Page 106 of Grown-Up Second Chance

“Ah, so you bought the camera,” Mason said as he came into view.

“Yes.” I smiled at him. “Yes, I did.”

“Joe will be happy for you,” Mason said. “Have you told him yet?”

“Um. He left early this morning.”

Mason laughed. “I knew that. But I’m told there are these marvelous new inventions called phones. You do have his number, don’t you?”

“Yes. Of course.” Joe had insisted on exchanging them when we first got together.

“There you go!”

No way was I contacting Joe. My lower lip pushed slightly out, just as it had when I was a kid getting worked up to tell my mom I wasn’t going to do what she wanted.

Mason laughed.

“Or not. It’s your life.” He touched his hat. “I’m going fishing. Have a nice day.” He continued down the path.

I sat down on a nearby boulder and stared at the river. We’d had a lot of fun at this spot, even if I had fallen into the water.

So many new experiences in a short amount of time: being with my sisters all the time, RV life, fishing, the camera. I was overwhelmed. That was all that was wrong with me.

I couldn’t be missing Joe, could I?

Ridiculous.

He hadn’t even been gone a day.

Chapter Thirty

I went back for thirds at dinner time.

Kathleen raised an eyebrow, but fortunately didn’t say anything. I would have jumped her like a pissed-off teen girl fighting for her last ounce of respect.

I was hungry from all the walking around I’d done with my new camera today, I told myself.

Toward the end, I’d gotten overwhelmed by all the information and sat down on a grassy spot near the river. I’d laid back and stared at the sky overhead. So vast. Was there a heaven above? Or only more vastness of space going on for an infinity we humans couldn’t quite grasp, a place from which not even the Starship Enterprise could return.

“How is your new camera?” Liz asked.

“It’s great. It will be even better when I understand it.”

“Give yourself time. You just got it. Every time I get a new brush, or kind of paint, or even a new brand of canvas, I have to learn about it, internalize the effect it has on my work.”

“That’s far too mystical for Di,” Kathleen said. “She’s pragmatic to the core. Also impatient.”

“Well, I’m smart enough. A camera should be easy to understand.”

“Then you should have stuck with your phone. You can’t have it both ways, Di. It’s easy and limited, or complicated and flexible.”

She was right. All my life, I’d been frustrated by things that refused to come quickly to me. Those things were rare, and my modus operandi was to either find a way around them or abandon them altogether.

I was not giving up on this camera.

“I’ll figure it out,” I said, filling my mouth with the chicken casserole Liz had put together. I chewed and swallowed, chewed and swallowed, while Liz and Kathleen discussed the things that needed to be done before the next leg of the journey.

“Let’s do one more visit to Old Faithful tomorrow,” Kathleen suggested. “It will give you something else to capture with your new camera.”

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