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Gavin comes in a few minutes later with a big box in his hands. “Seriously, Posey, you couldn’t order it to the house?”
“I wasn’t going to be able to carry it with her. What do you think I am, an octopus?”
Gavin smiles at me. “Hey, Noah. Thanks for this.”
“No problem. Let’s get started.”
Posey looks at Gavin. “Where are the clothes?”
“Shit. Start with Shay and I’ll be back.” He leaves again.
Posey cringes. “Sorry, we’re not usually like this, but we’re running on minimal sleep.”
“No apologies. I have no idea what it would be like to have a kid.”
“Not yet anyway.” She smiles as though kids are on the horizon for me. Little does she know.
Posey positions Shay like a pro, and if this was my usual gig, I think I’d hire her as an assistant. We get some cute pictures of Shay in different poses, and when Gavin returns, we do some family poses, then a few of just Posey and Gavin.
When we’re done, Posey writes down her phone number and tells me to text her the total and that she’ll transfer it over to me. I hate taking the money since I really don’t need it, but in preparation for today I did some digging on the going rate and realized I forgot how well portraits pay.
At lunch, I walk down to the diner, and on the way, Amy from Twisted Stem stops me. “Hey, Noah, I heard you opened a studio?”
“It’s only temporary, but I did agree to take a few pictures for some people. Do you need something?”
“I just wondered if you could come by and take a few pictures. I’m thinking about making some brochures, and I want to increase my online presence like you did for Mandi.”
I forgot how fast news goes around in a small town. “I have some time tomorrow. I’ll swing by.”
“That would be great. And congratulations on the upcoming nuptials. Mandi is the best, and the fact you two have found one another… well, it’s awesome.”
I smile at her. “Thank you.”
Before I reach the diner, I also get stopped by Theo at the pottery place. Lastly, Tad from Two Brothers and an Egg asks me to take pictures of their food for their menu.
I should’ve figured that what’s known as different kinds of photography in big cities all fall under the same umbrella here. Knowing I only have less than two weeks before I leave, I hate to leave anyone hanging. I tell everyone yes, though I don’t know how I’m going to get them all done.
By the time the day is over and I’m alone in my studio, I’m looking through the pictures I took, ready to edit them on the computer, and I realize I enjoyed the day. Seeing all the happy families and the interactions between them. Even when I had a hard time reining Noah in, it was kind of fun.
The door opens. I expect it to be Mandi, but I’m surprised to see Hank.
“Hey, Hank.” I get up from my computer.
We shake hands. Now that I think about it, he’s kind of someone I wanted to talk to.
“This space is nice.” He looks around. “A lot you could do here.” Spoken like a true contractor. “I wanted to see if you needed any help getting it ready. We could probably divide it into two studios.” He continues to walk around the place, assessing.
“Oh, I’m not sure. Gavin only contracted me to have it for two weeks.”
Hank turns around and faces me. “So where will you shoot when you’re in town?”
I shrug. “I’m not sure I will.”
He nods, but it’s clear he doesn’t agree with me spending the majority of our marriage away from Mandi and I can’t say I blame him.
“I have a question for you, Hank.”
“Sure.” He sits at the table and fiddles with my appointments handwritten on a piece of paper.
“There’s this arbor.” I pull Mandi’s wedding book out of my camera bag. “Had I found it earlier, I would’ve asked, but I just found it. Mandi has been so complacent with planning the wedding, not wanting to inconvenience anyone and letting everyone else have what they want. I’m willing to help, just let me know what I can do. But I was wondering… can we get this done before the wedding? As a surprise for Mandi?”
He looks it over and smiles. “Yeah. It was what I came here to discuss with you. When Mandi was younger, the girls would always talk about their weddings and their grooms. None of them have gone how they used to say they would, but Mandi’s number one was always that her groom would be waiting under an arbor covered in flowers. So, when she announced the wedding, I started on one. Having this picture at least tells me the color and some of the details she wants. I came here to let you know, since I wanted it to be a surprise for her.”
“You already started it? If you couldn’t do it, I was gonna try to find one.”
“No need. I have to say, I wasn’t really sold on the idea of you two. Such a fast wedding and you hadn’t even been introduced to the family. Not really Mandi’s style. But this.” He pushes his finger down on the picture of the arbor. “Gives me a good feeling about the two of you.” He stands and clamps me on the shoulder. “Have a nice night, Noah.”
He leaves the makeshift studio and I’m left wondering how many other people are questioning whether our marriage is on the up-and-up.
