Profession

New contracts

Thanks to the credit for my portrait of Princess Diana, UK interest in my work really jumped. I arranged to go over in the latter part of February to spend three weeks and work. I was really looking forward to it, and I chose the time because Jon was going on a free-lance assignment to Africa. It wouldn't be possible to always arrange our schedules like that, so I took advantage of it when I could.

The second week of January, just when the drop from the abrupt end of the holiday season makes everything dull and drab, Grant called and asked to meet for coffee. I fully expected that he'd tell me that the wedding was off because my sister was an unreformed egomaniac and went prepared. We met at Barnraising, great because the coffee and baked goods could cushion the blow of Deri's stupidity in depriving me of a great brother.

"Thanks for the flowers," I said as he sat down. I'd emailed to thank him for the beautiful bouquet of mixed flowers he'd sent when I'd passed my licensing exam, but the flowers were still hanging in there.

"My pleasure. That's a big deal, and such a high score, too. Impressive," he said, then took a moment to blow on his tea and sip. He beamed; Grandma Rose consults Grandpa Damian for the best teas to serve and enforces strict brewing instructions. "Have you heard from the disaster team?"

"Yes, just yesterday," I said, pleased. "I'm on the city-wide team. I'll be assigned a job and location for the disaster simulations, but if there's a real disaster, a lot depends on where I am and where the disaster is, how easily I can reach a facility, that kind of thing." He nodded. "Our next simulation is right before I go back to London, which is nice, I can have a change of scenery afterward. The one I took part in during my internship was rough." He had a few questions about that, then I asked how he was doing.

"Well, Deri's still pissed with you, so I wanted to make sure you had the news in a timely manner," he said, breaking off some pound cake. "Yum. She agreed to couples counseling with me, so we'll see how that goes." I knew from John by way of Z that Grant and Deri were still in separate bedrooms and that Alfred had prevailed upon Dari to give John a break by switching places for a bit. I was going to have to start calling him by his full name to avoid confusion.

"You don't sound all that hopeful," I said glumly, eating spice bread with apples.

"It's more than I anticipated, to be honest," he said. "But she's had therapy before and the effects seem to have worn off over time. I need to be sure she's just not placating me so that I'll go ahead with the wedding to save face, get a divorce later. It breaks my heart to have these doubts, but it's better to confront them now. I'm not the kind of guy who insists on gestures to prove somebody's love for me for my vanity, but in this case, I need them. Deri can be wonderful, but moving in has revealed a side of her I hadn't fully appreciated before. Marriages involve a lot of work to keep them working and worthwhile, and I need to know that she's as committed to me as I am to her, that she'll do her fair share of the work, be invested for the long haul."

I managed a small smile. "I understand. I don't know what's gotten into her these days. I don't see anything of the little sister I used to love." His eyes, deep brown like his Chinese mother, popped open.

"That sounds like you don't anymore."

"Some days I have no idea whether I do or whether it's just obligation that I feel. I've spent most of my life trying to look out for her. I'm a hypocrite too, because I rail against my parents' indulgence of her but I've also tried to shield her from the worst consequences too," I confessed, thinking of her engagement, where she'd messed up not telling Grant the necessary family secrets but I had helped by going to talk to Hestia. That reminded me, I needed to go to the temples again. Never hurts to sacrifice to the goddesses. "She was indulged by them a lot, ignored a lot, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that she's messed up. But she's a grown woman, and she needs to get her shit together. Grandma Alex said that she's seeing a dismaying resemblance to May Parker, Dad said. He's got to curb that or Wayne will be in trouble, let alone Deri. She doesn't seem to understand that you don't always have to go for the throat in every transaction, or when it's a good idea to let somebody save face, and she has trouble admitting that she doesn't know everything. I'm just about out of caring, myself. She tends to ignore me unless she needs something. When I was having that trouble with the brain damage, I went for weeks without hearing from her. Even Mom and Dad checked in every few days." And that had been a surprise to me, but not unwelcome.