Page 54 of For All It's Worth
“Let’s go in here,” I said, pulling Charlie behind me.
He turned up his nose. “I’m not sure it’ll have something for either of them here.”
The store was small but well-appointed, the shelves artfully crammed with trinkets for sale. What caught my attention were the photographs that were mounted tastefully and available to buy.
I nudged Charlie. “Yours are better,” I whispered.
He blushed. “You’re biased. Mine aren’t nearly as good as these.”
“You’re being too modest. You have a book coming out of your photos, Charlie!”
The woman behind the counter must have heard at least part of our conversation because she asked, “You’re a photographer?” to Charlie.
“Um, kinda. I have a book coming out that’s a series of photos surrounding rehab. It shows the journey that each person goes on. The difficulties that they face and the celebrations of their successes.” He started quietly, quickly becoming earnest in his wish for her to understand his reasoning behind the book.
What I’d seen of it had been beautiful in its honesty. I was so proud of him for taking the chance to finally use his talent.
“Do you have any samples of your work on you?” she asked. “We are always looking for new photographers. Art like that always sells well.”
Charlie drew his phone out of his pocket. “You won’t be able to see it that well on this screen, but I’ve emailed some of my stuff to people so I should be able to show you something.”
He fiddled with the device for a bit before pulling up several images. Including one of me in our university days. I was lying in a pile of fall leaves, my breath fogging the air and the fading light turning everything to gold and silver.
“This is one of my favorites.”
“Oh!” She let out a tiny gasp as she examined the image, comparing it to me as I flushed bright red and tried not to squirm. “Wow! That’s just beautiful. Do you just do portraits? Because there isn’t demand here for that, but if you had your own studio you’d be in high demand, I’m sure.”
“Do you think so?”
“I do!” She said honestly. “I mean, your model is very pretty,” she said as she cast a glance at me, giving me a smile. “But you’ve turned him into something else. I just don’t have the words.”
“Ethereal,” Charlie said simply, looking me in the eyes. My breath was knocked from my body with what I saw there. It wasn’t just affection, it was more than that. I wanted to label it as love, but it was far too soon for that.
“Yes! That’s the word,” the woman said, grabbing our attention again.
I had to move, so I left them to chat about Charlie’s work while I looked at the other merchandise that was sold. It took me a few minutes to get myself together again. I’d always thought that my feelings for Charlie were entirely one-sided, which was stupid considering we were on a date, but then I hadn’t had much time to get used to the idea of dating him. The idea that he saw beauty in me just didn’t compute.
Charlie gave me the time to collect myself before returning to my side. I picked up a frame. “This would be a good gift for Andy. You took pictures of him with Will, didn’t you?”
“I did. Actually, I think I have the perfect one for them. I’d just have to get it printed.” He thought for a second. “Monica,” he indicated the woman who was now behind the counter, “said that if I wanted to supply them, she’d sell some of my photos. For a commission, of course.”
“How would you print them?”
“There’s a printer that I’d looked at getting. Cheaper long-term to print my own images. I could get it and do Andy’s gift. Maybe print off some for Mom, from Christmas.”
“I think that’s a great idea. Do you have to pick it up somewhere?”
“Nah, I’ll get it delivered.” He clicked on a few things on his phone. “It’ll be a couple of days. If it gets tight, there are always those photo booths to print the gift.”
“Just Abby to go then?”
“I have an idea for that.”
