April 29th, 2040
Apparently, Dom needed oxygen. Or at least that’s what his husband had told him when he was shoving him out the door after kicking him out of his studio. He’d only locked himself in there for a few hours to work on a painting but according to Colin, it was a few hours too many and he was sent out to get coffee. He had almost reached their favourite coffee shop when a different storefront caught his eye. It was an art gallery which he swore he had never seen before. Which was strange, considering he usually kept himself in the loop about these kinds of things.
His curiosity got the better of him and entered the gallery. He wandered around, looking at the art they had on display but as he was doing so, he was reminded that it had been a while since the last time he’d done a show of his works. Suddenly, casually browsing an art gallery became scouting out a location. He started to picture his works hanging in the gallery, thinking about how they would interact with the space and he then decided he would speak to the owner of the gallery about the possibility of displaying his art here. He started looking around for any sort of gallery staff, continuing to browse the art on display as he did so. Eventually, he found someone who looked like they worked there.
“Excuse me, do you work here?” He thought he’d ask for good measure.
“Yes, I do.”
“My name is Dominic Lucier, I’m a local artist and I was wondering if I could speak to the owner of the gallery about displaying my work here.”
“The owner isn’t here right now.”
“Oh.” He reacted. He wasn’t giving up that easily though. “Can I ask when they’ll be back?”
“Mr. Lucier, the owner is a very busy woman.” That caught Dom’s attention and it made him even more interested in finding out who this mysterious owner was. “She isn’t always here.”
“Look, I just need ten minutes of her time to introduce myself and give her the link to my portfolio. Does she have a phone number I can reach her at?”
“I can’t give you her phone number but if you come back in two days around 2 pm, she’ll be here doing a walk-through of some new exhibitions going up. If you just so happened to be here, you might be able to get a moment with her. You didn’t hear that from me though.” He nodded and discreetly thanked her before leaving the gallery and getting the coffee that he had promised his husband.
Two Days Later…
Dom returned to the gallery at the time he had been told, only to realize that he had neglected to ask the gallery worker who he had been speaking to what this mysterious owner’s name was or even what she looked like, so once again he was going in blind. He wandered through the gallery, trying to see if he could find someone who looked like they were doing something important or like they were inspecting something since that’s what the lady had told him she’d be doing today. As he searched, he wondered if the owner of the gallery would actually give him a moment of her time, as opposed to the worker from the other day, who didn’t seem to have been all that interested. He knew that they probably had several requests similar to his every day but was it really that hard to just hear him out?
He still had no idea who it was but that made his search even more exciting. Eventually, he found a woman standing on her own, looking at the art and he decided to approach her hoping that she would either be the owner or know who she was. As he got close though, he realized that the woman looked very familiar. He debated internally for a few seconds before deciding to approach her and see if his suspicions were correct.
“Candice?” He asked, getting her attention. “Hi!” He greeted her, unsure of what else to say. What does one say to someone who they spent over two decades hating because they wouldn’t process their own guilt and grief?
@benitz786 - Candice