‘I can see the colour of its eyes,’ she whispered. Taking the camera away from her face, she stared at the creature, marvelling at the detail the telephoto lens revealed. ‘It’s like magic.’
Ashton chuckled, and Carla realised how daft she sounded. ‘I mean, I know what zoom lenses can do – I’m not stupid – it’s just… I’ve never looked through one before. It’s nothing like the zoom on my phone.’
‘No, it isn’t.’
She put the viewfinder to her eye again, closing the other. The goat wore a dreamy blissful expression on its face, one that she envied. She pressed the shutter button.
‘Can I see?’ He moved closer to her, his chest against her arm. ‘You can see the photo you’ve just taken by looking at the LCD screen.’ He pressed a button, and the image appeared. Carla had captured the goat’s expression perfectly.
‘Not bad,’ he said. ‘Not bad at all. See, I told you that you could do it.’
‘Can I have another go?’ she asked.
‘Absolutely. What else does Dulcie want me to photograph?’
Dulcie had only given Carla the briefest of briefs, so Carla wasn’t entirely sure. She paused, imagining what might capture her interest if she were a customer, and what might persuadeher to visit the farm. Natural, organic, and nature were the buzzwords that came to mind.
‘Chickens,’ she said. ‘And eggs. People might like to see where their eggs come from.’ She was thinking about the farm shop. ‘And then the bottles of milk, the cheese, and the soaps.’
Ashton said, ‘What if I take a few, then you can have a go? And as I take each image, I’ll explain what I’m doing and why. But I must warn you, not every photo is a great photo. Everyone takes duds, me included, so don’t expect it to be perfect every time. And before I shut up, I’ll just say one more thing – it takes practice to take a really great shot. Lots and lots of practice.’
Ashton’s passion for photography was clear, and it was catching. Carla could certainly appreciate what he saw in it, especially when it came to photographing animals.
She wished she’d thought to whip her phone out yesterday and take one of the stoat, but the creature would probably have disappeared by the time she’d got it out of her pocket. Anyway, her photo wouldn’t have been half as good as Ashton’s.
She could practice taking photos whilst she was here, she mused, as she led him towards the chicken coop in the hope of finding one of the free-range birds lingering nearby. It would give her something to do when she wasn’t helping out on the farm. And it might be nice to dawdle through the fields looking for things to photograph.
She must admit that she’d felt better after sitting in the orchard with her book, so maybe Dulcie was right, and she needed time to recuperate. Finding out that your boyfriend already had a fiancée, being dumped, and that you might be about to lose your job, was enough to fray anyone’s nerves.
CHAPTER FIVE
Ashton turned his pillow over, seeking the cooler side, and sighed in frustration. It was strange that when he had been with Lacey, he’d often felt exhausted by nine o’clock if he’d been at work that day. Yet since they’d split up, he spent half the night tossing and turning. If only he could have been this awake, Lacey mightn’t have—
It was pointless thinking that way. She’d known he was a postman when they’d started dating, and had been aware his job involved early starts, so she could hardly have expected him to be the life and soul of the party when he had to get up at the crack of dawn.
Ashton checked the time. Twenty-past ten, and he was still wide awake.
Was there any point in lying there getting crosser and crosser because he couldn’t fall asleep? Or should he get up and do something useful?
He decided to get up.
Pushing the bed covers aside, he swung his feet to the floor and padded downstairs in his boxers. He may as well lookthrough the photos he’d taken today, and if they were any good, he’d email them to Dulcie.
He had also asked Carla for her email address so he could forward her the images she’d taken. He’d only had the briefest of scans through them when he’d arrived home because he had been more focused on food, so he’d left checking the images for another day. But as he couldn’t sleep, he may as well look through them now.
Ashton sat at his makeshift desk (aka the table in the living room) and lifted the lid on the laptop. As he waited for it to start up, he decided to make a coffee.
Quietly, he slipped into the kitchen and filled the kettle, wincing at the sound, before remembering that he could make as much noise as he liked. He had become so accustomed to creeping around so as not to disturb Lacey, that it was now second nature.
He snorted softly – they say opposites attract, but perhaps night owls and early birds were a bittooopposite. Then there was her inability to appreciate how important photography was to him, and his bewilderment at her insatiable desire to watch soaps and her fascination with reality programmes. Yeah, total opposites.
After making the coffee, he grabbed a packet of oaty biscuits and returned to the living room, eager to see the photos, and clicked through them slowly, dunking a biscuit as he did so.
When he came to the photo Carla had taken of the goat, he paused. It wasn’t bad at all he thought, then carried on looking at the rest.
He became so engrossed in what he was doing, that it wasn’t until he’d neared the end of the photos did he realise there hadbeen a couple of occasions where he hadn’t been able to tell whether it was he or Carla who had taken an image, and it made him smile. She had been so adamant that she couldn’t take a good photo, and he was delighted to be able to prove her wrong.
Ignoring the time (it was getting to the point where it was hardly worth going to bed), Ashton emailed the photos to Carla and Dulcie, adding‘I told you so’and a smiley face emoji to Carla’s. He hoped she would be pleased with her efforts and that seeing them would give her the confidence to take better photos.
