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“And make-up?”
“A little make-up. You said I could!”
That was the point I’d had to work real hard on to convince her that my plan for the day was a good one. What’s the fun of a photo shoot if you don’t get to dress up a little? Nick said I could bring Kayla to the studio to play around with make-up and have a few photos taken. Saturdays were usually busy but a few people had cancelled their shoots because of the weather reports. Seemed a little crazy to me. Why would rain interfere with a photos hoot? It wasn’t treacherous, and even though I agreed it was better to be safe than sorry – I would have cancelled if the rain was too crazy – it was a waste to back out of an appointment “just in case”.
Anyway, I’d had to beg because I knew Kayla would love the experience and I wanted her to feel good about herself instead of driving herself crazy by telling herself she was a loser for not blowing that guy.
“A little make-up,” Mrs Shaw agreed. “Bree, I’m trusting you not to make my daughter resemble a hooker, okay?”
“Mom!”
Laughing I said, “I promise. I’ll go easy on the make-up.”
Kayla rolled her eyes then gave me a cheeky wink while her mom took another glance out the window.
“Mrs Shaw, I swear I will keep a close watch on the weather. It’ll take us just under an hour to get back from the studio so the second things start to look bad, I’ll bring Kayla home. I’ll keep her safe.”
Mrs Shaw nodded, giving me a more confident smile. “I know you will. Okay, you two go have fun, and give me a call when you’re on your way home, okay? I’ll have dinner waiting for you. Well, my husband will.”
Kayla and I giggled. Aside from cakes and biscuits, Mrs Shaw was known for her terrible cooking, and Mr Shaw, Jesse and Kayla took turns to make the family meals. Jesse once told me it wasn’t worth the indigestion to eat anything his mom made. A little shiver slid down my spine when I thought of him. He’d be home when we got back and I really hoped he’d have some time to talk to me. I needed him so much after the last few days with Jude, plus, I hadn’t had a chance to tell him how cool work was. I’d pushed aside the fact I betrayed him by hanging out with his ex, but hopefully I could explain when we were face to face… but what if he already knew? Oh God, what if Taylor told him? I wouldn’t put it past her. She loved telling other people’s secrets, and… oh, even worse. What if she told him everything I said? What if he knew I had feelings for him, and she-
“Hey, Bree!” Kayla waved her hand in front of my face, and I blinked, trying to get a grip on my racing thoughts. In the time I’d been panicking, she’d put her coat and shoes on and slung her backpack over her shoulder.
“Sorry,” I said. “I’m ready to go now.”
Not gonna lie, the drive to the studio was a little rougher than I expected. As always, the traffic was slow and the whole way rain hammered against the windows forcing me to keep my wipers on at the highest speed. However, by the time we arrived, the rain wasn’t quite as heavy as before and I hoped the weather reports were wrong, and it wouldn’t ruin our day.
After introducing Kayla to Tanya and Nick, Tanya and I took Kayla through to the make-up room.
“Okay, missy. Let’s have a peek inside that backpack!”
Kayla grinned. She was already dressed in a cute outfit; blue jeans, a close fitting black sweater, and a cream, silk scarf with giraffes printed on it.
“Hey, I totally want that scarf,” I said. “It’s adorable.”
“It was a Christmas gift from Jesse. You should ask him where he got it.”
“I am so doing that,” I told her, making a mental note to remember when I saw him later.
Rummaging through Kayla’s clothes lifted my mood and it only took a short time for us to decide which outfits she’d wear for the shoot. We had the whole morning but we had to factor in make-up time, plus time to actually take the photos, so we picked three outfits. Two casual, one dressy. Because I was such a huge fan of it not to mention a little jealous of Kayla’s style at such a young age, we started with the dressy outfit. Luckily, the studio was warm, because the dress was pretty short. It was made up of black and hot pick lace flowers, and of course it had lining underneath so she didn’t look like a hooker. This dress was mom approved. Tanya let me get to work on the make-up. Challenging because I wanted to go crazy with it but as promised, I kept it fairly low key.
When Kayla was ready, Nick was in position, so Kayla took her place in front of the white screen that had already been lit. I could feel the heat from behind the camera.
“Okay, Kayla, let’s start with a few basic shots. Just smile for me.”
She shuffled her feet for a second like she couldn’t decide how to stand.
“Relax,” Nick told her. “We’re gonna keep it simple. Pretend like it’s picture day at school.”
“Okay,” she mumbled.
What happened to my girl? She’d been confident and excited seconds ago. With the camera pointed at her she’d fallen apart a little.
“Are you okay, honey?” I asked.
“Yeah, I just… I’m not a model. This feels weird.”
I honestly didn’t see this coming. I wasn’t sure if this was part of her feeling down on herself after what happened with that guy but she looked so uncomfortable, I had to go give her a hug.
