Page 74 of Moonstruck at Midnight
A couple of minutes later, a cab pulled over behind us. Ben and Nolan stepped out with a backpack and a large circular bag, which I assumed carried the light reflectors Nolan said he would bring over for the shoot.
Caleb opened the door for them to step into the car. Lily and I sat in the third row of the SUV.
“Lily, this is Ben and Nolan,” I said, pointing at each of them as I said their names. “Ben, Nolan, this is Lily.”
“Nice to meet you.” Lily smiled, extending her hand to them.
“Likewise.” Ben shook her hand with a grin.
“Hi, um, I—nice to meet you too.” Nolan’s big brown eyes went wide when he shook her hand. I was already expecting him to flip out. I couldn’t help but laugh. He had two hours to get his shit together and process the fact that he was riding in the same car as Lily Young.
“Aaron, could we stop for coffee?” I asked.
“Oh, yes, please!” Lily joined in.
I had somewhat of a headache because I didn’t get much sleep the night before, thinking about how my last call with Thomas went. I was determined not to think about that for the rest of the day. I wanted the shoot to go as planned and to enjoy myself if possible.
We all chatted for a while but ended up snoozing the last forty-
five minutes.
Lily woke me up when she took a phone call from Joel.
“Hey baby…Yeah,everyone’s asleep,but we’re about ten minutes away from the house…That sounds great!…I’d love that…Okay,see you in the afternoon.”
“Was that Joel?” I asked, sitting up straight in my seat.
“Yes. He’s coming later today, and we’re staying for the weekend. You should spend the night. It could be fun.”
Spend the night. Damn, I’d never even been to a sleepover before. I wasthatlame. Besides, I had to take Ben and Nolan back, so I didn’t think it was a feasible option for me.
“Yeah, it would. I’d have to check with—” I jerked my chin at David, who sat in front of me.
“Oh, come on! Stay! They can drive Ben and Nolan back to the city. We’ll drive you back home tomorrow.”
I promised to see what I could do to stay. I thought it would be fun and distracting to do something different. Perhaps the easiest way was to call my father and ask for his permission.
We finally arrived, and the house was spectacular. My jaw dropped to the floor. “When you said cottage, I imagined something different,” I told Lily. “Something, I don’t know—smaller.”
Lily laughed. “Well, it’s a modern Swedish inspired cottage. It’s amazing, right? I love it here.”
The house was on the ocean side of the property. There was a pool in the back, followed by a breathtakingly beautiful garden with different flower shrubs and huge trees that bordered Fairfield pond. The house was two stories and had large floor to ceiling windows.
“Oh, man!” Ben cried, walking around. “This place is legit.”
“Very impressive,” Nolan said, starting to take stuff out of his bag. “Billie, why don’t you help Lily with her clothes while we set up? I think we can start taking a few shots here in the garden with the pond as a backdrop.” He sounded so professional. He was probably trying to impress Lily.
“Sure,” I replied. Lily and I walked into the house, and Caleb brought Lily’s suitcase inside.
“Thanks, Caleb,” Lily said with a smile. He seemed nervous around her. Who wouldn’t?
Caleb left, and Lily unpacked the outfits she had brought with her. “He’s quite the stunner, isn’t he?” Lily whispered. “He could be a model. I swear he’d get booked in two seconds.”
I laughed. I couldn’t imagine Caleb being a model, but I completely understood where Lily was coming from. He was exotic, and well … all sorts of other things.
“So, what do you think?” she said, placing a cute long-sleeve white dress in front of her. I told her it was perfect. “Okay, I’ll be right back. I’ll give you a tour later.” She disappeared into one of the rooms to change as I got my stuff ready for the shoot.
The interior design of the house had a heavy Scandinavian aesthetic, predominated by a neutral color palette. Everything looked so fresh and clean. Most of the furniture was white or gray, with a few subtle burnt orange and navy-blue touches in certain accessories here and there.
