Last Christmas by Lily Greene Page B

ablaze with fairy lights. She had her hand over her mouth trying to contain the sheer joy she was feeling. She was awestruck. Things were starting to go her way again. Her career, her love life …
    “Erm, Ella? What do you think to the arrangement then? Do you not like it?” Daisy inquired nervously.
    “Oh no, I love it!” Ella gasped, returning to reality. “Sorry I was just … I was just thinking about this evening.”
    “So are you happy with how it is? Shall we start fixing them?” Guy asked gruffly. The red rings around his eyes warned Ella that he was not in a good mood. He looked tired and in dire need of a coffee. Had he been out last night or was he being over-worked by the gallery? Ella hoped it wasn’t because of her exhibition. Things were already awkward enough between them; ever since Guy had asked her on a date that had led nowhere, they felt uncomfortable in each other’s presence. After Ella had broken up with Robbie, Guy asked her out repeatedly until she finally said yes. Ella knew she only saw Guy as a friend and that going on a date wouldn’t change that, but she couldn’t bring herself to refuse him a fourth time and she had thought it might be a good distraction from her heartbreak. They had had a lovely time at a concert on Primrose Hill, but Ella had made it clear at the end of the evening that she didn’t see Guy in a romantic way.
    “Yes, I am happy. They all look wonderful,” she replied in as cheery voice as she could manage. “Thank you Guy,” she added tenderly.
    “Great, come with me Ella.” Celia beckoned her to come into the gallery office and she followed without pause.
    They stood in the doorway of the office, talking business. Celia was sifting through guest lists and reminding Ella who were the most important guests of the evening. As she spoke, Ella was overlooking the painting hanging. While Celia was twiddling with her hair and chatting on about saddling up to the right contacts , Ella noticed that something wasn’t quite right. She had just seen one of her paintings from a new angle.
    “Sorry guys,” she called out to the team. “I’ve just noticed we have a bit of a colour block over there. The background of that feature wall is very blue and just in front of it is ‘Midnight Water’. I think it looks a bit lost there – it’s swamped by its surroundings.”
    The others took a step back towards the office where Ella and Celia were standing and squinted at the painting.
    “You’re right!” said the high-pitched Sophie. “All those lovely blues are swamped by the blue feature wall.”
    “Would you mind swapping that one with ‘Dawn II’ please? I think the pinks in that will really stand out against the blue and then we can put ‘Midnight Water’ where ‘Dawn II’ was on the white wall. They are roughly the same size so it should fit,” Ella replied thoughtfully.
    “Of course,” Daisy remarked as the other two followed her to swap the paintings. Ella thought she could hear Guy mumble something under his breath but she didn’t catch it, whatever it was.
    *
    It took several hours to hang all of the paintings and clean up the gallery. The gallery staff tested the lighting and hung a few more Christmas decorations. Sophie tied bunches of mistletoe amongst the fairy lights hung from the ceiling. Exhausted, the team slumped on the sofas in the office and looked proudly on what they had created. Through the door of the office, they could see the whole room was glowing. The fairy lights bounced off the paintings and added a wonderful festive atmosphere.
    “I’ve just got off the phone with Hugh, he’s going to bring some takeaway to the office so we can eat before the opening,” Celia said.
    “Great. I’m starving,” Guy replied, perking up a bit.
    Ella excused herself and went to the bathroom to change and touch up her make-up. She put on an asymmetrical, Japanese-style, black wrap-around dress. It was made of rough satin and had a silvery