I’m smitten by the small mountain town of Langston Falls, Georgia, just over the Smoky Mountains. It’s our last stop before we head home to Heartsboro. Keri told me she’s visited this area many times. It’s where she and her dad used to choose and cut their Christmas tree at the Bennett Farms Christmas Tree Farm and Winery. The place oozes with charm with its big red barn, vineyard, and acres of spruce and Fraser fir trees as far as the eye can see. We end up buying a case of wine, the bottles of “Big Red Blend” the perfect gifts for our friends back home.
We’ve had an amazing adventure these last few weeks. But I’m anxious to stay in one place for a while. To plant roots while planning our photography project. The dog days of summer have started, and Keri and I both agree we want to wait until fall when the weather is more comfortable. This will give us time to mapout the locations we want to shoot at and for more farmhouse renovations.
Before we left California, I texted my agent, Dan, about our idea to get his take. I even sent him one of my favorite, unedited shots of Keri on top of Feather Falls wearing her cerulean gown so he could get a feel for what we had in mind. He seemed interested and asked if he could share the photo with a few colleagues. I told him to go for it and never heard anything back.
Until today.
He tried calling me earlier while Keri and I were at the winery. While she’s perusing the Langston Falls gift shop, I’m sipping on coffee in the town square, with Molly at my feet, enjoying this brief respite of cooler mountain air. Now is as good a time as any to give Dan a quick call back. He answers on the second ring.
“Adam?”
“Hey, Dan. How are you?” I can hear him sigh on the other end. “You okay?”
“Um, yeah. I’m good. How are you?”
“Great! We’re almost home. Keri’s shopping, so I had a few minutes to call you back.”
“Cool. Cool. Well, I, uh… I have some news.”
“Oh?” I frown, uneasy at his tone.
“Do you remember Pierre Jardo? You shot one of his perfume campaigns several years ago.”
“How could I forget? He was a big, loud bully with some of the models on set.” I can still picture the enigmatic Frenchman shouting obscenities in his native tongue as we desperately tried to pull off his avant-garde choices for his advertising campaign. It was a challenging gig for sure.
“Well, I don’t know if you heard… He was in a car crash last year.”
“Bummer. Is he okay?”
“Oh, yes. He’s much better. It was touch-and-go for a while, but he’s fully recovered. And a little softer around the edges, if you know what I mean.”
“Well, that’s a positive.” I chuckle.
“He used your photo, Adam.”
“Say again?”
“Pierre Jardo used the photo you took of Keri for his website. He said it was ‘magnifique.’”
“Dan, what are you saying?”
“I shared your photo with one of my colleagues, who happens to work with Pierre. When he found out it was you behind the lens, he remembered you fondly and didn’t think you’d mind.”
“Go on.” I grip my phone, bracing myself.
“Since his accident, the man has had this newfound appreciation for being alive. His new French perfume,Nouvelle Vie,comes out just in time for the holidays. The name means ‘new life,’ or something like that. It’s a high-end, luxury fragrance. It’s a very niche and refined scent. His original concept involved angels, but his creative team and the photographer couldn’t get it right. When he laid eyes on Keri in her blue dress, he fell in love with her immediately. I didn’t know he was going to pirate your photo and put it on his website. I can barely understand the man through his translator. He basically said he’s willing to pay top dollar and doesn’t have time to wait for a formal agreement. He didn’t think you’d mind because you know each other. Adam, he’s running with it and wants more concept shots immediately.”
My jaw drops as Dan’s explanation spills out, my heart pounding and blood pressure spiking. Fury and disbelief twist inside me. Pierre has absolutely no right to my angel. The urge to shield Keri, to keep her safe from that man’s grasp, ignites with a protective fire I can’t ignore.
Speaking of angels, I look up from my phone and see her coming toward me with two shopping bags in her hands. She catches my eye and grins, lifting the bags up with a shrug.
“Dan, I gotta run. Get a lawyer, issue a cease and desist, and shut this down. Do you hear me?”
“Yes. Yes, of course. If that’s what you want. But hear me out real quick…”
“Dan…”
“This could be a very lucrative deal for all of us…”
