“Okay,” he responded.
“I can introduce you as the guy who hangs my paintings,” she teased. “You never
know, that could be an excellent career move.”
He did help hang the paintings last weekend. Casey would be halfway across the room
to visually see if they were hanging straight and would direct him on which way to
tilt the canvas to make it straighter.
The first waves of guests trickled in. They were the people who donated to the
gallery to fund it and people who were more community-oriented. They wanted to make
the town classier than it appeared to be, which to William, was a factory town with
twenty bars too many.
The gallery had shown William another side to the town he never knew existed. He
didn't know the people around here wanted culture. William didn't know why he
expected people to be more like him, happy there was a movie theater and more than
one place to eat.
Most were older women who forced their husbands to tag along. No one William had
ever seen before. When people looked in his direction, he would give a friendly
nod. No one approached him.
Casey greeted many of the guests and seemed to know them. He knew Casey had a life
outside of him but seeing her interact with so many people
made him feel unsocial. The two adults he spoke with besides Casey were his sister
and ex-wife. He didn't feel jealous of how easy Casey made it seem to be social but
he wished he had an easier time talking with people.
He glanced at her again. William couldn't see the nervousness she had displayed
before the gallery opened.
An older gentleman came up to the table and sighed.