Free Venus in Love by Tina Michele

show.”
    Morgan and Freddie spent another forty-five minutes exchanging banter and catching up on the latest small art world gossip. She could always be sure that Freddy would keep her up to date on the dramatics. When she finally got off the phone and turned her attention back to the monitor, her phone rang again.
    Without looking at the caller ID, she answered, “Freddie, go moan in someone else’s ear.”

    *

    “Uh…Hello? Miss Morgan Blake, please?” a confused woman asked.
    “Oh…I…uh…This is me, I mean her. This is Morgan Blake.” Morgan smacked her forehead.
    “Great! Hi. My name is Alex Canton from the Dencourt Gallery. I was calling to see if you would be able to make it to D.C. early next week to discuss the curator position that has recently opened.”
    Morgan sat silent and a little confused and looked at the caller ID. It wasn’t Freddy or any number that she recognized.
    “Hello? Miss Blake?” Alex asked.
    “I’m sorry. I’m a bit caught off guard. I actually haven’t even submitted a résumé for the position. How did—”
    Alex interrupted. “No worries, Miss Blake. You can bring it with you next week. I notice that you are living in Eastern Virginia, so you won’t need a flight. We can send a car.” The young woman was not asking.
    “I…Um…No, that’s okay. I have a car,” Morgan managed to say.
    “Excellent, Miss Blake. We shall see you at twelve p.m. on Tuesday, then?”
    “Sure. I mean yes. Yes, of course. Twelve o’clock. Tuesday.” Morgan spit out truncated sentences.
    “See you then, ma’am.” And just like that, the strangest call Morgan had ever received, ended.
    Morgan sat stunned, staring at her computer screen with her fingers to her mouth. “What the hell just happened?”

    *

    Alex knocked on the large cherry door and entered the room. The first thing Lee noticed was the large smile on her face. Alex was clearly very proud of herself.
    Lee grinned in response. “Yes?”
    “Miss Morgan Blake will be here at noon on Tuesday. She is driving herself from Virginia and will be staying that evening at the Hay Adams.” Alex was beaming from her accomplishment.
    “Really? Excellent work, Miss Canton. Well, then, why don’t you call it a day and head home. Nice job.”
    “But I still need—”
    “Go home, Alex. I’ll see you on Monday.”
    Alex nodded. “Wow! Thanks, Lee. I mean, Ms. Dencourt.” She smiled and left the office, closing the door behind her.
    “So far, so good,” Lee said to herself.

Chapter Ten

    On Monday, Morgan called Alex at the Dencourt to make sure she hadn’t hallucinated the bizarre conversation from a few days earlier. To both her amazement and comfort, she was not going crazy and the meeting was still scheduled for noon on Tuesday. When Morgan discussed the situation with her parents, they weren’t nearly as concerned about the randomness of the phone call. They were certainly intrigued by the timing but not necessarily concerned. Her mother had always told her that things happen for a reason, and as Morgan expected, her mother stood by those words.
    “Well, I’m sure that Dr. Mel made some calls. There certainly isn’t some cosmic communication between open positions and unemployed job seekers.” Morgan attempted to reconcile the strangeness with logic.
    “Well, honey, either way, they have a position with your name written on it. It does seem to have a cosmic ring to it.”
    “My name isn’t written anywhere except on an interview schedule for Tuesday.”
    “We’ll see.” Her mother was always so positive even when things didn’t work out the way that she said they would.
    It took Morgan less than three hours to get to the gallery. Even with construction traffic and detours, she was nearly an hour early. She liked to be early, but an hour was overkill. Instead of making her way to the administration offices, she entered the lobby and headed to the counter. She figured that she would browse the gallery map and