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I walk into Noah’s makeshift studio in an empty storefront in downtown Sunrise Bay. “I hear there’s this hot photographer in town everyone is dying to be photographed by?”
He’s setting up a backdrop and turns around and smiles at me.
“Oh, he’s got a great ass too.”
He finishes whatever he’s doing. “Keep that up and I’m going to have to give you a tour of the back room.”
“Promise?”
“I have a half hour.” He comes up to me and wraps his arms around my waist, kissing the top of my head. “It’s weird. Like I have a regular job or something.”
“A nine-to-five. What a change that would be, huh?”
“Yeah, although visits from you make it worthwhile.”
I hold up my bag of takeout. “Francois made us some tacos.”
“I’m surprised he doesn’t refer to himself as Felipe when he prepares tacos.”
I roll my eyes and he cleans off the table that’s serving as the waiting area right now.
Gavin secured the empty building for two weeks so that Noah could do all the city employees’ headshots, but also told him he could use it for whatever else for the duration, no questions asked.
“Why does he insist on being called Francois?” Noah asks, accepting the taco from me and unwrapping it.
I shrug. “He feels like Frank sounds like a guy who makes hot dogs on the corner. The guy who screams at you if you don’t order fast enough. You’d think he wouldn’t care, but he has a bit of a complex because he wasn’t officially trained. Sure, he worked under a few people, but when you look at Rome Bailey and his restaurants in the area, he was formally trained and worked under famous chefs in Europe. I’m not sure if he feels in competition with Rome or what.”
“Well, Frank makes great food no matter what you call him. He should be happy with that.”
We both lift our tacos and cheers. Our moans display what a great chef Francois is. He’s never made me one bad dish.
“So, I’ve been thinking…” I broach the subject I’ve been nervous to bring up because I’m not sure how he’ll take it. “It’s time you move out of the inn. You can move in with Chevelle and me. She’s rarely there, especially with this new guy she’s seeing. And it’s only for the next week since the wedding is next weekend.”
“God, how did it come so fast?” he asks, and I wish I had an answer.
“I have no clue. When I think of next week at this time, you’ll probably be leaving for an excursion.” I can’t help my frown.
He shakes his head. “I have to finish here, but I was asked to go take pictures at a surf contest in Southern California the week after. I guess one of the usual photographers can’t make it.”
“Oh, that’s nice.”
I might be saying the right thing, but knowing he already has his out for after the wedding stings in a way it shouldn’t. I walked into this hornet’s nest with my eyes wide open—I can’t be upset when I get stung.
“Yeah, I’ll probably be more into the waves than the surfers themselves.” He finishes his taco and tosses the wrapper into the trash can. “It’s crazy how many people have stopped by today, asking if I’m opening a studio, because they’re interested in pictures of their family.”
“Well, we’ve never had a dedicated family photographer around here. But you’d think in the day of the cell phones, most people would just take their pictures on their phones.”
“I have a friend who might be interested in coming here. She does portraits and could make a killing here. Probably just popping up a few times a year would do it.” His excitement to pawn this opportunity off on someone else tells me he’s not fully enjoying his experience. That small hope that budded inside me that he might fall in love with it wilts and dies.
“Oh, that’s nice.”
“She does weddings too, which reminds me. I was thinking we should take some pictures of our wedding and have an entire section on your website.”
Because that’s what I want to look at on my website. My own fake, failed marriage. Men are so stupid sometimes.
“We’ll see.” I dig into my purse and slide the key over. “This is the key to my place. Chevelle knows you’re moving in and she’s fine with it.”
He nods and finishes his last taco, again throwing the wrapper in the trash. “Great. I’ll be over after I finish here. I obviously don’t have anything but a suitcase to bring with me, so it won’t take me long to pack.”
