Page 76 of The Calendar of New Beginnings
She’d stayed in the Leica family both because their cameras were the best on the market and because she knew their lenses in and out. Until this new model emerged, none of the electronic view finders on the market had been equipped to handle the kind of high-subject contrast she neededin the field. Even so, she hoped the viewing contrast issue wouldn’t drive her nuts. This model’s view finder supposedly refreshed fast enough for her to shoot on the fly and see the images she was taking with minimal blur.
“I’m surprised you use an EVF,” Moira said.
Lucy’s belly quivered. Moira had already noticed something was off, and she’d barely started.
“I have a lot of cameras. I thought an indoor shoot might be easier with an EVF.” God, she hoped so. Sizing up a shot using a view finder was going to feel weird at first. She would have to pray she had enough courage and skill to adapt.
“Can I hold it a sec?” Moira asked, stepping closer. “I’ve never seen one of these babies in person. I have a Nikon. I’m sorry. I know I said I was only going to watch.”
“Hey!” Jill called. “I’m getting cold over here.”
“Maybe later,” Lucy said, walking over to her subject, thankful for the reprieve. “Jill, you’re not Rose inTitanic.For heaven’s sake, would you sit up a minute? And can we lose the maracas please?”
She handed them to Moira with a scowl. “I ordered these special from Mexico.”
“Lo siento,”Lucy replied automatically in Spanish. “Sorry. They’re not right for what I have in mind. Take the hat off and put them over your…natural maracas. The fruit is casting weird shadows on your face.”
“Man, you’re bossy,” Jill said, slapping the hat to her chest. “I’m only following your orders because you know what you’re doing.”
Her red hair shifted over her shoulder as she flung it back, and suddenly Lucy saw it. The perfect pose.
“Wait! Stay there.” She grabbed the hat Jill was holding and arranged it so it covered the rim of her nipples, showingoff Jill’s ample cleavage. “Tuck your legs up a little on the bench. Like you’re spooning.”
The hat’s curves blended into Jill’s curves, creating a pleasing feminine line.
“Nice,” Moira said, earning her a glare from Jill.
“What’s nice?” her subject asked. “I don’t understand.”
“Let Lucy do her thing, Jill,” Moira said, giving her space. “Girlfriend is in the zone.”
Andy’s sister’s keen interest made her palms sweat, but the compliment did raise her spirits some. She still had it: the ability to size up the perfect shot. Despite the ease with which she’d graded her students’ shots, she’d wondered.
“Put your head on your hand. Elbow here. Now turn and face me.”
“I’ve never seen you this intense,” Jill mumbled.
Because Lucy was falling back into herself, becoming once more the artist who could capture a special moment of time for eternity. She felt complete again, like she had her purpose back. She wanted to jump around and shout “Hallelujah.”
Shifting the camera in her hands, she rubbed her palms on her thighs. All she had to do was capture the image. Trying not to notice how bulky and unfamiliar the Leica felt in her hands, she pointed the camera at Jill. The view finder was alien. She knew it was against the rules, but she closed her right eye first to see the finder more clearly. Well, Dr. Davidson could write an X on her chart. Seeing her subject in that tiny window felt downright unnatural.
When Lucy put her right eye to her old Leicas, she felt like she was part of the scene. Now she felt an unnatural fissure between her and the scene she wanted to capture. She pressed the camera to her chest for a moment, trying to connect it to herself. Make it a part of her.
“Are you okay?” Moira asked, peering at her curiously.
“Yep,” she replied crisply. “Just a little ritual I do.” What a lie. Like she’d ever had the time in her normal job to take a moment and pray.
“Interesting,” Moira replied, and Lucy had to bite her tongue to keep from telling her she was in the way.
Because right now, Lucy felt like she was in Moira’s internal view finder and the woman was seeing all sorts of things Lucy would rather not have exposed to the light. Andy had been right to keep his sister at bay. She’d have to thank him later.
Just start taking the pictures, she told herself, struggling with the new process. She focused on the view finder, moving around Jill, pressing the shutter again and again. The little window made it harder for her to see if she was capturing what she wanted. So she just kept on shooting. Surely there would be a winner in the lot. She had to trust herself.
Her gaze volleyed between her subject and that tiny view finder like a tennis ball being bandied across the net. But her brain was having a hard time zooming in and out on the scene.
“Tell me something I don’t know about your grandma,” she told Jill. “Something special.”
A shadow crossed her face before she smiled, one of those glowing smiles only a rare love could generate. Lucy pressed the shutter.
