Page 41 of This Love
Tonight would be the first real try.
Chapter 16
Ava
I wasn’t sure what to do to prepare for a date. There weren’t very many dates shown on Schitt’s Creek, and everybody dressed the same. The Rose family was all fancy all the time. The rest of the town was what Flo called Wal-Mart chic, whatever that meant.
I hadn’t worked today. I’d spent another long hour with Vinnie and my camera.
Vinnie had been patient in teaching me what I used to know. So far, I had learned about f-stops and apertures and the rule of thirds.
Vinnie said I had an eye for it, and as soon as I understood the settings, I’d be okay again. I wasn’t sure.
Since I had a couple of hours before Tucker would come, I wandered the neighborhood with the camera, taking pictures of trees and cars and squirrels when I could spot them. Maybe after I did these by myself, Vinnie could tell me if I still had the eye.
Everyone I passed seemed to know me and smiled and waved. One woman walking a dog called out. “How was the wedding?”
I didn’t know what to say. I went with, “It was an eventful day.”
I spotted a bright red bird and followed it for a while, hoping to catch it against the sky. I took picture after picture of the bird in a tree, on a wire, on a bush. But every time he flew somewhere, the picture was blurry. I would have to ask Vinnie why.
Eventually, I turned around.
A woman stood in front of the house next door, watering several buckets of flowers by her mailbox. “Hello, Ava,” she called. “Taking some pictures?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Got some of a red bird.” Maybe I could fake this.
“I was telling Ted we sure hadn’t seen much of you and Tucker since the wedding! I told him, I bet they’re busy being newlyweds!”
Oh. I wondered if I should correct her. But I said, “We are!”
I hurried past. When I turned up the path to the blue house, Tucker was already sitting on the steps. He looked forlorn, staring at his phone, his legs sprawled out in khaki pants ironed with a sharp crease. His shirt had buttons and a collar. Normally, he wore jeans and T-shirts.
Right. The date.
When he spotted me coming up the sidewalk, his face switched to relief. I guessed he thought I was lost or something had happened. “Talking to Isadora?” he asked.
“Is that her name?”
“Yeah. She’s lovely. She has a husband named Ted.”
“They think we got married. All the neighbors do.”
He nodded. “That’s okay. It doesn’t matter.”
“Is it time already?” I asked him.
“Yeah. You don’t have your phone?”
“I didn’t have any pockets.” I walked behind him to pop the front door open.
“You don’t lock it?” he asked.
I hesitated. “Should I?”
His jaw tightened, and I could tell he wanted to say more, but he didn’t. I guessed maybe I should lock the door. Everyone I met seemed so nice, but maybe there were people nearby who stole things, like the teenagers on Schitt’s Creek who’d shoplifted in Rose Apothecary. Alexis had called them kleptos.
I couldn’t have anyone stealing my book. I needed it.
