Page 53 of Another June with You

Micah shook his head. “I don’t think I ever knew you or what you were capable of.”

The distress on Jacqueline’s face was plain as day. “You know me better than anyone.”

“Well, then that’s sad if you have nobody else.”

“So, what about my cameras then?” Shannon asked.

“I might know something, but I didn’t take them.”

“What do you mean?”

Jacqueline acted coy, and Micah stepped toward her with impatience in his eyes. “Jacquie, what?”

“I saw who pulled the fire alarm.”

“Who was it?” Shannon asked.

Jacqueline’s eyes fixed on Micah. “The only way I’ll tell you is if I can have some time with you to talk. I feel like you aren’t giving me a chance.”

Micah’s annoyance was obvious, and he looked at Shannon as if to ask what he should do.

Shannon pleaded with her eyes. If Jacqueline could give them something to go on, maybe the police would have a better chance of retrieving their equipment. After all, every one of the pictures from Keely’s dress fitting and rehearsal were on the memory cards in those bags.

“Fine.” Micah gave in. “I’m going to give Shannon a ride home first.”

“Oh, no you don’t,” Jacquie declared. “You aren’t leaving my sight the rest of the night.”

Micah swallowed hard and gritted his teeth.

“I can get a ride with Jamie, Micah.” A stab of disappointment hit Shannon then, wondering what he needed to tell her. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He left Jacqueline’s side and took Shannon’s arm, walking them far enough away that the freaky ex couldn’t hear their conversation.

“I’ll get the truth out of her. I promise.”

She squeezed his hand. “I know you will. In the meantime, I have to find some equipment to shoot with tomorrow morning, so I better get busy with that.”

Micah suddenly leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m sorry you’ve had a bad day.”

“A really bad day.” She managed a weak smile.

“Tomorrow is fresh …” He grinned at her.

“With no mistakes in it.” She finished the sentence, a quote from Anne of Green Gables that Nana had used often over the years. Just the fact that he remembered warmed her heart.

Chapter 18

Whatever that loud banging noise was, Shannon wished it would go away. She preferred to stay in her happy little dream world, snuggled up in Micah’s arms, lying on a blanket in the grass at Aunt Pauline’s, listening to the sounds of summer. Her eyelids lifted slowly, heavy from all her worry over how she was possibly going to shoot a wedding with no equipment. A couple people had offered her a lens or two, but most area photographers had weddings of their own, which they needed most or all of their equipment for. She couldn’t blame them for not helping her. If they could’ve, she knew they would’ve.

A knocking sound had her sitting up in bed. Who was knocking at seven o'clock in the morning? Was it at the neighbor’s apartment? It grew quickly from a knock to a steady pounding, and she jumped from bed and raced to the door. Maybe it was Jamie. Maybe she’d found some equipment. Who else would be at her door at this hour?

She released the lock, praying a solution to her problem was on the other side of the door. But it wasn’t Jamie she found there. Instead, Simon Walker breezed past her into the apartment, dressed in a dark grey suit with his nut brown hair styled neatly, carrying a box.

“Simon? What are you doing here?”

“We come bearing gifts.” His wife, Maggie, was on his tail, also dressed nicely, carrying a camera bag over her shoulder. “Heard you needed some equipment.”

Simon set the box on the dining table, and Shannon’s eyes nearly popped out of her head as he unloaded a couple Canon cameras and began attaching flashes to them.

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