Page 19 of Why Not Now?

Spencer and Lis turn toward each other as though mention of the rule has suddenly made them want to do just that.

The look in Spencer’s eyes as he smiles at Lis. Oof. Only one person has ever looked at me that way before. Ido notlook at him now.

We all pick up our cards and start to play. Derek’s game is as chaotic as ever. He changes the rules every time he has a turn. What’s more, he seems to be working with Spencer to make the most chaos possible, until we’re forced to pick up five cards, play one card, but have a hand limit of two.

Amidst the bedlam, Vic asks me how long I’ve done photography.

“Off and on since high school,” I tell her.

“She started the photography club at our old school,” Derek says, playing a card that changes the rules again. I don’t pay attention since it was just my turn, and Spencer will probably change them before it gets back to me.

“Is that what you do full time?” Adalie asks.

“I wish. No. I just started with Cindy. She doesn’t have enough work for me to be able to quit my other jobs.”

“Jobs, plural,” Spencer notes.

“Yeah. She has three,” Derek says. I can tell he thinks I’m crazy. But I also can’t quit them. I want to, and maybe I’ll be able to soon, but not yet.

“You like wedding photography?” Vic asks.

“Some of it. It’s not what I wanted to go into, but my friend Bethany started working for Cindy and she needed a second assistant for the bigger weddings.” I shrug. “At least it’s photography.”

“What do you want to do?” Lis asks. She draws her cards and plays an action that resets the rules to the beginning, looking at Spencer with a sweet smile.

“Dream world?” I say. “I’d love to have a show of my work. But that kind of thing won’t pay the bills. I’d love to do marketing shots for businesses, see my work in magazines and on websites.”

“Do you have a portfolio?” Spencer asks as he takes his turn. He doesn’t change the rules on me, so when it’s my turn, I draw a card and play another.

“Yes. It’s hard to get it seen by the right people, though.” Especially when you don’t actually show it to anyone. But I don’t say that part.

Spencer looks across the table at Vic and a silent communication passes between them. “We know a few people we could show it to,” he says.

Vic nods. “I have a few companies in mind. James’ website needs some work.”

Spencer grins. “It’s awful. Your dad could use a better photographer for his stuff as well. Maybe talk to Tanner about it since your dad is...” he trails off, rolling his eyes.

“Yes. I know how my dad is,” Vic says. Then she grimaces. “I can talk to Tanner next week at dinner.”

“Really?” I ask. I can tell she doesn’t want to talk to whoever this Tanner guy is. “You haven’t even seen my portfolio yet.”

“We’ve seen your work,” Vic says. “We get to check out all Cindy’s photos to see if there are any we’d like to purchase for our website. And we’ve all seen the shots from Daze and Sophie’s wedding in September.”

“They had a viewing party last month,” Lis says. “There’s one of me and Spencer I loved. Cindy said you took that one.”

I remember the picture. They’d been looking at each other from across the room. “I’m glad it turned out well.”

“Send me the link to your portfolio,” Vic says. “I’ll take a look through and figure out who I think you might work well with.”

“Thank you.”

It’s Lis’ turn. She looks straight at me with a smile that makes me nervous. Then she plays a card changing the rules to Play All, meaning we need to play every card in our hand.

“Time to lay all our cards on the table,” she says. “Are you guys sleeping together?”

Chapter 6

Derek

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