Page 88 of With Stars in Her Eyes
As soon as he was far enough down the road, Courtney burst out laughing. “I feel like I need to start calling you my coyote now.” Courtney scooted her chair as close to mine as she could and kissed my knuckles with a raised eyebrow.
I gave her a small shove. “There was no way that was me. I kept quiet.”
Courtney snorted. “Is that how you remember it?”
“Yep.”
“Well, I hate to argue, but—”
I placed a finger over Courtney’s lips. “Then don’t.” My arm snaked around Courtney’s shoulders, pulling her close.
“Can you show me Rigel?”
I glanced up and pointed. “There. Most people know Orion’s Belt. It’s Orion’s shoe.”
“Shoe?” Courtney laughed. “That seems less poetic than the star that burns the brightest blue.”
“Not every astronomer is a poet.”
“Fair enough.” Courtney adjusted the back of her chair so she could lean back. “Is that the—”
“Milky Way, yes. We lucked out tonight. Even the weather report wasn’t predicting skies this clear.”
“Do you want to reset the camera and take another shot at the star trails?”
I nodded. This time I oriented the camera at Polaris, hoping to capture the circles of star trails. After checking the rest of the settings, I set up another long exposure before grabbing my digital camera and the other tripod.
“Go stand out there.” I waved at the grassy space in front of me.
“Where?”
“About twenty yards or so.”
“What about the coyotes?”
“I’ll rescue you if any wander by.”
Courtney stood silhouetted in the distance with a full nightsky of stars behind her. I played with settings for a while until I managed to get the lighting and focus right. As much as I loved the craft of film, there was something intensely beautiful about the photos I could create with a digital camera too.
Courtney had been standing out there for about five minutes without speaking. She seemed transfixed by the sky in a way that made my heart fill. After taking several of those shots, I reset the automatic star tracker to try to capture some other angles. Courtney still stood silent.
I didn’t exactly know what sound a coyote made, but I gave it a good try with a muted howl. Courtney whirled around. Her face caught in the red light of my headlamp and glared when she noticed my silent laughter.
Courtney ran back and stood with arms akimbo. “You’re a piece of shit.”
“I told you I’d protect you. You had nothing to worry about.”
I yanked Courtney down into my lap and tipped her chin upward. The kiss was soft at first and then deeper. The equipment clicked once and stole Courtney’s attention.
“This is so much equipment. I thought music setups were intense, but this is bananas. You got all of this yourself?”
“No, the older equipment was my grandfather’s. He was a bit of a hoarder, especially with unique types of film and cameras. It’s good actually because so many of the best and coolest film types are discontinued.”
“Why?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably too expensive to manufacture.”
“He left it all to you?”
