Page 2 of Candid Moments
She has been running around this suite since I walked in the door. The first event of her three-day, ten-year class reunion is in ninety minutes. Since she was the class president and is the chair of the reunion committee, she flew in on Tuesday but I just arrived an hour ago. I went into my dental office for two hours before my flight then I had a two-hour layover in Atlanta. I’m exhausted but I’m here because I know how important this reunion is to her.
“Is this all, bae?”
“I think so. I’ll double check,” she yells from the bedroom then walks out. Her hair is filled with big ass purple rods and she’s only wearing her underwear. “Get the cart while I look, please.”
“Okay.”
She turns to walk back into the room but stops abruptly. “You’re not wearing that, right?”
“Of course not. I need to shower and change. I was just giving you your space. When you are out of the bathroom, I’m going in.”
“I’ll be out when you come back up then.”
She rushes back into the room and I grab the key card off the table in the small living room space of the suite. After checking for my phone in my pocket, I leave the suite and head downstairs to the lobby.
The entire hotel is booked for the weekend. All of the McCook High Polar Bears are back in town for the winter reunion. It’s actually the first time Maddox and I have been to her hometown since we have been dating. It’s only been a year but she’s met my family and I haven’t met hers. My parents live right outside of Crescent Falls in Diamond Falls so they are much closer than hers.
Besides, Maddox is very private. She keeps her Crescent Falls life very separate from her family here in Nebraska. In fact, she rarely even speaks to them on the phone. I don’t think she’s even visited them since she’s been back for the reunion. I’ve tried to talk to her about them but she’s closed off to it so I don’t push. It would only make her retreat from me even more.
Things with us have been a little strained these last three months which is why I cleared my schedule to make sure I showed up for her this weekend. She says I’m just overreacting and blames her recent distance and busy schedule on this reunion and her business. In October, she quit her paralegal job and started her own social media management company. It had always been her dream so because I love her, I invested in her and gave her twenty-five thousand for her startup.
With all the people checking into the hotel, locating a luggage caddy is a task. None are in concierge and there aren’t any in the foyer area either. So although I left my coat upstairs, I brave the cold ass weather and falling snow and headoutside. When I left Crescent Falls this morning it was a nice sixty degrees. It’s twenty-one degrees here and cold as fuck. Thankfully, I spot a caddy to the left of the main doors. I sprint out, grab it, then rush back into the warm lobby.
Before I head to the elevators, I stop by the front desk and inquire about the location of the reunion. He advises me that it’s in ballroom two at the end of the small hall to my left. After thanking him, I journey to the elevators then back up to our suite. When I walk in, Maddox is fully dressed and standing by the door looking over her items. She still has the rods in her hair though. I start grabbing the boxes and stacking them onto the luggage caddy.
“Krista just called. She has the props for the photo station and the three-sixty booth. I need you to stop by her room when you take this down.”
“Text me her room number.”
“It’s thirty-two oh eight.”
“Okay but text it. I’m really tired and my brain is a little foggy.”
“Ugh! Now, I need to find my phone. You can’t remember thirty-two oh eight?” she snaps, raising her voice.
“Bae, I know you are stressed but watch your tone. I’m just trying to help so there’s no need for you to yell.”
“Huh,” she exhales loudly. “I just need this to be perfect. I was the class president and these people haven’t seen me in ten years. If something goes wrong, I’ll be the talk of McCook. You didn’t grow up here so you don’t get it.”
“I get it; I just won’t let you take your stress out on me.” After placing the box on the caddy, I step over to her and wrap my arms around her. “Calm down. You’ve been organizing this for weeks. It’s going to be fine.”
“Fine isn’t good enough,” she utters. Then she wiggles out of my arms and walks toward the bedroom. “Room thirty-two zero eight. I need to get my hair together. I’ll grab your clothes out of your bag and see if they need ironing. It’ll be seven before I know it.”
Jamila
Although I’m freezing on this balcony, I’m in love with this view and my camera is obsessed. We are on the fifth floor and the ground below is completely covered in snow. The branch-only trees look white and the darkening of the sky casts a gloomy yet mysterious hue over the snowy scene. It’s absolutely beautiful. The sound of the glass door opening pulls me from my lens.
“Ten minutes.”
“Okay. I’m coming in. Just one more shot.”
“It’s not like we’re leaving tomorrow. You can take more later.”
“It will be different later: the light, the amount of snow, everything. Beauty changes in the flick of the eye. It has to be captured the moment you encounter it.” When I turn to face him, I notice the angle of his jawline. Inspired, I raise my camera and say, “Like now.”
When I snap the picture, he huffs with disdain. In the eighteen months we have been together, he has only allowed me to photograph him a total of three times. The day we met, our first Christmas, and our one year anniversary. Even though I have my own studio, Candid Moments, and a very successful career, Corey only sees my photography as a hobby. That’s an argument I curve every time.
“Come on, Jamila. Put the camera up. We need to head downstairs,” he insists.
