Page 85 of Upon an April Night

He shrugged. “I could stay.”

She walked to the corner, grabbed a reflector, and shoved it in his direction. “Then I’m putting you to work.”

The chime on the door signaled her client’s arrival, and she rushed out of the room. When she returned, a teenaged boy was on her heels. He fidgeted and stood stiffly to the side until Jamie directed him to sit on the stool she had set up. She had a firm yet gentle way about her, and it wasn’t long before the kid was comfortable with her.

Duncan did all Jamie asked of him, holding the reflector just right to light the boy’s face. He was in awe of her talent and ability to bring out a person’s real personality in photos. That boy had walked in completely nervous, but once Jamie talked to him, asking him questions about himself, showing an interest, it was as if he was a different person. By the end of that session, he was smiling and laughing like he’d known her forever, which made him appear confident and natural in front of the camera.

After the boy left, Duncan followed Jamie to her desk and stood behind her as she loaded the images into her computer.

“Can I see a few?” he asked.

“Sure.” Her hand moved the mouse and clicked to open a preview of the pictures she had just taken.

“Somebody knows how to work a reflector,” he joked.

She laughed, and he liked the sound. He’d never realized how cute her laugh was before. He shook off his thoughts and watched her click through a few more photographs.

“You are so talented, Jamie.”

“Thanks,” she replied.

“I mean it. That kid was so awkward at the beginning, but look at him in this picture.” He leaned forward, resting his hand on her shoulder, and pointed at the screen. “That’s a real smile. Nothing fake or awkward about it.”

Her eyes lifted to meet his. “Thank you.”

He didn’t look away, and he was very aware that his thumb and index finger were touching the soft skin of her neck. “How did you know you wanted to do this for a living?”

“You’ll probably think it’s weird.” She tilted her head away shyly, and he released her shoulder.

He turned and took a seat on the corner of her desk. “Tell me.”

“I never wanted to photograph people,” she admitted.

“Really?”

“I wanted to be a macro photographer.”

“Like the closeup pictures of bugs and stuff?”

She nodded. “My parents gave me my first SLR camera when I was twelve, and I kept trying to take pictures of things really close up, but I didn’t have the right lens. It was so frustrating. So I saved up and bought a macro lens, and it was like a whole new world opened up for me. I went through so much film back then. My parents freaked out on me every time I needed another roll developed. Then in college, I got my first digital SLR, and I was in heaven because I could take as many pictures as I wanted and delete the ones that didn’t turn out. And I wasn’t broke all the time from taking film to the photo lab.”

Duncan chuckled. “Did you take those pictures that are hanging in your apartment? The closeups of the flowers?”

“Yep.”

“Wow. I’ve always thought those were cool.”

That earned him a smile.

“So, how did you switch over to weddings?”

“I realized I needed to focus on more than just macro to be able to make a living. I majored in photography and started second-shooting for some wedding photographers in the area and doing engagement sessions for friends, and I fell in love with capturing those moments for people.”

He loved hearing that, knowing more about how she got to where she was today.

“And then I got in with the area photographers, and I met Shannon.”

“And me,” Duncan added.

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