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and I was early and I just thought, I'll go, sorry."
    "No, don't be silly," the man said, "My partner just went to pick up dinner, that's why I left the door unlocked, stay and look around."
    "Are you sure?" Holly asked.
    She felt completely stupid and part of her just wanted to leave.  But she did like looking at art and it was so hot outside.
    "Sure," he said, "What do you think of it?"
    "Ummm," Holly said.
    "Go ahead, tell me, I don't know anything about art, that's Joanna, my partner's, thing, I just handle the business end and the brute force stuff."
    "What?" Holly said, confused.
    "You know, hanging up the paintings.  I'm joking," he said, "I got to get back to work, don't steal anything, okay?"
    "Ummm."
    "I'm joking, again, look around, take your time.  Buy something."
    "That's a joke, right?" Holly said, feeling a little braver.
    "Yes, but not if you really want to buy something.  Love to have a sold sticker, before opening night even."
    "I don't think I'm going to buy anything," Holly said, "But I'd love to look around."
    The guy went back to the far end of the gallery.  Holly couldn't really see what he was doing so she turned back to the paintings.  She was expecting to see more nature scenes so she was surprised to see some city scapes mixed in.  She looked at paintings that depicted Paris, London and Lucerne.  She wondered if the artist had actually been to those places.
    Most artists probably dreamed of going to Europe and painting but Holly had never even allowed herself to think about it.  She rushed through that part of the collection and let out the breath she hadn't known she was holding, when she got back to some predictable New England scenes.  Winter this time.
    She avoided the back, where the man was working, and was to the right of the gallery door when it opened and the bell jingled.
    "Oh, we're closed," said the woman as she walked in.
    "I told her she could stay Jo," the man said as he came up to the front, "She's meeting someone for dinner down the block, besides, she's a cat person, I thought you wouldn't mind."
    "I'm a cat person?" Holly asked.
    "Yeah," he said as he took the bag from the woman's hand.
    "I'm not a...cat person, sorry," Holly said.  She instantly wished she hadn't said anything.  He had been nice enough to let her walk around the gallery.  She didn't want to offend him.
    "But you're covered in cat hair?" he said, pointing to her dress.
    "I am?" she said, looking down.
    She was covered alright, but not in cat hair, in rabbit fur.  Lia had been lying on the rug in the back room reading when Holly had left.  Mercedes had been flopped in front of one of the air registers and Holly didn't blame him.  The small, single AC compressor they had to cool the whole house really didn't cut it when the days got this hot.  Luckily that was pretty rare.
    Holly hadn't noticed Timber, but then he had run over to her and started licking her bare toes.  She had laughed and picked him up.  When Lia put down her book and started talking to her, Holly had sat down in the love seat with Timber and talked to Lia, snuggling the rabbit until it was time for her to go.  Now she looked down at her dress, totally dismayed.
    "It's rabbit fur, actually, we have two rabbits," she said helplessly.
    "Oh," the man said, and the woman nodded in understanding.
    Holly was trying to muscle up the courage to ask if they had a piece of tape lying around but she didn't want to impose anymore.  Plus they had their dinner to eat.
    "I'll just go then, thank you for letting me look at the paintings," she said and headed towards the door.
    "Wait," said the woman, and she charged towards the back of the store.
    Holly prayed Joanna was getting a lint brush, but she kept the disappointment out of her voice when she was handed a small stack of flyers, postcards really, for the gallery opening.
    "I'll pass these around my town," she promised as she left.
    The bistro was at the other end of the block.  Holly