“Sounds good.” I paid for the haul of clothes and wondered when this little girl’s happiness had become my reason for waking up each morning.
“What is this?” She held up the cowboy hat with the pink ribbon around it with two fingers, like it might be toxic. “Uncle Trey?”
“It’s a hat. What does it look like?”
“It looks like you think I’m a cowgirl. Do you?”
“Nope. I thought it was cute and figured it might make you feel more at home. Your mother went through a cowboy phase that lasted until she was sixteen.”
“She did not,” Keri insisted with a hint of a smile.
“Did too. I’ll show you the photos when we get back home.” Thankfully I had the photos digitized a few years ago so I wouldn’t lose them every time I moved apartments. “We ready?”
“Yep,” she answered brightly and grabbed one of the bags. “I can carry one of them,” she said indignantly.
“Of course you can, but I have bigger muscles and if we’re going to gorge on Mexican food tonight, I need to burn a few more calories.”
She rolled her eyes and handed the bag over. “Whatever. Google says there’s a Mexican place not too far from here and we can get a family platter with tacos, baby burritos, enchiladas, and fresh chips and salsa. They also have a la carte tamales, Mrs. B loves those.”
“Then we should definitely get one for everybody, right?”
Keri nodded. “Uncle Trey?”
“Yes, Niece Keri?”
“She laughed and skipped at my side. “Why don’t you have a wife? Momma said you’re too handsome for your own good, but good and kind, so howcome no girlfriend or wife?”
“Until you, I’ve never met a girl who made me want to settle down and put down roots.”
“Cheesy Uncle Trey. Really cheesy.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “What do you know about cheesy? You’re ten.”
“I know cheese when I hear it, and that was maximum cheese. It’s a good thing you’re handsome.”
“Just for that, I’m getting my own chips and salsa and I’m not sharing.”
Keri’s shoulders fell in disappointment. “I still have a few years to get you trained.”
Another laugh bubbled up out of me as we made our way to the car. “It’s a good thing you’re adorable.”
“Right back ‘atcha, Uncle Trey.”
I didn’t know how good a father I would be to Keri, but I knew I would try my absolute best to give her everything she needed to have a good life.
Chapter 7
Valona
There he is.
Watching Trey from a distance made me feel like a creeper, fully and completely, but he was just so good looking. He was so mysterious yet uncomplicated that my fingers twitched with the desire, no, with the need to capture him. Which was perfect, because he was the reason I was out here in the middle of the day wandering around town. Trey’s words had gotten to me, and I spent the past hour roaming around town in search of inspiration. For something so compelling that I had no choice but to photograph it.
It turned out that Trey himself was exactly the inspiration I needed.
My heart raced as I took a few test shots of Trey just sitting on a park bench as he stared into space. Wisps of brown hair danced on the wind and his expression was serene but slightly troubled. His blue eyes seemed to be smiling even from a distance though. Some thought crossed his mind and tugged his full lips into a small quirk of a crooked grin. I snapped the photo knowing that if anyone were ever to see it, they would all wonder as I did, what had put that smile on his face?
Trey sat forward and rested his elbows on his knees, the wind kicking up more of his unkempt locks. His blue eyes narrowed as the sun peeked out from behind the clouds and it was another fantastic shot. Then as the sun made its full presence known and felt, his head titled back and his eyes closed as a bigger, contented smile spread.
Gorgeous.
The man could not take a bad photo, not even when he didn’t know he was being photographed, which again made me feel like a stalker, but as my heart raced and my finger tingled with the desire to capture as much of these small, intimate moments as possible, I couldn’t bring myself to care.
This. This is what I’ve been missing. What my work has been missing. I knew it down to my core ,and the rush I felt down my arms and legs, in the pit of my stomach, told me that this was exactly my calling.
My passion.
I paused for a moment to check out the images I’d already captured, captivated by my own work, and by my subject. The photos were good. Really good, and I felt proud of myself. I felt reinvigorated by the photos and the feeling that rushed through me.