Today's Reading
CHAPTER ONE
Emily unwound the cloth from the head of the stone sculpture and found herself face-to-face with the knight.
A spark of awareness, as though she'd met the intimate gaze of a stranger, made her catch her breath. There was something about his unguarded expression—the half-parted lips, the searching look in his eyes—that was more human than any statue she'd ever seen before.
"Hello, handsome," she murmured. "Welcome to Chicago."
Tingles between her legs surprised her. How long had it been since she'd felt that? Not since she'd found out Tom, her now ex-husband, had been cheating on her. No, even longer than that, if she was honest.
As a museum conservator, she didn't usually have that kind of reaction to old objects. It would've been really distracting as she worked to restore them to their former glory. But the face of this statue, even with some white streaks of sulfation, was already pretty glorious. His hair flowed loose to his shoulders; typical for a nobleman in the early 1400s. The mustache and short beard wouldn't have been strictly fashionable at court in his time, but they suited him.
She'd already removed the layers of protective wrapping, and she'd told her coworkers in Objects Conservation that she'd let them know as soon as she revealed the actual sculpture. He was their newest acquisition, and even for a huge museum like the Art Institute, he was an exciting one. She had a strange urge to close the door to the photography room and keep him to herself for a while.
But of course, she wasn't going to renege on her promise. She had a six-month contract at the museum, but when Jason had hired her, he'd told her it could turn into a permanent position, which she desperately wanted. It wasn't as though there were tons of opportunities for art conservators.
She stepped off the stool and took a moment to use the hem of her shirt to clean a smudge off her glasses. With a project like him, she wanted her vision to be crystal clear. Then she went to the door. In the main office area, Terrence Russell, a tall Black man with glasses who'd worked there for fifteen years, sat hunched over his computer, the coffee she'd brought him in hand.
Because of Terrence's seniority, Emily had interviewed with him, too, and she'd liked him immediately. He was married to a law professor at the University of Chicago, and he had a small studio in Hyde Park where he made sculptures out of wire.
Emily had jumped at the chance to do the morning caffeine run; little things like that were important when you were trying to fit in. Laurie MacGriogair wasn't at her desk, and Emily tried not to be relieved by that fact.
"Terrence, do you want to come see the knight sculpture?"
"Absolutely," he said, getting to his feet.
"Um, I want to, too," Laurie said. Emily looked over to where the fortysomething redhead stood at the supply closet. She sounded annoyed that she hadn't been invited.
"Sorry, didn't see you there."
Terrence and Laurie made their way to the black, windowless room where conservators took the first official photographs of a new acquisition. Emily got on the stool again to pull back more of the unbleached cotton wrappings, revealing the top half of the breastplate of the armor.
"He's so big!" she exclaimed to her coworkers. What would the knight think of her saying that—if he'd actually been a knight? He'd love it. She was sure of it.
Laurie shrugged. "It's nothing compared to the Buddha I worked on last year."
"He's big for late medieval England," Emily clarified, although Laurie probably knew that was what she meant.
Jason Yun, their boss, wandered in. He was wearing one of his frequent tailored suits, and his hair, more black than silver, was tousled as usual. He didn't say hello or good morning, which made Emily nervous, but as he scrutinized the sculpture, she thought she saw pleasure in his keen dark eyes.
"It's good to finally see it again," he said.
Jason was the Curator of Applied Arts and Design, so ordinarily, he would've been Emily's boss's boss. But the Director of Conservation was on maternity leave, so for the time being, the conservators reported to Jason. Unlike most curators, Jason actually had conservation experience: he'd been a part-time assistant while getting his PhD.
...
