Page 39 of The Winning Ticket

“So, I do get a sleep-in after all?” He grins, and I roll my eyes.

“I think I need to teach you the real meaning of sleeping in,” I say, and he raises an eyebrow while I slap my hand over my mouth. “That was not meant to be a suggestion of anything else.”

“Sure, Little B, I believe you.”

I don’t know how to respond to that.

After a moment, I get to my feet and begin clearing the plates.

“Hey, B, that’s my job. Cook doesn’t clean, remember.” Jake reaches over to take the plates from my hands and heads inside, leaving me standing on the terrace, staring after him.

What just happened?

In my years with Richard, he never once did the dishes. It was my job, even though I was the one to cook when we ate at home. To have someone take the plates and tell me they would clean up, no questions asked… I didn’t know how to reconcile that action in my head.

Although he never contributed to the household chores, Richie needed the apartment spotless, and it was expected that it didn’t look lived-in. He told me it was because he was a photographer that he needed to be surrounded by things of beauty.

But… Maybe it was time I started to see beauty amidst a bit of chaos…

Maybe it was time I realised I didn’t have to carry the load alone…

17

ONE OF THE FEW PEOPLE WHO TRULY UNDERSTANDS ME

JAKE

I follow Bri as she leads the way towards the City Botanic Gardens. The day is warming up, and I am grateful she wanted to go early. We’ve wandered across the Story Bridge, and Maddie happily sniffs every dog we see.

Bri has been stopping every hundred meters to snap different photos, trying to find the right angles and capture the right light. It means nothing to me, but watching her get lost in her passion makes me smile. I’m grateful that she has something she is so passionate about and is eager to get up early on a Saturday morning just to take photos for fun. I feel the same way about my music, but seeing someone else enjoy their hobbies has always made me smile.

Once we arrive at the gardens, she heads straight for the hibiscus plants in the middle, eager to get up close with her new lens. After she’s snapped about a thousand photos and I’ve wandered all around to let Maddie sniff every blade of grass, Bri calls me over to show me the screen of her camera while sitting on a nearby bench seat.

“Look at this. I can’t believe the detail, and this is without any editing,” she says.

Her face lights up like a kid at Christmas, and she shows me the close-up image of a bee that landed in the flower’s centre.

“That’s really impressive,” I nod, and I’m being honest while I stare at the screen.

She knows what she is doing. It’s far more impressive than any photo I’ve ever taken.

“Have you ever had anyone pay you for your photos?” I ask.

“Not yet. But the more I’ve been thinking about it lately, the more I’ve wanted to try and see if I can make this into more than just a hobby. I’m thinking of taking a few courses. I have so much more spare time now… I guess the one good thing that came from my time with… him… it gave me a chance to see how a professional photographer operates. Thankfully, I have all the equipment already, and he didn’t decide to keep anything he’d given me.” Her face falls slightly at the mention of her ex, and I once again wish I could punch the guy.

It’s clear that her self-worth has taken a hit, and I would do anything to make her see just how amazing she is.

“Well, let’s forget about him and just look at finding you a course that you like,” I say, steering the conversation away from the douche-bag, and she shoots me a small smile.

“What sort of photography do you want to do? Like weddings and stuff?”

She screws her face up. “No. As much as the portrait stuff is where the money is, I want to do landscapes or things like this,” she points towards the screen. “Although, I would probably have to dabble in portraits if I was to try and make a living out of this. But maybe I can find a way to use my marketing degree… I dunno. It’s probably stupid.”

I watch her flick through the photos she’s taken. “It’s not stupid, Bri. You’ve put a lot of thought into this, haven’t you?”

She’s quiet momentarily, biting her bottom lip before looking back at me. “Yeah. I think… I’ve had a lot of time over the past few weeks to try and work out what I want to do with my life. As much as I’m glad to be back in Brisbane, I want to do more things for myself. I’ve always just done what was expected of me or what my family thought I should do. Then I met Richard, and it was always about what he wanted to do. He got me my current job through his connections. You know the holiday we were meant to go on?” I nod. “It was all for his work and hanging out on a private island in Thailand. While to some people that sounds amazing, we’d done that so many times, and I hate the beach. Anytime I suggested something different, he always found a way to talk me around to what he wanted to do…” She looks away from me as though she’s having trouble admitting these things. “I think this is why I can’t talk about this with Morgan. She means well, but she just tells me what she thinks I should do to put this all behind me. Or where I should live. She doesn’t realise that she’s treating me the same as Richard. Like I’m not capable of making the choices for myself.”

I let her words roll around in my head while I look at her. I can tell this has taken her a fair bit of effort to admit it out loud, and I’m honoured that she trusts me enough to open up about how she’s been feeling when she hasn’t even said any of this to Morgan.

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