Page 221 of Safe With You

Once Ellis started working, everything else seemed to fall away. He moved when he needed to, stayed still when he didn’t, and somehow managed to get close enough for the shot without becoming part of it.

I’d noticed that the first time.

Tonight, I noticed other things too.

The way his shirt pulled across his shoulders when he crouched near the end of the first row. The way he lowered the camera to check the screen, his eyebrows drawing together for half a second before he lifted it again.

The way⁠—

I stopped myself.

Absolutely not.

I turned my attention back to the woman reading.

The room applauded as the first reader finished, and the next person made their way toward the microphone.

By the fourth performance, the event had found its rhythm.

A man read a poem about his grandmother that left the room quiet for several seconds after he finished. A college student shared something she wrote about moving away from home for the first time. One of our regulars read a piece that started as a love poem and somehow turned into a complaint about her husband’s inability to replace an empty roll of toilet paper.

That one got the loudest applause so far.

Especially from the women.

Her husband, sitting in the second row, shook his head.

“I’m buying a new holder tomorrow,” he called.

“You’ve had twelve years,” she told him.

The room broke into laughter.

Even Ellis lowered his camera for that one.

When I looked toward him, he was already smiling.

Then his eyes met mine.

And there it was again.

That little moment.

It shouldn’t feel like anything.

We were standing on opposite sides of a crowded bookstore. There were dozens of people between us, somebody was walking toward the microphone, and I had at least three things I should probably be paying attention to.

Still, his eyes stayed on mine for another second before he lifted the camera again.

This time, he pointed it at me.

I immediately shook my head.

He took the picture anyway.

I narrowed my eyes.

His grin appeared behind the camera.