Sickness & Health, Good Times & Bad

Chapter 88

At breakfast John was still bemoaning having to attend the art show that night. Justin chose to be amused and mostly just ignored John and occasionally chuckled. John chose to be extremely annoyed at not being taken seriously. Eventually he left the kitchen and Justin left for the city.

Justin was nervous as he parked at the Bloom Gallery. He felt like there was a lot riding on the reopening of the gallery. Inside Sidney and Pat were very calm and seemed to have everything under control which reassured Justin.

Emmett and his team were there getting their supplies in place for the reception. There were several deliveries and it seemed a little chaotic to Justin but he knew that Emmett had everything under control.

Justin’s agent, Charlotte, was coming to town for the reception. She did not get any commission on gallery business but she thought it would be a great networking opportunity. She called to let Justin know she had checked in to her hotel and they arranged to meet for lunch.

Meanwhile back at the house John and Peter were hanging out by the pool. It was a nice day so Alice had the patio doors open and could hear John complaining to his brother about having to go to the art show that night. He felt it was a waste of time and that he was old enough to be left home alone. Alice somewhat agreed with him and was considering whether she should intervene on his behalf with Brian and Justin.

Peter felt different and had had enough of his brother’s complaining.

“John would you please give it a rest.”

His older brother was pretty surprised by the comment.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Would you rather be back living with mother and spending the night watching her and Paul sprawled on the couch in a stupor. Or maybe you would like to be living with Grandmother, sleeping on bunk beds in Uncle Brian’s old room. You could spend the night watching her guzzle down her vodka.

Me! I like living here, sitting by this awesome pool I can go in to the media room and play a game or watch a DVD or go down to the game room for ping pong, pool or to play some arcade games. I could even just go up to my bedroom that was furnished just for me and surf the net on my laptop.

This art show is important to Uncle Justin and anything important to him is important to Uncle Brian. Us having to spend one night at the Bloom Gallery doesn’t seem like a bad deal for everything the uncles have given us!”

Alice was surprised to hear Peter disagree so strongly with his brother. She glanced out the window at the boys. She had a good view of John and she could tell by his face that he was even more surprised by Peter’s remarks than she was.

John was quiet for a couple minutes and Peter just stared out towards the yard and said nothing. Finally John answered.

“Yeah, I guess when you put it that way one night spent at a boring art show is not exactly the end of the world.”

Peter laughed. “Yeah not exactly or even anything close to the end of the world.”

Justin valet parked at the William Penn and went inside to meet Charlotte for lunch. Charlotte told Justin that Rick Baily had emailed her about scheduling another show at his gallery next year. Justin felt that was too soon to have another San Francisco show and Charlotte agreed. She said she would get back to Rick and let him know that when they wanted to come back west for another show they would have it at the Bailey Gallery.

They discussed Justin’s schedule for the next year and Charlotte was frustrated that Justin wanted to cut back on the number of shows he did. He refused to give a reason just said that he had personal reasons. After lunch Justin drove them back to the Bloom Gallery so Charlotte could see the art before tonight’s reception. She was impressed by the display mixing Justin’s art with Nathan’s.

Justin dropped Charlotte back at her hotel before driving home. He was happily surprised that John didn’t say anything about not wanting to go to the gallery show.

Brian picked up Gus as soon as school ended and when they got home, everyone had an early supper before getting dressed for the gallery reception. The limousine arrived in plenty of time and they arrived at the gallery half an hour before the scheduled start time for the reception.

Jennifer and Tucker were already at the gallery with Molly who had come home from college for the weekend. Peter took Jennifer, Molly and Tucker on a tour of the show. He knew it as well as any docent from PIFA. Brian stayed next to Justin his arm around his partner’s waist with Justin leaning in to him and trying his best to stay calm.

Sidney and Pat were taking care of any last minute issues. Emmett and his crew were getting ready for the doors to open. Trays of appetizers were loaded and ice cold champagne was being poured into crystal flutes. Charlotte was the next to arrive. A very nervous looking Nathan Aura and his wife Rose arrived just before the reception was due to start.

John and Gus volunteered to help at the reception desk. Their job was to find the name tags for each new arrival. John couldn’t help smiling at just how excited his cousin was. Gus in dark pants, a white dress shirt and a red tie just like his Daddy was delighted to have an assigned duty. Both Daddy and Papa had given him a hug and kiss and thanked him for helping and Grandmom Jen told him she was proud of him. Life didn’t get much better than this!

At 7 PM the string quartet started to play and the main door was opened by a proud Sidney Bloom. Debbie and Carl were among the first to arrive. Gus proudly presented them with their name badges.

Debbie gave Gus a big hug but, since this such a fancy affair, she did not want to chance of running her lipstick so she skipped the normal sloppy kiss on the cheek.

Debbie holding onto Carl’s arm made her way over to where Justin and Brian still stood together. Justin had a big smiled on his face as he hugged Debbie and shook hands with Carl. Brian stopped a waiter on his way past with champagne and got all four of them a glass.

Debbie took a sip. “Michael and Ben are sorry they couldn’t be here tonight. They thought it was more important to spend time with JR. You know with all the upset happening in her life they didn’t want to leave here with a sitter tonight.”

Carl looked uncomfortable and Brian looked annoyed. Justin smiled at Debbie and took her hand.

“I agree we need to take care of Gus and JR first and foremost. I understand Michael and Ben putting her needs first.”

Brian rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. Debbie and Carl moved across the room to talk with Jennifer and Tucker. Brian snorted after Debbie and Carl moved away.

“What a crock of shit! They could have brought JR here and just put in an appearance.”

Justin leaned into Brian. “It doesn’t matter and there’s no need to upset Debbie. I think Carl has already told her what he thinks. Just let it go for my sake.”

Brian frowned but nodded. He spotted Tillie Kaminski escorted by her sons Stosh and Baz. Brian went over to welcome the group with a smile. Stosh enveloped a surprised Brian in a hug.

Justin started over to the group but was waylaid by Sidney with the President of PIFA who wanted to express his delight over the new docent program. Justin gave Pat Davis all the credit and managed to slip away to greet Ted and Blake.

The three men exchanged greetings before Justin asked. “Where’s Nina tonight?”

Blake smiled. “She is spending time with Viola while we are here. We’ll pick her up on our way home.”

Ted nodded. “Viola says she enjoys just being a grandmother and letting us do the major worrying.”

Justin chuckled. “I bet there is more happiness than worrying.”

Blake looked at Ted and nodded. “Ted was a little worried about the new hair trend JR started at Fort Pitt School. When Nina asked him about putting her hair in plaits he had no idea what she was talking about.”

Justin chuckled. “Well you have Charlie to thank for that hair style.”

Ted and Blake both laughed. Justin saw Alice and Charlie walk into the gallery with their son, Chuck, and his wife Nancy. “There is the culprit now if you want to give him a hard time.”

The four Simpsons came over to join Justin, Ted and Blake. Justin told Charlie that he had caused Ted some problems.

Charlie shook his head. “Ted; all Dad’s with daughters have to learn the ins and outs of hair styles. Didn’t you have any sisters?”

Ted smiled. “Only child. Luckily Blake has three younger sisters so he was able to take up the slack in the hair department.”

Everyone laughed and moved away as Charlotte approached with a writer for Art Forum. Charlotte was delighted that he has made the trip to Pittsburgh for this show. Justin thanked him for coming but let Charlotte do most of the schmoozing since that was her strength and he hated doing it.

While Justin was tied up with Charlotte and the Art Forum columnist, Ron and Nancy Petersen arrived at the gallery. Nancy spotted Gus as soon as they checked in.

“Gus what are you doing here?”

It took Gus a minute to recognize his grandmother. “This is Papa’s art gallery. My cousin, John, and me are helping give out name badges.”

Nancy had only heard Gus refer to Brian as Daddy. She wondered when Gus had started calling his father Papa. Also just who was this “cousin”?

“Your cousin?”

Gus pointed to John standing a little distance away. “That’s John. Him and his brother, Peter, live with Daddy and Papa. Their mommy can’t take care of them.”

John walked over to where Gus and his grandparents were standing.

“Hello. I’m John. My mother is Uncle Brian’s sister.”

Ron remembered the news story about the attempted kidnapping.

“Oh yes. I remember reading about your mother in the paper.”

Nancy held out a hand to Gus. “Come give Grammie a hug.”

Gus did as he was told and shook hands with Ron and then stood awkwardly beside them while they asked him about school.

Jennifer and Tucker were chatting with Ted and Blake when she noticed Ron and Nancy Petersen come through the gallery door. She watched their interactions with Gus for a couple minutes before deciding to intervene.

Jennifer gave Tucked a quick kiss on the cheek and whispered she would be back.

A big insincere smile on her face Jennifer summoned her country club manners as she hurried to greet the Petersens. Gus immediately went and stood beside Grandmom Jen and reached up to take her hand.

“Ron and Nancy, how wonderful that you were able to come tonight. Is Lindsay with you?”

Ron frowned but Nancy matched Jennifer smile for smile. “No she didn’t feel up to coming here tonight. I guess after putting all the work in on organizing this show she didn’t feel like seeing the glory grabbed by others.”

Jennifer looked down at Gus. “Sweetheart why don’t you go back to helping John. It looks like quite a few people are arriving.”

With a big smile Gus agreed.

Jennifer put on her surprised face as she turned back to Ron and Nancy. “That’s strange. Lindsay really didn’t have much to do with this show. The artist, Nathan Aura, preferred not to work with Lindsay. He asked Sidney and Justin to work with Pat Davis. Lindsay had made some unkind remarks about one of Gus’s little friends and Nathan was offended. I understand Lindsay not wanting to come here tonight but not for that reason. I’m afraid that Lindsay may have given you the wrong idea about her leaving the gallery.”

Ron still had a frown on his face. “I don’t understand what you mean by that comment. Lindsay told us she did most of the work for this show. What reason would she have to lie to us?”

Jennifer shrugged. “I suppose that is something you should ask Lindsay. I have no idea what could be going through her mind.”

Nancy Petersen was feeling very uneasy but Ron still wanted answers.

“Obviously you feel like you know something that we are not aware of. I would appreciate you telling us what you think you know.”

Jennifer smile still firmly in place shook her head. “It is not my story to tell.”

Brian had been observing Jennifer and the Petersens. He broke away from the Kaminski family and walked over.

“Hello Mr and Mrs Petersen. I see Mother Taylor has already greeted you. Personally, I’m a little surprised to see you here.”

Ron Petersen’s frown deepened. “Hello Brian. Jennifer has been hinting around that we may not know the true reason Lindsay was let go just when the art show she organized was ready to open.”

Brian nodded. “Well let me see if I can clear up any confusion Lindsay may have caused.”

Jennifer put a hand on Brian’s arm in what she realized was probably a vain attempt to restrain Brian.

“Did Lindsay mention that she behaved very unprofessionally and offended the artist whose work is being displayed? Even that wasn’t enough for Justin to fire her, although I would have in his place. However when she stole money from the gallery petty cash, Justin and Sidney had no choice but to fire her. I have no idea what bullshit Lindsay has been feeding you but I suspect it has no basis in fact.”

Ron and Nancy exchanged amazed looks. Nancy recovered first.

“Why would Lindsay need to steal money? That makes no sense.”

Brian shrugged. “Well I suppose only Lindsay can give you a definitive answer to that question but I suspect it was to support her gambling habit.”

Ron was having trouble processing this new information. “What do mean gambling habit? I have never known Lindsay to gamble on anything.”

Brian smirked. “Amazing! And you have all been such a close family. You need to get specifics from your daughter but I can assure you she has a serious gambling habit which has cost Justin and me quite a bit of money. Lindsay chose to repay our help by stealing from us. I suggest you lock up any valuables you have left around the house.”

Jennifer gave Brian’s arm a gentle squeeze. “Honey, Bill and Mary Gardner just walked in with Josh. You should go say hello to them and help them find Peter.”

Brian leaned down to give Jennifer a kiss on the cheek. “Message received.”

Without another word to the Petersens Brian walked away. Nancy looked directly at Jennifer.

“Was what Brian said true?”

Jennifer nodded. “Yes. I think you really need to have a serious discussion with Lindsay. Since you are here you should see the art.”

Jennifer motioned to a waiter who came over with a tray of champagne flutes. She took two off the tray and handed them to Ron and Nancy.

Ron took a big swallow of champagne. “We’re supposed to meet our friends the Hornemans here tonight.”

Jennifer said she hadn’t seen them yet. Ron and Nancy wandered off and Jennifer returned to Tucker.

As the evening progressed the traffic at the front door lessened so Gus and John were free to wander around the gallery. Gus was having a great time, he amused Nathan Aura, and embarrassed Justin, by telling Nathan that his art was almost as good as Papa’s and if he kept practicing it would get better but never be as good as Papa’s.

Cynthia arrived with her boyfriend of the moment who happened to be one of the professors at PIFA. Justin had actually been in one of his classes during his first semester of teaching. Cynthia told Brian that her date was really responsible for Justin’s success. Brian simply walked away from her without saying anything.

Greg and Roxanne came without their sons which disappointed Gus who ran over to ask where Kevin was. As Justin chatted with Greg and Roxanne he glanced towards the entrance. He stopped taking in mid-sentence. Greg asked if he was alright, Justin nodded and walked towards the gallery entrance.

Craig Taylor was chatting with Pat Davis as Justin walked up.

“Craig! What are you doing here?”

“Ted Schmidt mentioned at our meeting this morning that the grand re-opening of the gallery was tonight. I didn’t realize it was an invitation only event. Pretty stupid of me I guess.”

Justin wasn’t sure what to say. He never expected to see his father tonight.

“Well you’re here you might as well come in and see the art.”

Brian broke away from the group he was talking with and hurried to his partner’s side. Brian had his no emotion face firmly in place as he walked up and put his arm around Justin’s shoulders.

“I’m not here to cause any trouble Kinney.”

Brian smirked, disbelief showing in his face. Justin’s face hardened.

“His name is Brian. He is the most important person in my life. If you cannot be civil to him there is no point in you being here.”

Craig tool a deep breath. “I’m sorry. Brian I know you have no reason to trust me but I did come here to see my son’s art. No ulterior motive I swear.”

Brian was not impressed. “About time you remembered you have a son.”

Justin turned and looked into Brian’s face. “Let’s meet Craig halfway okay? I’m sure it wasn’t easy for him to come here tonight.”

Brian stared into Justin’s face. Justin smiled at him. “I’m fine. It will be fine.”

Brian nodded at Craig and walked away.

Justin shrugged his shoulders. “Brian is very protective of the people he loves. He loves me a lot so he is very protective.”

Craig actually smiled. “I guess I know he has a reason to mistrust me.”

Justin nodded. “Be honest. Are you here to try and get the loan conditions changed?”

“No! I won’t say I like those conditions but tonight has nothing to do with that. I think I realized what I was missing when Molly and her boyfriend had that traffic accident. Your Mother was brutally frank with me. I saw how you were all still a family with a really strong bond and I was not part of that family.

I know this sounds stupid but I thought I was doing what I needed to keep my family together. Jennifer made me realize that what I was trying to keep was my image of what a family should be, what I wanted you all to be, how I wanted you all to behave. I was bitter about being left behind and kept waiting for you all to need me. Needless to say that didn’t happen.”

“Nice words. One of the most important things I learned from Brian is that actions really do speak louder than words. I’ll be honest and say I am happy you came here tonight but one action does not make up for all the things that have happened in the past.”

Craig was quiet for a moment. “I understand. You know I don’t like it but I do understand.”

Jennifer had been watching the interaction between her ex-husband and her son and walked over to them. She came up behind Justin and wrapped her arms around him.

“Are you alright sweetheart?”

Justin put his hands on his mother’s. “I’m fine Mom. This is a good thing.”

Jennifer stayed where she was but looked directly at her ex-husband. “You have hurt and disappointed my son in the past. If you try and do that again Brian and I will hunt you down and kill you!”

The serious tone of his ex-wife’s voice and the completely serious look on her face actually made Craig take a step back.

Jennifer continued to stare at him. “Remember what I said!” Having delivering her message Jennifer walked away.

Justin looked at his father. “She can be pretty scary!”

Craig nodded. He walked with Justin through the exhibit halls. When they got to the room where Nathan has his “springtime art” surrounding Justin’s “dark painting”. Craig paused.

“That dark piece is yours right?”

Justin nodded.

Craig stood back and stared at the canvas.

“I’m no art critic but there is a lot going on in that painting. It seems really chaotic and kind of sad. I guess it is the dark colors and all the red.”

Justin was quiet, he wasn’t sure he wanted to share the story of this painting with Craig. Finally he decided to tell him.

“Actually I was in a pretty dark place when I painted this. This is one of the first paintings I did after the bashing. I still didn’t have complete control of my hand but this helped me deal with all the feelings I had running around in my head. I’ve never displayed this before.”

Craig just nodded. It was pointless for him to say anything. They both knew that he had not been there for Justin before or after the bashing. Nothing Craig could say now would help.

Although Brian resisted following Justin and Craig he sent others to check on them. Justin was amused to see Greg, Cynthia, Mary, Roxanne, Carl and even Sidney walking through the areas of the gallery where he and Craig were viewing the art all of them trying their best to be inconspicuous.

When their tour was over Craig suddenly seemed ill at ease.

“So Justin now that you are involved with the gallery how often do you come into the city?”

“I’m not really sure yet. Sidney is still running things here. I am busy with my own art and the boys are about to start school. I am hoping to hold it to like one day a week or maybe a couple half days.”

“I was hoping maybe we could have lunch sometime when you are working here at the gallery.”

“I appreciate you coming here tonight but to be honest I’m not sure where I want to go from here. You have not been part of my life for a long time and my life is really full. I also have to talk to Brian about how he feels about you being a part of my life again. I’ll have to get back to you in a couple weeks and let you know what I decide.”

Craig was surprised. “Well, of course, I’m disappointed but I guess I don’t have any choice.”

“No you don’t.”

Craig started to move towards Justin to hug him but Justin took a step back and shook his head.

“Thanks for coming. I’ll be in touch.”

Craig stood alone and watched Justin walk over to where Brian was standing and smile as Brian enveloped him in a hug.

Molly was standing talking with Roxanne and Mary, once Justin left Craig standing alone she walked over to her father.

“Hi Dad. Kind of a surprise to see you here.”

“Hi Honey. I wasn’t sure if you were going to ignore me or not.”

“I thought you and Justin needed some time alone to talk.”

Craig nodded. “Yeah. I was hoping we could get together for lunch sometime but I don’t think that will happen. Your brother has to get Kinney’s permission to see me again.”

Molly laughed. “Justin has never gotten Brian’s permission for anything he has ever done. He always considers Brian’s feelings just as Brian considers his but no permission is sought or given by either one of them.”

“Well I hoped by coming here tonight Justin and I could start to rebuild our relationship.”

Molly eyes opened wide in surprise. “Really Dad! You have been really shitty to Justin for a long time. You disowned him! You haven’t exactly ever been the father of my dreams but you have treated my brother horribly. Did you really think that you come here and finally express some interest in his art and his life and all would be forgiven?”

“I thought it could be a start.”

“You are incredibly self-centered. You feel something is missing from your life. You think, of yeah, I used to have a son. I threw him away because he wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for my son. Now maybe I’ll let him be my son again, he’ll be really grateful and happy.”

“It wasn’t exactly like that! I started thinking about things after your car accident. I always thought the family would fall apart without me. You sure fooled me. You went on without me and were happy and I was the one on the outside looking in. It started me thinking about everything I had given up.”

Molly nodded. “Exactly! You thought about yourself. Even when you came back to see me in the ER you thought about yourself. We don’t need you to be happy. You need to think about how you have acted in the past and start apologizing and talking about how you will act in the future. If you can’t do that than just stay away from us. I think you have a lot of thinking to do. You should leave now and start thinking about what you need to do.”

Molly did give her father a quick hug before he left. As she walked back towards Mary and Roxanne Justin looked over at her and she rolled her eyes and shrugged.

The rest of the evening was pretty much smooth sailing. Gus got tired and went to sleep on the couch in Sidney’s office. Peter sat in there reading a book in case Gus woke up.

As the last visitor departed the gallery everyone left inside raised a glass of champagne to celebrate a successful start to the new Bloom Gallery. Charlotte was thrilled by the number of art columnists and critics who attended, several coming from Philadelphia, Chicago and even New York City.

Sidney and Pat were relieved that everything went off without a hitch. Nathan was happy that several of his art pieces sold on the first night. Justin was glad to stop being pleasant to people and dealing with all the strangers Charlotte kept introducing him to.

Emmett and his crew worked quickly to clean up their mess and pack up their supplies. The leftover food got divided up and an hour after the last guest left the reception Brian, Justin and three tired boys were being driven home.

When they got to the house John and Peter went to their rooms. Brian carried a sleepy Gus up to bed while Justin stashed the reception leftovers in the refrigerator.

When Justin went upstairs Brian was in their bedroom.

“Gus asleep already?”

“Yeah. He was tired out. He asked to sleep in one of your shirts tonight. Do you think we need to be worried about him and how he is dealing with the Lindsay situation?”

Justin shrugged. “I think we just have to wait and see how things go.”

Justin shut the bedroom door and locked it.

“I don’t want to talk about Gus right now or about the gallery opening or Lindsay or her parents or my father. I want you to fuck me and make me forget everything but you!”

Brian had an evil smile on his face. “I think I can handle that Sunshine.”

Justin dropped his clothes as he walked across the room to where Bran waited on their bed.

Later after they had cleaned up and slipped on boxers they lay quietly in bed with Brian’s arm holding Justin tightly against him. Justin feel asleep quickly but Brian stayed awake for a while listening to the comforting sounds of his partner’s deep, even breathing.

Early the next morning there was a knock on the bedroom door. Brian got out of bed to unlock and open the door. Gus was standing there with a big smile on his face. Brian picked him up for a good morning kiss.

“God morning Sonny Boy. You are up bright and early this morning.”

Brian took Gus across the room and tossed him on the bed. Justin already had a pillow over his face. Gus told him good morning and got a grunt in return along with an awkward one handed pat. Gus looked at his Daddy and giggled.

Brian rolled his eyes as he got into his side of the bed. “Your Papa is a sleepyhead!”

Gus laughed. He knew Daddy was just kidding. Gus didn’t think that Daddy minded anything that Papa did. Even when Daddy complained about Papa Gus could always see the smile in his eyes.

Daddy snuggled next to Gus who was lying against Papa’s back. This was Gus’s favorite place to be in the whole world. It was where Gus felt the most secure and the most loved. The other great thing was it was always the same. Daddy was always happy and contented here and Papa, when he was awake usually had a smile on his face. It was something Gus could always depend on.

Gus and Daddy chatted as they relaxed on the bed. Gus talked about actual school starting on Monday and the friends he has made during the summer session. He talked about the art show and which were his favorite art pieces and working with John giving out name badges. Gus liked that Daddy always paid attention to what he told him and always answered his questions.

During a lull in the conversation the word “Coffee!” emerged from under the pillow over Justin’s face. Gus laughed and Brian smiled in response to that request.

“Well Sonny Boy I guess we better go down to the kitchen and get Papa some coffee if we want to get him out of bed this morning.”

A short time later Gus reappeared in the bedroom with a travel mug of coffee. He tiptoed into the bedroom and carefully set the mug on Justin’s bedside table before flipping the pillow off Justin’s head and hollering “Coffee!”

Gus was not quite fast enough to escape being grabbed by his Papa who tickled him until the little boy was helpless with laughter. While Gus lay beside him recovering from the tickling Justin enjoyed his mug of coffee.

Once he had drunk most of the coffee Justin suggested Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast which got a loud cheer from Gus. Justin pulled on a T shirt and together they went down to the kitchen.

Peter and John made an appearance in time for pancakes. Gus requested his pancakes with “bloody guts” so John got out the strawberry jam and spooned some on the plates before Justin placed a pancake on top. Brian stuck to his wheat toast and was amazed that John found a way to add more calories to pancakes and syrup. Of course all three boys had to finish a small bowl of fruit before any pancakes were consumed.

After breakfast Gus asked if Kevin could come over to play today. Justin said he had to go into the gallery for a little while today. Brian gave his partner a panicked look that clearly told Justin that Brian did not want to be left alone with the two boys for the whole day.

Justin smiled. “Gus how about if Kevin comes over after lunch. I could pick him up one my way back from the city.”

Gus happily agreed and Brian gave his partner a relieved look. Justin called Roxanne to make the arrangements to pick up Kevin.