Page 26 of Love Off-Limits
I held my hands up, shaking my head no. The camera was worth thousands of dollars.
He closed the distance between us and pressed the camera into my chest. “You may think that anyone could do what you do, but you’re better at this than you think. You have a good eye. With the right tools, maybe you’ll feel inspired to use it.”
“The whole point of me leaving is that I want to do this on my own.”
“I’m notgivingit to you. You’re just... borrowing it.” He shrugged. “Temporarily.”
I had enough money in the bank that I could buy my own camera if I wanted one. But I could see in Isaac’s expression that he needed me to takethiscamera. The gesture was important to him.
I accepted it with a slight nod. “Thanks,” I said, hoping he didn’t hear the hitch in my voice. “I can’t just take it like this though.”
Isaac’s expression turned thoughtful. “No, you’re right. And you probably need a little more gear to go along with it.” He stalked toward the floor-to-ceiling shelves that filled the back corner of the studio. “You’ll need a lighting kit.” He pulled down one of the smaller light kits we took with us when we shot on location. “And microphones. And actually, you should just take this too.” He added an extra camera to the growing pile of gear at his feet.
“Isaac, I don’t need two cameras.”
He pulled the carrying case for the camera already in my hand off the top shelf and thrust it at me. “Maybe not. But it won’t hurt you to be prepared just in case.”
If I wound up as a staff videographer at Stonebrook Farm, they’d likely have all the equipment I could possibly need and then some. But Stonebrook wasn’t a guarantee; if I tried to go out on my own, I’d need something to help me get started. But this was thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment. I couldn’t just walk out with it.
I shook my head no.Again.“It’s too much.”
Isaac slung the light kit bag over his shoulder and picked up the case holding a digital audio recorder and a collection of microphones. “Is your car unlocked?”
“Isaac, stop.”
“Would you just let me do this, man?” His expression was open and earnest. “I never would have succeeded if you hadn’t been willing to help, if you hadn’t stood by me when no one else would. Just—please let me return the favor.”
I finally nodded and picked up the second camera Isaac had offered me. “Okay.”
He grinned, the easy expression he so frequently wore sliding back into place. “Okay?”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re very persuasive.” This was likely a terrible idea. But I couldn’t change my mind now. I’d committed. Said the truth out loud to the one person who knew me better than anyone, except maybe Darcy. That he would let me walk without arguing and then thrust a pile of equipment into my hands on my way out the door spoke to how much Isaac believed in me. I owed him the courtesy of turning my tantrum into... well, intosomething.Whatever that was.
At the very least, I had to try.
When Rosie and Isaac had gotten married, Steven and I were the only two still living in Isaac’s house on Church Street in downtown Charleston. Vinnie had moved out when he and Greta had gotten married, and Mushroom had found his own place as soon as Rosie and Isaac had gotten engaged. But Steven and I had dragged our feet. Eventually, he’d bought a place in the French Quarter right behind the pineapple fountain in Waterfront Park. When I still hadn’t found a place by the time Rosie and Isaac returned from their honeymoon, Steven had let me crash on his couch, though he’d made it clear it was a temporary solution. I’d willingly accepted his charity because somehow that had seemed better than going to my mom’s place. She’d recently remarried; she didn’t need her grown son crowding up her townhouse.
It wasn’t that I hadn’ttriedto find a place of my own. I loved Charleston. Had lived on the peninsula all my life. And I had plenty of money saved; I could have bought something or afforded to rent one of the posh places that overlooked the bay. But nothing had felt right.
In retrospect, it was probablymethat hadn’t felt right.
It wasn’t the city. It was me. The job. All of it.
Three hours after leaving the studio, I’d moved everything from Steven’s place into my mom’s garage, stacking what I couldn’t fit in my Jeep into the corner next to the furniture she’d already agreed to store when I’d moved out of Isaac’s house.
“You could just stay here, Tyler. You know I wouldn’t mind,” Mom said from where she stood near the kitchen door.
“I know. But you need to focus on Phil right now. You don’t need to worry about me.”
A small smile lifted her lips at the mention of her new husband. I was happy for her. She deserved to be happy.
“I wondered if this would ever happen. If you would ever get tired of working with Isaac.”
I paused, a box full of books in my arms. “It’s not Isaac,” I said. “I just need to do my own thing for a while.”I need to see if I even can.
“And you say you have a job lined up already? In...what city was it?”
“Silver Creek,” I said, pushing the box toward the mattress that leaned against the back wall. “It’s just outside of Hendersonville.”
