so, do we like each other or not? // JENLISA

Chapter 16

As Lisa's last full day in London steamed into view, she found herself in the back of the car being driven to Mayfair. It was a short journey and she'd considered suggesting that they walk there instead, but that seemed like the sort of thing that Jennie would find completely reprehensible. Besides, Lisa lived in a city where driving was a novelty and even Ubers were too expensive for her unless it was three days after payday, so she allowed herself a minute to sit back and enjoy being couriered around for once.

Jennie’s London gallery looked almost identical to her New York one. When they pulled up outside, Lisa stared up at the sharp golden lettering above the door and smiled, because it was obvious that Jennie knew what worked and liked to stick with the things that did.

Lisa let herself be guided inside. The interior was also similar to the gallery she'd been in before, although it was smaller and had higher ceilings. Jennie flicked on the lights, and Lisa realised she was surrounded by pictures of orchids on all sides. They had been created with bright, almost neon paints, and even Lisa took a step closer so that she could examine the collection properly.

"Do you like them?" Jennie asked, peering over her shoulder.

Lisa hesitated. "I think so," she said, because she wasn't going to start bullshitting about her artistic knowledge in front of the one person who would be able to catch her out. "They're nice, but how can you tell if they're any good?"

"You just get an instinct for these things," Jennie said.

"Right. It must suck though, when you buy up a collection that you really like and then in a few years you have to sell it off again."

"I try not to think too much about whether I like them or not. If I did, I'd end up hoarding them all. It's more important to see their value than their personal appeal."

"So what value did you see in these?" Lisa asked.

"Well. First of all, there had been a trend for very dark, busy paintings when I saw these, so I knew that if I waited long enough, a demand for much brighter works would come back around."

"And what happens if you're wrong?"

"I'm never wrong."

"But if you were?" Lisa persisted.

"One of the beautiful things about this trade is that if you wait long enough, certain trends always come back around," Jennie said. "So let's say the market for paintings like these didn't open up now, like I suspected it would – it would happen eventually. I'd have to wait a bit longer before I displayed these ones, but I'd end up selling plenty of others in the meantime."

Lisa smiled, but something was heavy in her throat. "I guess as long as you've got the money to buy them in the first place, it'll all work out okay."

"Pretty much," Jennie said, and once again there were inches and entire worlds separating them. "But with these ones I lucked out, because most of them got sold within a week of the exhibition opening. We'll keep them on display for another week or two to sell the stragglers, and then we'll move onto something else."

Lisa walked away from the painting they'd been discussing and approached another. Jennie followed her, staying close to her elbow, and when Lisa asked a tentative question about it, Jennie was all too happy to answer it for her.