Page 13 of Not Mine To Love

I nodded and extended my hand; she shook it.

“She’s the photographer I told you about,” Julius said, appearing from seemingly nowhere.

“Ana, this is Rebecca, Rebecca, this is Ana.”

My name was actually just Becca, but I didn’t bother to correct him.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ana. Thanks for hiring me.”

She pointed at Julius. “He’s handling all the wedding stuff. I’m afraid that weddings just aren’t my thing, so you just have Julius to thank. He had nothing but nice things to say about you. And what I saw of your portfolio, I really liked.”

“Thanks,” I murmured, feeling embarrassed by the compliments and also embarrassed that my whole portfolio was just a lie.

Lying was not my forte.

Ana introduced me to the wedding planner, and I tried not to notice how handsome Julius looked. He was wearing jeans much to my surprise and a plain blue shirt. Not that his casual wear didn’t make him look great. Again, he was hands down the best looking guy there. I felt guilty thinking that and quickly directed my attention elsewhere.

“Come meet my mother,” Ana said with clear reluctance. “I’m sure she has some photo ideas she would like to share with you.”

“Better yet. Hey, Julius, I need to speak to the event planner. Can you take Rebecca to meet Mom?”

He shook his head. “Nope. No thank you. You handle your mother, that’s our agreement.”

They stared each other down for a second, and I smelled trouble in paradise. Julius lost the stare down and reluctantly told me to follow him.

“You owe me big time,” he retorted to Ana.

“I know, I know,” she said, looking perturbed but also relieved. Was Ana afraid of her own mother?

“Come on, come meet the Dragon Lady.”

“Julius...”

I could hear the warning in Ana’s voice.

“What? I mean that in the most complimentary way. Trust me.”

I didn’t trust a word he said, but he made me laugh.

“Dragon lady?” I said when we were out of earshot. “I’m guessing she doesn’t know you call her that.”

He laughed, “Are you kidding me? I value my life.”

I laughed, “She can’t be that bad.”

“You’re right. She’s a million times worse.”

I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. So I guessed the feeling was mutual. They hated each other.

“Claire,” he called as we crossed the lawn.

I knew she could hear us, but she blatantly ignored Julius.

“Claire,” he called again.

She looked away from whomever she was talking to on the phone and said, “Were you raised in a barn? Stop shouting at me.”

“I’m not shouting. I was just trying to get your attention.”