Page 17 of Forced Perspective


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“Language,” Kyir told her and she rolled her eyes.

“I was at Freeman High too,” the mother spoke up. “We graduated together Kyir. It’s me, Lisa! Remember?”

“Not really.” Kyir shrugged, with a cool nonchalance that would’ve made me collapse to the floor if I was on the receiving end of it. “You ready for us, Brookie?”

Us?

“I actually need just five minutes to put everything back together, if that’s okay,” I explained. “Previous session ran over.”

Myanna and Kyir both glanced at where Shawn was not-so-gently escorting Kami and Lisa out, and then back to me.

“That’s fine,” Myanna said. “That’ll give me a chance to touch up my makeup and hair. Where can I go?”

“I’ll show you,” I offered, shaking my head when Kyir called out, “Be easy with the fuckin’ makeup!” after us.

Myanna just giggled about it, ducking into the dressing room I showed her next to the studio we’d be using. I’d had the foresight to straighten up as I went along during the last session, so I didn’t have too much to do for preparation.

Ideally, I would’ve had time to sit down, catch my breath, pull it all together between shoots, but the timing today wasn’t in my favor. By the time I had the studio ready, Myanna hadn’t yet emerged from the bathroom, so I went back up front to grab Kyir, thinking it would be better for us to just wait for her in there.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” was how I chose to break the ice. Kyir had his back to me, studying the gallery wall. I could see Shawn posted up outside through the window.

“I could say the same,” he replied, turning to face me with those intense dark eyes. “We booked this with Jules.”

I nodded. “I’m guessing Myanna didn’t mention the switch?”

“She did not.”

“Are you disappointed?”

His eyebrows dropped in a frown. “That’s not… a thing.”

“What’s not a thing?”

“Me being disappointed to see you. It’s not… something that would ever happen.”

Heat rushed to my face and I looked away. “You can come back to the studio. We’ll wait for Myanna back there.”

“Wait for her?” he asked, following me down the hall. “My, what are you doing?!” he called out, loud enough to resonate through to where she was.

“I didn’t like my eye makeup, so I wiped it off and started over! Is she waiting for me?!” she answered, sounding panicked.

“No, take your time!” I assured her, turning to shoot a quick glare at Kyir for stressing her. “How long do you need?”

“Uh… maybe ten more minutes?”

“That’s fine. Do you need help?”

“No, I got it,” she said, her sweet voice carrying through the dressing room door as we passed. “But thank you!”

“You’re welcome.” Then, to Kyir, once we were in the studio, I said, “She’s a lovely girl.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Okay… why you say that like I should be proud?”

“Well… I would think you are?” I said, gesturing at the dry-cleaning bag he was hanging up. “I see the honors sash, she seems like a sweet kid, raised well…”

“Do you think Myanna is my… daughter?” he asked, crossing his arms. The amusement on his face was clear.

“Is she not? Y’all look just alike. She’s a pretty version of you!”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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