“You weren’t.”
“I’m sorry. You’re right, I was angry. But I’m not anymore.”
She drew back and looked at him. “Are you just saying that?”
“No.” His gaze was steady. “I’m telling the truth. I can’t be without you. At the risk of using a cliché, you’re my world. You always have been. I need you and I love you.”
“But?”
“Nobuts. No limitations, no conditions. I’m nothing without you. I barely exist. Victoria’s doing better. Her strength reminds me of yours.” He touched her cheek. “You help people, Ava. You always have. Get Shannon into the seminar if you want.”
She thought he might add something about making sure she didn’t hurt their daughter again, but he only hugged her, holding on so tight she knew he would never let go. And that was exactly how she wanted things to be.
17
Shannon stared at the brief text on her phone. Ava would like her to call when it was convenient. That was it. Five words. No biggie, except there was no reason for Ava to want a phone call—at least not one Shannon could think of.
As she reread the text, she wondered if Ava was going to get creepy or clingy. After all, they didn’t exactly have a relationship. Although when she thought about Ava, she pictured a strong, determined woman who certainly had an amazing life. She didn’t seem to be the creepy, clingy type.
With that in mind, Shannon tapped on the number on the phone and listened to the phone ring twice before Ava answered.
“Shannon, thank you for getting back to me. How are you?”
“Um, fine.”
The response came out more as a question than a statement.
“Excellent. I’ve been thinking about our conversation the other day and the way your face lit up when you mentioned your love of photography.”
“It did?”
How could it? She didn’t love photography. For her, it was a means to an end. A way to document the good work Aaron did. It gave her content for his website and social media. Sure, in high school she’d taken a couple of photography classes, but that hardly qualified as loving it. Maybe the face-lighting-upthing had been because she’d been thinking about Aaron, but she wasn’t sure she should say that.
“Have you given much thought to cinematography?”
To what? She blinked a couple of times. “No, I haven’t.”
She wasn’t even sure what that was. Yes, movies had a cinematographer who did things with... what? Framing the shot? The lighting?
“As you know, cinematography is how a movie or TV show is filmed,” Ava said, her voice filled with enthusiasm. “The cinematographer decides on camera angles, the lenses used, the depth of color and types of lighting. She works closely with the director to create each scene. Every visual in the film is the cinematographer’s responsibility. The husband of a friend teaches an introductory course. It’s over a weekend so wouldn’t take away from your regular life. He has one coming up, and when he mentioned it, I immediately thought of you.”
Shannon didn’t know what to say. “That’s very kind of you,” she began, only to have Ava cut her off.
“I knew you’d be excited. Now, the class is technically for high school students, but I knew it would be an excellent jumping-off point for you. He said he had room, if you’re interested. It would give you information, and I thought it might help you figure out how to turn your hobby into a career.”
Cinematography? As a job? Her first thought was to offer a big fat no. She wasn’t interested in the movie industry, and she’d never done much with videos. She wasn’t one of those talented types who could turn a morning jog into an Instagram post that got two million likes.
But before she could say any of that, she thought about Aaron’s website and Facebook page. Some video content might get him more customers by showing them how great he was. She’d always done Before and After photos but never videos. Learning a few tricks might make her more comfortable using that format.
“That sounds like fun,” she said. “Thank you for thinking of me, Ava.”
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re interested. Excellent. I’ll let Mateo know. Give me your email address so he can get you the material for the class. I believe there’s a list of films to watch in advance of the seminar.”
Shannon did as requested, then thanked Ava again and hung up. She hated to give up a weekend with Aaron, but hopefully she would learn enough that it would be worth it. Maybe she could even use the video skills here at work, although that wasn’t anywhere near as fun as helping Aaron. And seriously, at some point she had to figure out her life because if she didn’t, she would spend the next forty years working here, and that wasn’t anything she wanted to be thinking about.
Victoria watched as Shannon set the stacks of colored flyers on Victoria’s dining room table. There were a few hundred copies of four different pages. Shannon looked at her and shrugged.
“You said you wanted to help.”
