My Forever (43 page)

“The actor?”

“Y
ep. He’s really annoying though.
I’ve met him twice.”

“Leigh Wright dated him before Brian.”

“Really?” Jackie sits up on an elbow. She wants to know more.

“Yeah.” Wait, I don’t want to get off topic. “So you really like this guy?”

“I do.” She frowns. “I don’t want to like anyone until I’m done with law school. It’s really very inconvenient.” She lies back down and adjusts her sunglasses.

“I still don’t see why you’re going to law school.” It doesn’t seem out of character because Jackie can talk her way into anything and argue her way out of anything but she’s so good at other things. “Why don’t you become a stylist or do something you love?”

She laughs. “That’s a hobby Dani, not a job.”

“So is taking pictures.”

She ignores my comment. “So sometime after we’re back home?”

“Name the day and I’ll be the perfect date for, who?” I realize I don’t know
who
I’ll be going out with. It doesn’t matter. I’ll do it for Jackie.

“I don’t know yet.”  She adjusts her glasses. “I’ll pick the best of the interns. They’ll arrive at the beginning of the semester. I’ll make sure he’s completely unavailable and not likely at all to fall for you. This way we can avoid any complications.”

I expect to be annoyed
,
but I’m not. Things between us are okay.

29

“So, this is how I work weddings.” Mandy looks at me very seriously over her desk. “I charge a flat fee for going to the wedding and then per picture depending on sizes after that.”

“Okay.”

“I will pay you twelve dollars an hour for weddings but you keep eighty percent of the profit on any of your pictures that the bride chooses.”

“Sounds good.” I think I’ll be good at this.

“Great, are you available Saturday?”

“I am now.”

~
~
~

My new semester isn’t too hard. I lower myself down to twelve credits, barely full time. It feels better. I play the piano in church and I love it. Really love it. I’m s
lowly learning how to play the o
rgan when I go to the church for Family Home Evening nights so I can be a backup for sacrament meeting. I love that, too. Actually, anytime I don’t know what to do with myself I wander over to the church building to see if anyone is there. If the building is open
,
I sit at the organ and practice. It reminds me of the time alone I used to get when I practiced piano at my dad’s church.

I try not to think about my family
. I
t brings up too many questions that I don’t know how to get the answers to.

~
~
~

Jackie comes home looking flustered. “Okay.” She takes a deep breath in and then
back
out. “Yo
u have a date with Sean Kimball. H
e has a girlfrien
d
,
and a ring has been purchased. S
ince you have a missionary, he doesn’t see the harm. He’s an intern
, whose parent also works at the firm,
and I don’t hate him.” Her voice is mechanical and I’m totally getting a kick out of her.

She continues,
“Chase is excited for us to go out and has booked us at a fabulous restaurant downtown. Wear the dress that Leigh made for you
,
and I’ll rummage through my closet or
drive to Portland in the next…
no, wait, tomorrow, if I need to.” Her words roll over each other so quickly that I can barely understand her.

“Relax, Jackie. Its’ just dinner.” I’ve never seen her like this.

“I know. I’m freaking out right?” She looks more worried and insecure than I’ve ever seen her.

“Wow, you really like this guy.”

She nods. “I really, really, really do.”

“Well, let’s get lost in your closet.” I grab her arm. “That should only take a few minutes.”

She throws her arms around me. “Thank you, Dani.”

Jackie and I finally finish in her closet around midnight. She has ten fabulous choices. I wonder what tomorrow night will be like.

~
~
~

I barely make it to the house to change after shooting a wedding all afternoon. Sean is running late and will meet us there. I sit in the backseat of Chase’s very fabulous car
, and as I
listen to him talk I realize he’s the female version of Jackie. Smart, driven, too good-looking to be a normal person
. He also
has rich parents and a former actress instead of a former model, for a
mother.
Oh.
And a movie star for a younger
brother
.
I don’t say anything—
just sit and listen.
Jackie’s nervousness
gives me hope that she’s not as perfect as she lets on.

Sean’s at the restaurant
messing with his tie and has a camera bag with him.

“
Wha’
cha
shooting?” I ask.

“Oh.
” He looks arou
nd confused. “Right, the camera. T
he city’s beautiful
.
I lost track of time and…” He looks apologetic. His eyes travel from my heels to my face. “Well, I’m glad my soon to be fiancé doesn’t know what you look like.”

I blush. “This is a no pressure deal
,
and a free dinner for both of us.”

“Yeah.” Sean leans toward me. “Chase said she wouldn’t go out with him if it wasn’t at least a double.”

“It’s a Jackie thing,” I say back.

We’re at our table and Sean is still fidgeting. Chase keeps throwing him looks. Jackie’s annoyed that I came home late and just threw myself together. Sean and I start talking photos
,
and he tells me about his girlfriend
,
and I tell him about Michael and Jackie and Chase are also in the middle of a conversation. I wonder why I had to get dressed up for this.
Actually, I wonder why I had to be here.

We make it through dinner
,
but Sean is uncomfortable and the rain has stopped. I want to head out with my camera. I lean over to Jackie. “Can I make an excuse and get out of here?”

“Sure.”

She’s having a good time. She’d rather be alone with him at this point anyway. It’s not like our conversations have revolved around all four of us.

I look at Sean. “You have memory left in your camera? I’ve been waiting for a night like this for a while.”

“Like what?” he asks.

“Where everything’s wet, it’s dark, the stars aren’t out
,
and it isn’t raining.”

“Oh.” He looks confused.

“Thanks for dinne
r. Y
ou two enjoy dessert.
” I stand and start walking out. I
f Sean doesn’t follow, I’ll just take a cab home and get my own camera
. Fortunately, he does
.

“So, this is your thing, huh?” h
e asks after I confiscate his camera.

“This is my thing.” I smile back at him. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, no problem. Maybe we could go and you could help me someday when it’s sunny and nice out.”

I laugh. The rain may be gone but it’s still wet out and still cold. “You do know this is Seattle, right?”

“Yeah, I know.” He laughs.

“I’d be happy to help, but clea
r it with your girlfriend first.
I don’t want anyone mad at me,” I tease.

“Will do.”

And I know right now he’ll be an easy person to hang with if we ever bother to get together again.
That’s good. I still need people.

~
~
~

I’m in Mandy’s office talk
ing
with a client a few days before her wedding. She
’s brought
in these fabulous photos, funky, interesting angles
,
and I’m so excited I’m having a hard time sitting still. I didn’t get much from the last wedding Mandy and I did together
,
but I know right now that I’ll nail this one.

My phone rings as soon as I leave the office.

“Hello?”

“Dani! It’s Sean.”

“Oh, hey there.”

“It’s a sunny day so
I’m being let out of here early. Can you show me around so we can shoot some pictures? Maybe let me in on some of your mad skills?”

“Oh…
I don’t know…”
Jackie’s comment about me always with the boys still sits weird with me.

“Dani. I’m engaged. She knows that we took pictures together the other night and I called her today to see if she cared if we got together today.”

“I’m sorry I…have…
well, it doesn’t really matter. I’ll meet you on Broadway in a half an hour?”  What I want to say that is that I have issues with boys
, and a kid
,
and a missionary,
but it suddenly doesn’t seem important.

“Perfect.”

~
~
~

Sean has a good eye
,
but he’s not good with the te
chnical stuff—
forcing shutter speeds and things like that. I spend most of the day teaching him how to use his camera. We start up on Capitol Hill and make our way slowly toward the water. We hit the ferry docks as the sun’s going down. Timing is perfect.