Page 81 of Picture Us

She couldn't tell if it was the heat making her sweat or her own nerves. “I guess I thought it was a little rude to answer the call at the table.” As soon as she said it, she knew it was silly.

Drew nodded. “You know I wouldn’t have taken it if it wasn’t Tommy. I just really want this job.”

“I know.” Rose couldn’t look at them. It was obvious she was letting her jealousy guide her actions.

“Did you not get a follow-up call?” Drew asked.

Hearing the hesitation in their voice, Rose knew that the field had narrowed and at this point she was likely out of the running. She shook her head.

Drew nodded and squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry, hon. You know you’re so talented right? And that there will be hundreds of other chances?”

“Totally.” Rose steeled herself, looking up. But something still wasn’t right. She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it.

Catching it, Drew met her green eyes. “Go ahead, say it.”

Rose groaned and bit her lip. “This sounds crazy. But can you just tell me before you accept the job? Like I just want to know before you take it.”

Their forehead wrinkled. Clearly, they didn’t understand what that would help. But with a shrug, Drew answered, “Sure.”

The rest of their walk was a desperate attempt to recover from the awkwardness. After a couple blocks, Rose gasped as she remembered the topics from brunch. “So, a sugar baby?”

“You’re still thinking about it?” Drew shook their head, trying to hide their blush.

Rose shrugged, “I mean mostly just surprised since you’re such a domme.”

Raising a finger, Drew looked at her. “You know, being a sugar baby does not mean being a sub. They loved that I was more of a dominant partner.”

As they were arriving back at Rose’s place, Rose fumbled with her keys. “When did you stop doing it?”

“Probably after my first gallery showing. I was keeping plenty of work at that point and having to plan around someone else made that a lot harder.”

They headed upstairs and opened their computers. Between finalizing the picks for Lauren and planning the wedding shoot, they still had plenty of work to get done. But the gap in Rose’s calendar after July was becoming more evident by the day.

Rose tapped her finger against the small, leaf table. “So we’ll send those to her by Friday. And then move into full wedding planning the next Monday?”

Scanning their calendar app, Drew nodded. “Works for me. Just so you know, if I get the tennis job, I’ll need mid-August to be clear from planning much for the wedding. So we might have to frontload some of the work to clear that.”

“Good note.” Rose wrote it down in her notepad. Her apartment was full of odd smatterings of post-its. She claimed it helped her remember things but that would assume she could keep track of every note she left herself.

Rose pulled up her email and started to look through the maternity pictures. Having weeded the images down to a top one hundred, they were struggling to find places to cut.

“I really like these thirty, I think they’re the strongest. Anything else we add in is just gravy at that point.” Drew pointed to the dozens of photos on the page.

Their notes were far more positive than they had been when they were first working together. But Rose was struggling to accept every compliment. Somehow, it all started to feel like pity.

She cleared her throat and snapped her fingers together. “Actually, I forgot something in my bag.”

29

DREW

She had joltedup so fast, Drew hardly knew she had left the room by the time they were sitting in Rose’s living room alone.

What the fuck is she grabbing?Drew watched the bedroom door for a second before their eyes wandered around the apartment. It was cleaner than usual, the more Drew came over, the less the clutter piled up.

Eventually, their gaze landed on the table where their laptops sat next to each other. On the wood, Rose’s phone was open to her calendar app.

Looking away, Drew’s foot started to tap.Why did she leave the room like that?Every paranoid thought Drew had managed to push away began to rush into their mind. Unable to stop themself, Drew leaned over and noticed a calendar event on Tuesday night.

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