causing him to fall into the sand. "Hey!"

I laughed, "I warned you!"

I ran into the water, and he chased me. We ended up in a splashing fight.

A few hours later we were lying on the towels watching the sunset. My head was on his chest. "Anna?"

"Yeah?"

He seemed hesitant, "I wan to ask you something, but you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

This got me worried. "Ok."

I could feel him gulp. We still hadn't moved to look at each other. It seemed both of us were afraid of the question. "Those scars on your chest, what are they from?"

I closed my eyes. This is what I was afraid of him asking. I wonder if I could bluff my way through this. I wasn't ready to tell him yet. "I was sick a lot when I was little." That part was true. "It's a familial disease, you probably have never heard of it. The doctors weren't really sure how to fix it, so they just tried everything. Those are catheter marks."

He thought that over for a minute, "Has it come back?"

"Not for a while. I've been good for a long time." Well for me that is.

He nodded, "That's all I need to know for now."

I listened to his heart, enjoying the rhythm of it; it was keeping me calm. I sat up, kissed his chest over his heart, and got up. "We should probably get going. We both have to work tomorrow."

We were silent as we picked everything up. I grabbed his hand as we walked back to his car. He had told me it was his brother's, and I absolutely loved it. We were pretty much silent on the car ride too. I was tired from the sun, and I knew he was still thinking everything over. He parked the car, walked me up to my apartment, and kissed my forehead. "I promise we're okay. I just need to think. I'll call you tomorrow?"

I nodded, "I'll make sure not to lose my phone between now and then." I gave him a small smile and yawned. He chuckled, and left. I closed the door, and leaned my forehead against it. I whispered the things I had not wanted him to know, "It killed my brother. I ran from my grandparents so they wouldn't have to watch me die. I hope I won't have to run from you too."