Appointment with a Smile Read Online Free PDF

this, Spence.”
    “Whoa!” He stepped back. “This is absolutely absolute.”
    “Thanks.” I greeted him with a slight wave. He looked particularly haggard. “Had a rough night?”
    “No. Just studying some of your work on the Internet that we have at the gallery back home. I got a message that sales have picked up. Did some price restructuring. Looks like we have a rising star. Do me a favor.” He threw his arm around me. “Don’t go establishment.”
    Fiona snickered. “Fuck the establishment.”
    “That can be our battle cry,” he said.
    Fiona looked at me. “You’ve always been my favorite artist, Danielle. Always. You never give me headaches. Some of those goddamn babies want their balls scratched. If there’s an accident, they expect me to be everyone between the first responder and the coroner. The fools.”
    “And you’re not a promoter-slash-profiteer?” Spencer playfully kidded. For whatever reason, he was her only employee who could tease her and keep his job.
    “You can get by with anything,” I told him. “So what do you have on her?”
    They both gave a few conspiratorial giggles. Fiona said, “Danielle, it’s taken you awhile, but you’re in the winner’s circle now.”
    “Maybe if I’d had a higher education, stayed in college, and got more art training, I might’ve been here sooner.”
    Fiona waved her hand dismissively. “You’ve always had the basics down by heart. I don’t think art school would have done much. Other than teach you to be like everyone else. And you’re not like everyone else. Just look at this painting. Extraordinary. Is this painting part of the dream of a reunion with your Molly?”
    I shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
    “Can we include it in the exhibit?” Fiona wouldn’t let up.
    “You can put it in the show, just like it is. I want a hundred thousand for it, though. So it isn’t likely to sell.”
    “Realistically, no. And what is the title?”
    “I’m calling it Farewell to Molly. ”

Chapter 7
     
    After spending time at the gallery, I met Esther for a late dinner. We stopped in at the adorable Lindsay’s Tea House. Small and sweet and serving traditional fare, its vintage glamour and elegance seemed right for us.
    I ordered an herb-encrusted cod dish that included a salad and side of roasted vegetables and naturally, Lindsay’s specially blended tea. Esther decided on roast beef, salad, and veggies, along with orange-spiced tea.
    She looked as relaxed as I was, but she had her daily planner in hand. She’d probably planned a thousand tours, so I immediately began distracting her with my normal diversionary question.
    “How are things in the heavens today?” I asked. She didn’t disappoint me.
    “Hydrothermal vents are able to support bacteria on earth and may support it in outer space. It is extremophile bacteria and could be in other parts of the cosmos even as we speak.”
    I nodded as if I understood. “I was wondering what had become of all extremophile bacteria.”
    “I’ll tell you this, we don’t know all the chemical formulations. I wish you’d taken a course in chemistry,” she said with some exasperation. “Or at least passed a course in chemistry if you ever took one. There’s the theory of panspermia that relates how life may have come from a distant planet. Or even an asteroid, or interstellar space. Life might’ve been carried here on the backs of distant debris.”
    “I’d rather believe I’m whittled from a monkey’s sperm. Distant debris is too much like catching a dumpster ride across the cosmos in a garbage bag.”
    “See, I can’t really talk with you about the origin of life. My field. I can’t.”
    “Sorry. Guess it’s like when Molly and I were together. I never felt bright enough to be a part of her life. As a philosophy student, all her friends were a true part of academia. At least they pretended to be preeminent intellectuals. I never got the nuances of philosophy. And I was little more than