Chapter 12
Kira staredup at the dark ceiling, a wide grin on her face, a cool pillow beneath her neck and head. In her mind, she drifted back to Anthony’s office, watching as he admired her work, complimented her talent, and mentioned how good she was at presentation—something that gave her short stint in advertising validity after all. The supposeddetoursin her life were finally starting to come together, each assisting her in different aspects of running the studio in Cobble Creek. As business picked up, she’d likely need to bring on some help with the digital side of things, since she spent more time working on the photos then taking them. Maybe one day she’d bring on a photography assistant, but for now, Kira was happy doing it on herown.
She closed her eyes as a deep feeling of satisfaction washed over her. Kira wasn’t meant to be some world-renowned photographer who traveled the world with Finny Shea. She simply needed to beherself.
And if she could do thatandhave Anthony Marino by her side, she’d be one lucky girl—woman. Anthony was proving to be everything she could want in a man. More so, considering she never realized a man could make her feel the way he did. Complete. Accomplished. Good enough just the way shewas.
Of course, life wouldn’t be life if there weren’t a few gremlins clinging to her subconscious. If Kira had to identify the one that threatened her now, it would be concern over the duplex and the sedan her old tenant left behind. Sure, they’d told her the duplex was paid up through April, but she needed to divide her focus each day. Photography was her passion. What a beautiful, happy, and wonderful thing that was to say with such surety. She loved coming up with new ways to earn money, bring in business, and serve the charming town of CobbleCreek.
Less appealing, and by that Kira meantwayless appealing, were things like land-lording and car-selling (she hadn’t even signed up for that one), and making sure everything was paid up on time. And something she wasreallydreading, the reason she hadn’t done more than post a small “for rent” sign in the front yard, was going through the other dwelling. She had to make sure the tenant hadn’t left anything else behind. And she couldn’t just wait for someone to call and want to see the place. Thatwasn’tthe time to dash over and play twenty-one pickup, as her mom used to call it. (Hey, who can pick up twenty-one pieces of trash thefastest?)
And while Kira knew all of these things, doing something about them was an entirely different story. It was the reason she often set herself up to fail. Well, not this time. First thing tomorrow, she would get started on that duplex. She had until eleven o’clock to open the studio. She’d be taking baby pictures for the sheriff and his adorable wife, Jessie. Her first hired job (besides Anthony) in Cobble Creek. And just like that, she had her mojoback.
She’d made mistakes in the past—whohadn’t?
She wasn’t perfect—whowas?
But one thing she had was determination. And with that acknowledgment in full force, Kira drifted off tosleep.
