‘I’ve no idea. I don’t know anything about him, really. Just his name, what he does for a living, and that he lives in Thornbury. And he’s single.’
‘Oh no you don’t, lady.’ Carla gave Dulcie a warning look. ‘I’m not going there.’
‘Yale didn’t break your heart,’ Dulcie reminded her.
‘No, but he’s put me off men for a while.’
‘I’m not suggesting you marry Ashton,’ Dulcie replied. ‘I’m just wondering where my love-them-and-leave-them friend has gone.’
‘I’ll let you know when I find her,’ Carla retorted. The situation with Yale had caused an internal shift, and she had become more wary and less flighty than she’d been, but surely that wasn’t a bad thing?
Dulcie’s attention returned to the computer screen. ‘Maybe I could get Ashton a voucher. I believe there’s a photography shop in Thornbury which might do vouchers or gift cards.’
Carla said, ‘Why don’t I pop into Thornbury instead of Picklewick? If the shop sells them, I can pick one up.’
‘That would be great. Thank you.’
It was the least Carla could do, considering Dulcie and Otto’s generosity in letting her stay with them. Not that she’d seen a great deal of Otto because he was at the restaurant most ofthe time. However, Dulcie had assured her the situation would change as soon as he’d trained up a head chef and hopefully he could take a back seat, and he and Dulcie could spend more time together, especially if she gave up the day job.
Right now, Carla was wishing she could give upherday job, but unfortunately she had no other strings to her bow. Her bow had one solitary string on it, and she had a feeling it was about to snap.
After another quick scan of her emails to make sure she hadn’t missed anything from HR or the union rep, Carla slipped her phone back into her bag, resolving not to think about work until she had to. She much preferred to think about her trip to Thornbury.
InFocus was a serious camera shop with serious equipment in the window, and Carla drew in a sharp breath at the equally serious prices. Good gracious, cameras weren’t cheap, were they? If she had realised how expensive they were, she probably would have been too scared to touch Ashton’s.
Her eyes roamed over the shelves as she tried to find the one Ashton owned, but they all looked much of a muchness and she was soon confused. And as for the lenses… Blimey, there were so many, and all of them had indecipherable strings of letters and numbers in their descriptions.
A shelf of second-hand equipment caught her attention. The items on it were considerably cheaper. This is the way forward,she thought, then pulled herself up. Anyone would think she was contemplating buying one. How daft would that be, considering she mightn’t have a job soon and needed to horde her pennies.
Realising that work had intruded into her thoughts once more, she walked up to the counter and the middle-aged man standing behind it. He had what appeared to be a camerain front of him, but she wasn’t certain because it was in bits.
As he looked up, she said, ‘Do you sell vouchers or gift cards?’
‘I most certainly do.’ He gestured to a small stand next to the till. Each little card had the most exquisite image on it.
She selected one, not caring that it was more than the amount Dulcie had suggested. Carla would cover the additional cost herself. She might need to keep a careful watch on her bank balance, but the boost to her confidence that Ashton had given her by his act of kindness yesterday was worth the expense. Dulcie was right, hewasone of the good ones. At any other time, she might have been tempted to get to know him better, but not right now. She had too much going on to think about becoming involved with anyone, however brief the involvement might be.
After she’d made her purchase, Carla didn’t immediately leave the shop. She wandered around itinstead, peering into the locked glass cabinets, trying to recall the make of Ashton’s camera.
Nikon, that was it, she remembered, and moved towards the cabinet with a Nikon sign above it.
‘Are you looking for something in particular?’ the man behind the counter asked.
‘I was just curious. I was with a guy yesterday who had one of these. I’ve no idea which one, though. How do you choose?’
He came out from behind the counter. ‘It depends on what you’re looking for, how much you want to pay, and what you want to use it for. When people start out, it’s normally the price point that has the greatest influence, but not always. What do you currently use?’
‘My phone.’ Her tone was sheepish.
‘But you’d like to get into photography on a more serious level?’ he guessed.
‘Um, I don’t know.’ Emboldened by his kind eyes, she scrabbled around in her bag for her phone and clicked on the email Ashton had sent her. ‘I took these yesterday,’ she said, showing him the screen.
‘With your phone?’ He sounded incredulous.
‘No, on Ashton’s camera – he was the guy I was with.’
‘Ashton? That wouldn’t be Ashton Clarke, would it?’
