Page 5 of A Moment In Time

“I guess she’s going to lose her title in a couple of months when Elaina delivers.”

“Then the little dude will only hold it for a couple of months until his two cousins are born.”

Gage shook his head. “Scary man. Too many babies. Can we get a couple of hard ciders? And make mine a double.”

Sydney held up a finger. “Mine too.”

Gage looked at her. “Really?”

She nudged him. “We’re off duty, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

They took their ciders and drank them as they headed for the parking area. The fire would burn for another few hours, but it was getting dark, and they wouldn’t be able to take anymore photographs. Gage walked Sydney to her vehicle.

“Thanks. Every time I saw you today, you were either taking pictures or talking to someone.”

“I had fun.”

They got to her car, and he opened the door for her. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the Farmer’s Market.” He nodded toward hercup. “Is that gone? I don’t want your next photo to be your mug shot.”

“It’s gone. Are you headed home?”

“No. I’m going to go spend some time in the darkroom.”

“Huh. I don’t suppose I could come watch for a little while.”

“Sure. That’s fine.”

She smiled. “Cool. Thank you.”

He shrugged. “I’ll see you at the office.” As he left her and headed for his truck, he spotted Clementine’s Jeep, and walked over to it.

She rolled down her window. “Headed home?”

“To the office. I thought you were on leave.”

“I was supposed to be. And I will be after this weekend. My replacement got tied up and won’t be here until Monday.”

“And Booker needed you.”

“Of course.” She smiled at him. “He hates that he has to work with someone new.”

“But he doesn’t want you to keep working?”

“No. You look cold.”

“I am.”

“Well, I’ll let you go. I’ll see you around tomorrow.”

“I’ll be there.” He continued to his truck and got in. It took a moment for the heater to kick in, but it was warming up as he arrived at the newspaper office. Sydney was already inside. When he went in, she was at the stove in the corner of the reception area, adding wood to the fire.

“Thank you. I’ll go get the furnace going downstairs.

The basement was heated by a temperamental gas furnace. Gage removed his coat and hung it on the coat rack, then went to the stairs in the back of the office. He brought the camera case with him and flipped on the light at the top of the stairs before going down. At the bottom, he turned on a row of lights hanging from the ceiling. They hadn’t been upgraded for yearsand the bare bulbs hung beneath green and white metal shades. The light was a bit jarring. But most of the time, he was in the dark with just a red light to work from.

He went to the old black furnace and knelt in front of it. “Okay, I really need you to work tonight. He struck a match and turned on the gas. He lit the pilot light, then waited for the burner to catch. It finally did, and he adjusted the temperature gauge, then stood.

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