Page 70 of Two Steps Ahead

“You stay here and do your thing with the photos and I’ll go pick her up. This is the safest place you can be.” He lifted herchin, forcing her gaze to his serious eyes. “I’ll lock the door behind me. Don’t leave the building for anything, okay?”

“I won’t.” She looked up into his brown eyes. “Weston, thank you. I haven’t said that enough. You’re not only keeping me safe, but the people I care about the most.”

He kissed her quickly once more. “Thank me when we all survive to make it to the merger.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Once Weston left, Kayleigh got coffee and headed over to the makeshift darkroom in the corner. Anything was better than sitting around worrying.

Work had always been her saving grace and it would be again now. Plus, she needed to utilize the time where she could keep everything dark before Weston returned with Gwendolyn.

She put her items in place then shut down all the lights in the room, using the gleam from her phone to make her way back to the corner. She took a breath when she switched off her phone.

Blackness surrounded her.

She had to take a moment to bring her heart rate under control and focus. She wasn’t trapped. She could turn the lights on at any time if she wanted. She was in control.

Plus, this was something she loved to do.

Total darkness was only required while opening the film cassette, loading it onto the reel and placing that into the tank. She fumbled at first with the unfamiliar setup but was happy when muscle memory kicked in. She had the cassette in the tank quickly and was able to turn on the red light so she could continue the process.

No doubt digital photography was the way of the future. Film was a dying art, but it was one Kayleigh never wanted to relinquish. She loved the manual effort, the physical care it took to make sure the photos came out right. The chemicals, the measuring, the agitating, even the darkness.

Now that she had negatives, she’d be able to use her scanner to make digital copies of the images and save them forever. Or would, once she replaced her negative scanner that had been destroyed at her house.

She’d probably make physical copies too. That was the best part about developing film, watching it go from the negative into a living memory on photo paper.

Normally, she waited until she’d printed the enlarged photos to peek at her shots, but when she saw the faintest hint of Weston’s smile on the film, she grabbed a magnification loupe to look.

Though the image was small, just the sight of him was enough to make Kayleigh’s heart jump. She couldn’t imagine a day without him in her life, not anymore.

And, hopefully, after just a few more hours it would be normal days with him. The thought made her a little giddy.

Still smiling, she took the magnifier to the other pictures. There were more of Weston and their day on the lake. Even some of her father’s outrageously large lake house they’d ridden by on the boat.

Just looking at it wrinkled her nose. Unlike the cabin where she’d been with Weston, this house was cold and impersonal. Kayleigh needed comfort and joy, warmth in a home, to relax, and the ostentatious lake house didn’t have any.

Kayleigh’s eye dragged over more of the photos, wanting to see less of the house and more of Weston. She was skimming through with the loupe so quickly she almost missed it. She stopped and went back to a negative of the lake house.

There were two people standing on the balcony. There shouldn’t have been anyone there at all. Dad wouldn’t have let anyone use the house when she and Weston were hiding out at the same lake.

She hadn’t really been paying attention to what she was shooting when she’d taken the shots of the house. She’d been sad about her lack of family and had been using the camera to try to hide her emotions from Weston.

She skimmed down to a picture with a clearer angle of the people on the balcony and upped the power on the loupe so she could see details more clearly.

She nearly dropped the magnifying glass when she identified who the two people were.

Gwendolyn and Beau Kesler.

Gwendolyn had met with Beau Kesler, yet at the hospital she’d said she’d never seen Beau in her life.

Gwendolyn, who Weston was on his way torescue.

Kayleigh grabbed her phone and rushed out of her makeshift darkroom. With shaking fingers, she dialed Weston’s number, only for it to go to voice mail after one ring.

Just to be sure it wasn’t a fluke, she tried again. Voice mail.

Okay. What should she do? She had no car. She needed to call Chance, but, damn it, didn’t have his number in this new phone, and it didn’t have internet access capability.

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