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“Thanks for that. As cute as this purse is, I think I’m going to get rid of it. That wasn’t my first rodeo in the tangled department.” She shakes her head and laughs.
“Sure thing. Glad I could help,” I offer. I extend my hand to her. “I’m Gavin.”
“Brandy. Nice to meet you,” she says and shakes my hand. “Business or pleasure?”
“Sorry?” The way the word pleasure rolls off her tongue has me thinking of several ways I can give her exactly that. Blonde isn’t generally my type, but when it’s just for fun, does it really matter?
“Your trip. Is it for business or pleasure?”
Ah, yes. Generic question, generic conversation. I should be used to having meaningless conversations by now. Not like my job requires me to engage in deep, life-changing chats. Would be a nice change, though. Whatever. At least I get to sit next to someone who isn’t painful on the eyes. Could be much worse.
“Business. You?”
“Pleasure. I’m meeting up with my boyfriend and a couple friends in Brandon. I was out here visiting family.”
“Cool.”
Nothing else comes to mind to say after learning she has a boyfriend. Automatic buzzkill. Sure, I could ask how her visit with her family went, but we don’t know each other and it is none of my business. So, I don’t dig.
At the mention of friends, I wonder if I will see anyone besides Micah from my teen years while I am on this trip. It will be nice to hang with Micah and catch up. I haven’t been back to this part of Florida since my mom received a promotion thirteen years ago. A promotion that had us moving out of the Sunshine state and across the country to the Golden state. A move that changed my life in more ways than one.
Maybe that is what has me so on edge. The possibility.
Brandy retrieves her phone and plugs in her earbuds, essentially talk-blocking me for the entire flight. So much for having a cute blonde to distract me. Generic conversation would have been better than nothing at all. This flight will last longer than the actual flight time.
I retrieve my phone from my back pocket, open up my Spotify app and hit play, looping the playlist. Leaning my head back against the seat, I gaze out the window and let my eyes lose focus on the skyline.
Ten days. I will only be there for ten days. A week and a half. It will fly by.
What is the likelihood I will run into anyone? Run into her? Slim. One in a million.
Majority of my time there will be wrapped up in photo shoots and dinners with Alyson and the photographer. There won’t be any time to do anything else. And besides, I am sure everyone has moved away. I mean, who stays in the same place they grew up? As soon as they come of age, most people move away.
But a part of me begs the universe to let me see her again. Even from a distance. See how she is. If she is with someone. Happy. What she looks like. Has she changed from the girl I knew? God, I hope there is no animosity after all these years. After everything, I hope she doesn’t hate me.
The plane taxis down the runway and we are off the ground seconds later. I pinch my eyes shut and focus on the music blaring in my ears. The music blankets the roar of the engine just barely, but does nothing to mask the vibration. Or the queasiness in my gut.
Just breathe, dude. The chances are slim.
Chapter Three
Cora
“Where do you want me to put this?” Erin asks as she holds up the soft umbrella reflector.
I point over to the left of a small side table. “You can set it there. The stand should be ready, if you could put it on there for me.”
“You got it, boss,” she jokes.
The first day Erin and I worked together, she called me boss. I told her to never dub me with such a title again. Although she has worked as my assistant, we had known each other beforehand. Erin is my friend, who just so happens to help me with my job and I compensate her. We work well together and there is no sense in ruining a good
thing.
But since that first day, when our friendship added business partners, she lives to mess with me. To keep our relationship light and fun and not so work-y. So, calling me boss is her work version of sarcasm. And I love all her witty and sarcastic tendencies.
Erin fumbles with setting up the lighting while I do some test shots with my camera. I point the camera off in the distance, catching sight of a few passersby and pressing the shutter release. Pulling the camera away from my eye, I glance down at the LCD screen and view the image. The lighting is sufficient, as is the image. Hopefully, we get all the shots in before the lighting from the windows shifts and adds unnecessary shadows. Not like I can’t Photoshop them out, but the less I have to adjust, the better.
As I shoot a few more test shots, the door to the banquet room opens. I continue taking a few more test shots, not looking to see the model or his agent as they shuffle into the room. I don’t know much about the shoot. Just that it’s a male model and he is an up-and-comer in the fashion industry.
