Page 31 of Her Property

“But there’s no computer at the house. All I had to go on was the little diagram on the roll of film. It wasn’t exactly intuitive.”

“You sound mad,” he said, trying to suppress the smile trying to work its way onto his lips. Her indignation somehow made her sexier, the way it made her cheeks go pink.

“I’m not mad, it’s just… annoying. I hid in the closet to load it too, so I couldn’t see anything.”

“You… hid in the closet?”

“I didn’t want to expose it to light!”

This time he had to bite his cheek. He pictured her sitting on a pile of old boots trying to fumble her way to getting film in this camera. He held it up again to keep himself from laughing. Then he snapped a photo and advanced the film with his thumb. Except the film didn’t advance.

“Well the good news is your film isn’t exposed,” he said. He popped the back of the camera open. “And to be fair, this camera’s a little tricky. Want me to show you?”

Cat looked up at him, her eyes assessing, seeing if he’d be a good teacher. She came over to stand next to him.

He opened the camera and popped the film out. “Hold this,” he said. She held out her hand, and he eyed the new bandage on it. “How’s that feeling?” he asked as he dropped the film into her palm. Her skin was warm as he brushed it with his fingers. Soft.

Concentrate.

“It’s fine,” she said. “A little tender.”

“It looked like the doctor did a good job. They’ve got a new doctor there, I’ve never met her.”

“She was nice. Efficient. Told me to a stop sticking my hand on broken things.”

He laughed. “Good advice.”

The smallest bit of a smile moved across her lips.

He turned back to the camera. “See the slot there? It’s hidden on this model. But you have to get the tongue of the film in there. Gently. Then you press your thumb down here, load the roll over here…”

When he’d shown her all the parts, he angled the camera to her, holding it so she could try it out herself. She bent her head over it, working to get the parts in the places he’d shown her. A wind picked up, swirling leaves around their feet and a strand of her hair across her face. He was thankful his hands were occupied, or he might have been tempted to reach over and brush it away. He caught the scent of her shampoo or soap, and something stirred in his belly. It was Pavlovian. The smell reminded him of being next to her yesterday, of the bath she slipped into.

“I still can’t believe you jumped in the swimming hole,” he said.

Catherine looked up, “I did not—” then her mouth twisted into a big grin. It was dazzling. It made his chest tight.

“You should try it sometime.”

He couldn’t help it—he laughed. God, that felt good. Everything felt good around her.

She turned back to the camera. She was a fast learner—she popped it in and wound it up like she’d been doing it for years. She lifted it up and pointed it at the same log he’d been aiming it at. She snapped the photo, then advanced the film and took another one. Stepping away from him, she took some more of the trees.

“This is fun,” she said.

“It’s addictive.”

She turned towards the cabin he’d been working at and then lowered the camera.

He couldn’t read her expression. She almost looked… guilty.

“I never went to summer camp,” Cat said, hanging the camera around her neck and affixing the lens cap on.

“Neither did I,” said Jake. “I just looked at this one from the outside. During the summers we helped my Grandpa with the maintenance jobs while we watched all the kids attending go canoeing and have cookout roasts. The rest of the year when the campers were gone, it was our playground.”

“You said you had a brother?”

Jake folded his arms, looking out at the cluster of cabins that had deteriorated so badly in the years since the camp got shut down.

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