Page 36 of When You Smile

Taryn’s arms went around her, and Charlie went still because she felt them all over. Her skin tingled in the spots Taryn held her, and she didn’t want the moment to end, which was the exact reason it had to. And fast. She dropped her arms, stepped back, and wrapped them around herself. Luckily, Taryn hadn’t seemed to notice and busied herself gathering her photos.

“Thank you for having confidence in me.” Taryn’s eyes were soft, which meant Charlie’s words had resonated. “It makes me want to get out there and prove you right.”

“You will. I believe in you.”

Taryn, in the midst of lifting her portfolio case, turned, grinning. “Yeah?”

“Definitely.”

The smile expanded exponentially. It reminded Charlie of the sun warming her face on a cold day. “The way you smile,” Charlie said, shaking her head in awe. “It’s amazing. You should know that.”

“That’s funny. I feel the same way about yours.” They shared a moment of eye contact that felt important.

“I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”

“You definitely will. Bye, Charlie.”

Chapter Eight

Wait. No. This couldn’t be right. When Taryn arrived at the address Ashley had texted her, she parked the car she’d borrowed from Caz in front of a small white church with three wooden steps in front and a single black cross on top of the building. Simple, old fashioned, and secluded. The church was off by itself down a lonely road. Not exactly what she’d expected for their evening. She wondered if she might be murdered. She watched through her windshield as a family made their way inside. Then another. “What the hell?” she murmured. She climbed out of her car and surveyed the parking lot until she spotted a brunette in all black, pulling a camera bag from the back of an old Jeep Cherokee, the car Ashley had mentioned she drove.

“Ashley?” she asked as she approached. “Taryn.” She touched her chest.

“Yes. Stoked you’re here. Can you carry my light stand?”

“On it.” She grabbed the stand and hurried to catch up to Ashley, who hadn’t exactly waited for her. “Can I ask what we’re doing here?”

Ashley looked over at her and grinned. “Should have led with that. My bad. I heard about this little church and its very dedicated congregation and made arrangements to shoot through their hymn sing-along tonight. Waivers signed and all.”

“Awesome. Um…why?” Taryn wasn’t criticizing the choice. She simply didn’t have all the pieces of the puzzle.

Ashley hooked a strand of her long dark hair behind her ear and tossed her long wispy bangs. She looked every bit the part of photographer. “Senior thesis. You’ll have one, too. Art is capable of communicating the unending range of human emotions. My project is about presenting them in their most specific form to gain understanding of the array. We’ve all seen glorious photos of happy people, sad people, even mad as hell, right?”

“Right.” Taryn was intrigued, and especially captivated by the gleam of passion in Ashley’s brown eyes as she spoke.

“But what does sublime look like when captured in its most individual state? What about awe? My project is an exploration of all the in-between.”

“Wow. Okay. I like that idea a lot.”

“I needed an extra pair of hands today. If you could cover me on lighting and manage the reflector, that would be great. But I’m happy to walk through my steps.” Ashley paused as if something snagged her attention from the topic at hand. “You’re a lot to look at.”

Taryn rolled her lips in, dissecting the comment. She wasn’t sure if the implication was good or bad. “I don’t know what that means.”

Ashley laughed. “You’re pretty. And maybe new to this? Just a guess.”

“To photography?”

“To being a queer.” She winced. “I get the vibe you are, but I’m so sorry if you’re not. I hate overstepping. And of course, you don’t have to say.” Ashley’s brown eyes were friendly when she said it, and no one had ever read Taryn so quickly before. It caught her off guard but simultaneously thrilled her, being seen.

“I am a lesbian, and yeah, it’s kind of new.” And now she was smiling, too. “I’m impressed that you just knew.”

Ashley nodded. “It’s one of my few gifts.” She walked on, leaving Taryn to wonder if Ashley was a lesbian, too, and had she just flirted with Taryn? She really had to get better at this stuff.

They spent the next forty-five minutes moving around the small church, made up of eight rows with one center aisle. The members of the congregation sang loudly from their hearts as Ashley worked to capture them in various states of worship. Taryn did her best to keep up, using what lighting knowledge she’d picked up in class, and followed Ashley’s quietly offered direction. But seeing the experience play out through the lens of Ashley’s thesis was a truly inspiring experience. Each emotion-filled facial expression, whether it was a woman singing her favorite hymn from childhood, or a child mesmerized by the stained-glass window near the altar, had something important to contribute, a moment in time not to be overlooked.

“That was amazing,” Taryn said on a high as they made their way back to the parking lot, gear in hand. “There was this visual energy just pinging everywhere, and when I think about the individual moments and their assembly, there are so many different stories that could be told. It all just depends on the angle of the approach. The narrative would be entirely different depending on who was shooting and what photos they selected to showcase and in what order.”

“Exactly that. Yes!” Ashley said, matching her enthusiasm. “For that very reason, I always seek out places where people feel something important. I’m not even a religious person, but the combined energy of people coming together for something that has meaning to them is a powerful thing.”

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