Hayden showed me a blurry, badly lit picture of a bowl of ice cream, and then another taken from what I thought was supposed to be a better angle.
“See?” he said. “You keep telling me you’re not a professional, but you are now.”
“I’m not,” I said.
“You’re exchanging work for payment,” Hayden said. “Makes you a professional, sorry. Should’ve entered something in the local newspaper’s amateur photography competition before you came here today.”
“Right,” I said.
“Well, the prize was a collect-your-own duck eggs voucher, so you’re probably better off without it,” Hayden said.
Behind the counter, Wes broke into laughter.
“He enjoys my pain,” Hayden said with a wry smile that did nothing to hide how much he loved Wes. “I’ll tell you about it sometime.”
“I’d like that,” I said. “I wanna take a few more shots. I was thinking since it’s, y’know, the summer menu, I might take some of this down to the sand?”
“Hey, you’re the professional,” Hayden said. “But you’ve done more than enough already.”
“I love this, though,” I admitted, fiddling with my props. “And I’ve never gotten to do it before.”
“Well, knock yourself out.” Hayden gestured at the table. “And just yell if you need any help. That’s what Wes is for.” He winked.
“I heard that.”
I hid my smile from Wes as I gathered up the props and made a beeline for the door, stepping into the warm spring sunshine and the smell of the ocean outside. Not that I was planning to tell her, but I was starting to see what Dawn saw in this place. It was only a few hundred miles from Seattle, but it couldn’t have been more different. Sure, part of that was the difference between small town and big city, but there was more to it than that.
My family was from here. For whatever reason, that thought kept occurring to me while I learned my way around town.
My phone went off just as I was setting up my props again, and I laughed at the picture Xander had sent me. Luna, looking up at him with her most innocent face, covered in flour. Beside her was a pile of it on the floor, with tiny cat footprints trailing through it.
starving.in.seattle: aww, she’s helping
catdad_93: you always take her side!
starving.in.seattle: because you’re always slandering her good name
catdad_93: I think if you write it down it’s libel
catdad_93: Dawn keeping you busy?
A seagull interrupted me while I was smiling down at my phone, edging its devious little way closer in the hopes that I might have food to give it.
“Not for you,” I said, pointing a finger at it. It stopped to watch me, and I snapped a quick photo to send to Xander.
starving.in.seattle: Dawn says we can’t start on the flowers until tonight, so I’m taking those photos for Hayden
starving.in.seattle: need to know what flavor ice cream you want
catdad_93: vanilla
starving.in.seattle: really?
catdad_93: I am a simple man of simple pleasures
catdad_93: plus it’ll go great on the waffles I’m planning to make you for breakfast on Sunday morning
The seagull took another step toward me, and I wondered if it was somehow the same one that’d bullied me for coffee on my way here. That felt like years ago now, but it really had only been a handful of days.
