Melody and Brett have finally decided that their teenage crush wasn’t just a teenage hormone issue and have rekindled a pubescent relationship. It’s still fairly new, but Brett is distracting her from pain, which I support. Plus, he’s a good guy, even though I won’t outwardly admit to it. He’s related to Brody—the real problem.
Our families have been friends for longer than we can remember, and we saw them a fair amount while growing up, but we all went our own ways these last ten to fifteen years, then all found our way back to the town we vowed never to live in forever.
“Journey, it’s always such a pleasure having you around Parker,” Brett utters, walking toward me.
Parker. I spin into the opposite direction in search of Brett’s seven-year-old-daughter, finding her leaning against the front counter, reading a book.
“Oh, hey, Parker,” I say, acting as if I didn’t say something completely inappropriate for a child’s ears.
Parker places her finger down on a word, holding her spot, before glancing up at me. “Hi, Journey!”
“What are you reading today?”
“Still Charlotte’s Web. It’s a long book.”
I grin and squat down in front of her. “Have you convinced your dad to get you a piglet yet?”
Parker huffs and places her head back against the wooden wall of the counter. “He said no,” she whispers, “but I’m not giving up that easily.”
“That-a-girl,” I reply, squeezing her shoulder.
“So, where are we doing the shoot?” Brett asks.
“Well, I cleared somespace on the counter,” Melody calls out from the back room.
“I need a corner and a little space,” I tell him. I have wooden box props and smooth vinyl backgrounds, which will make the setup more manageable, and quicker.
“I’ll move the display of bottles near the window so you can use that space. Sound good?” Brett asks.
“Perfect,” I tell him.
It takes about twenty minutes to set up the area with the lighting and backdrops before I canbegin test shooting. Without the chance to set the exposure before the first photo, the shop door chimes. I came here an hour before the opening to get this done before customers started coming in. I glance at my watch, finding it’s only eight-twenty-five. Why is the door even unlocked?
I lean back and crane my neck around the display that was concealing my view ofthe entrance.
Oh God. Give me a break.
“Uncle Brody is in the house,” he shouts. “Here for Miss Parker Pearson, the youngest of the Pearson clan. Come on down: you just won a round-trip ticket to school by the one and only.”
I guess his cockiness isn’t just for my sake. Maybe if I stay in this little corner, I can avoid an unneeded morning rendezvous with the bearded-grizzly.
“Uncle Brody,” Parker chirps, standing up with her book. “Look who’s here this morning.” Parker ousts me like a kid playing dodgeball with a neon statue. She’s even pointing at me, making it more convenient for Brody to spot me.
“Well, well, I thought vampires only emerged at night,” he says, walking toward me.
“A vampire?” I retort, trying to sound unaffected by his attempt at teasing.
“Well, a blood-thirsty chick roaming around the streets at night—what else am I supposed to think?”
“Do you even know what blood-thirsty means?” I ask him, pressing my eye against the viewer of my camera.
“If that guy didn’t walk away last night, there would have been blood,” he continues.
“What guy?” Melody asks from behind Brody.
“It was nothing. Just a job, and a horny restaurant owner. I’m fine. We’re all fine. I have to take these photos before the shop opens to the actual public.”
“You shouldn’t be going to those jobs at night by yourself,” Melody continues. “I thought you hired an assistant?”
