‘Yes, but you are no longer at the firm, are you? And I can’t risk messing anything up in case I’m out of a job, too.’
Greg’s smile fell as he watched Karen ready herself to leave for work. She shuffled through file folders and arranged them meticulously in her briefcase. He turned around, and went to the wardrobe, intent on getting dressed as soon as possible.
‘It’s not like I’m doing nothing around here, and I didn’tlosemy job,’ he replied quietly.
Karen put her briefcase down and walked over to him. She put her arms around his waist.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I shouldn’t be like that. I’ve just been a bit stressed recently. Really, I apologise. These last few weeks, there’s been so much going on, what with this and then everything at work, and the holidays … ’
He turned in her arms. ‘I’m the one who should be saying sorry. I’m the one that sprung this on you, after all.’
She chuckled. ‘I’ll give you that much … ’
He bent to kiss her, and breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the smile that graced her beautiful face. ‘I promise you, Karen, that I will never, ever,nottell you about something I am planning.Everagain. And I promise I am dedicated to making a go of this photography business. I promise, you are not in this alone.’
Karen gave a small nod and Greg hoped against hope that she believed him.
‘We’re partners, you and me, you know that, don’t you?’
‘Yes, I know.’ She leaned close to him, before eventually pulling back. ‘You have a good day, and I’ll see you later, all right?’
‘No problem.’
Having got dressed and made coffee, Greg switched on his laptop and
began editing some photos he had taken the day before. He had gone through five rolls of film in three hours. When he was out and about with his camera, the time just seemed to fly by. Whereas when he was trading, he had turned into a clock-watcher, and it seemed as if getting to noon took the whole day.
He sat back for a moment and admired his work; all pictures of gleaming New York skyscrapers, but shot from slightly off-kilter angles, as was his signature. He had to admit, he thought they were pretty OK - very much along the lines of his Flatiron shot. No use for theNYT, but maybe he could shop these around to a couple of galleries and see if there were any bites?
Gradually, his thoughts began to drift again to how he could really wow Karen when he asked her to marry him. He didn’t want this proposal to be anything ordinary or humdrum like a ring hidden in an oyster or a champagne glass; he wanted to stage a crazy romantic gesture that she would remember her whole life. Nothing obvious either, more something that could integrate seamlessly into her day. Karen was very intuitive and he didn’t want to do anything that would make her suspicious. Nor did he want to do anything corny, as he remembered her saying how she hated public restaurant proposals, or airplanes writing the request in the sky. She called such things tacky and clichéd.
So it had to be romantic and private, but also something so special and original that she would never forget it. Something they would tell their kids about, Greg thought with a smile.
The proposal to end all other proposals.
But what?
21
Later, at the office, Karen shuffled through some print ads from the previous year’s spring marketing blitz. The theme had been ‘Magic’, and the department had hoped to tie it into an event with Disney, but they had pulled out at the last minute, though unfortunately after the flyers promoting the theme had already been mass printed.
The whole thing had left her and her colleagues looking foolish, and as a result they had already started on next year’s campaign in the hope of redeeming themselves.
. Amy, one of the copywriters, stopped by her desk.
‘Trying not to repeat that mess?’ She motioned to the old print ad. ‘Why is it out?’
‘A reminder,’ Karen answered, ‘to never let it happen again.’ She sighed and pulled her makeup bag out of her desk. As she touched up her face, Amy picked up Greg's photo which was situated beside her PC screen.
‘So how's handsome and rich doing?’ she asked with a grin.
‘Still handsome, at least,’ Karen said ruefully, putting her makeup bag back in the drawer and slamming it a little too hard.
‘Oh?’ Amy crossed her arms. ‘What gives?’
Karen began neatening the pile of paper on her desk. ‘He quit Wall Street. Now, he's going to be a full-time photographer.’ She looked hard at the papers she was straightening, avoiding her colleague’s gaze.
‘Oh my … well, that's a big change. But I think you mentioned before that he was pretty good at it. Didn’t he have some kind of exhibition a while back?’
