Chapter Thirteen
Spring 2015
Erica
I pulled up next to Chase’s car at the bottom of the mountain and put my car in park. I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel before looking over at where Chase was already out of his car and leaning against the hood with a phone to his ear.
I took a few deep breaths before I grabbed my bag and exited my car. I pulled my thin cotton shirt down from where it had bunched at my hips, as I walked over to Chase. I flattened it out against my workout capris. It’s what I normally wore when I came to Stone Mountain, so I thought it would be safe.
Chase and I had worked on many shoots and scouting different areas, but someone had always been with us. This time it was just us going up and down this mountain to find the perfect spots for a shoot we had next week and my nerves were shot. I climbed this mountain every weekend, but this time it would be with Chase and the way he was wearing his gym sweats and a skin-tight black shirt had my mouth watering and me wondering just how much work I was going to be able to get done today.
“Hey,” Chase called out to me as I came to stand in front of him. He held up a finger while he continued to listen to the voice on the other end of the phone. He nodded and rolled his eyes to me, making a too much talking noise with his hand, and I stifled a laugh. “I’m going to have to let you go, Mother, I have an appointment right now that’s very important.”
I rocked back and forth on my heels at Chase’s words. When Chase had asked me to come here today to scout the mountain for the perfect location for a shoot with a new contemporary author next week, I thought it was a sign. I thought maybe he was going to ask me out or that this was his way of asking me out.
I had never seen Chase with another girl and he never talked about them like the other guys did, but now that assumption that had been filling my head for two days was shot down. This was just another work meeting he had to be at. I stared down at my feet, waiting for Chase to finally finish the conversation so we could climb. My hands were itching to get my camera out and start taking photos. It was something I knew would calm my anxiety immediately.
“We’ll talk about it tomorrow, Mother.”
I was still staring down at my shoes when another pair came into view and I looked up into Chase’s eyes. I stopped rocking instantly and smiled at him.
“Sorry about that. My father’s running for reelection but this time he’s apposed and my mother wants me to help spearhead the campaign.”
“You sound like you don’t want to.” A scowl came over his face as I raised an eyebrow at him. I hadn’t heard Chase talk much about his family and from that I assumed he was distant with them, but now I could see it was more than he wanted nothing to do with them.
“I’ve managed to stay out of my father’s politics for years, but now that The Ink Well is doing so well, we’re generating buzz that’s affecting my father’s campaign.”
“How so?” I turned to follow Chase as he directed us toward the mountain.
“I was the prodigy son, who was supposed to follow in his father’s footsteps, but I’m not doing that, and the news is catching wind that I have no desire to.”
“What’s so bad about not wanting to?”
“My father’s not had anyone run against him since he became Senator, and now with him creating a platform to one day move into Congress, the state wants someone in the same line to succeed him. And I just so happen to be the perfect candidate they want to mold for when that time comes.”
“I didn’t think that was how that worked.”
“It’s not.” Chase’s response came out clipped and I let the conversation drop to an awkward silence. The silence stayed between us as we climbed over large rocks, trekked through brown pine needles that littered the ground. The only sound between us was the crunching of leaves and the occasional jogger who ran by or the chirping of the birds flying overhead.
We came to a clearing about halfway up, one I stopped at many times to take photos. I reached out to Chase, who jumped, almost like he had been lost in thought and hadn’t realized I was still there with him.
“Tell me what you think of here.”
I pointed to the opening between a group of trees. When you looked out between them a landscape of forest came into view and a stream just below. It was angelic and made you forget that you were at a state park, but lost out in the middle of nowhere.
“Wow.” Chase only spoke the one word, but it said a thousand more than he never knew he had said. The way he slowly walked to the clearing and placed a hand on the nearest tree, just taking in the scene, had me pulling out my camera and snapping a few pictures of him.
At first he didn’t notice and those pictures were ones I knew I was going to be putting up in my room. Photos lined the walls of my house, but in my room, there were only photos of Chase. Ones I had managed to snap randomly over the years of working with him, and then the best one I had. The one with him looking straight at the camera as he got off his plane five years ago.
“What are you doing?” Chase’s question came out as a laugh and I looked up from my camera where I had just taken another photo. An innocent smile crossed my lips and a smirk formed on his face. “Should I pose or something?”
My eyes widened at his question as he put a hand on his hip and jutted it out, striking a pose. A laugh bubbled out of me and I bent over with an arm across my stomach.
“Hey!” Chase shouted at me and I straightened myself. “I don’t look that ridiculous, do I?”
“Just a little.” I let out another little laugh.
“Take a few and let me see for myself.”
