ELARA'S POV
The gallery showing was in two weeks and I was panicking. Not about the art—that was ready. About whether to invite Damien publicly or keep our relationship separate from my professional life.
Maya found me stress-organizing frames at midnight.
"You're spiraling."
"I'm fine."
"You alphabetized your paint tubes. You're not fine." She took the frame from my hands. "What's actually wrong?"
"If I invite Damien, everyone will focus on us instead of the art. If I don't invite him, it sends a message that I'm hiding him. Either way I lose."
"Or you invite him and don't care what people think."
"Easy for you to say. You're not dating someone whose mother tried to destroy you."
"True. But I am dating someone whose ex-wife keeps showing up at his gym. And I decided I don't care
