MissManaged

Chapter Nine

Charlotte

Kenny and Tobin appeared to be having a serious conversation when I walked back to the main room but broke apart when they spotted me. It didn’t concern me much since I knew they went to high school together. That was another weird thing about people from Walker’s Grove—they all knew each other even if they had years separating them in age. Most likely, they were just exchanging pleasantries or catching up.

I stopped thinking about what they could have been talking about and shifted into marketing mode, studying the space for the best angles to capture the yoga room. The sunlight coming in through the wall of windows that faced the pasture illuminated the space perfectly, and I focused on highlighting the warmth and beauty of the room. Even though there would be baby goats joining the classes, Kenny didn’t want people to feel like they were in a barn.

Once I finished with the yoga room, I shooed Tobin and Kenny out of the shop and took photos there, focusing on her creative displays of soaps and lotions. She already had a successful wholesale and online presence, but we were hoping to expand the customer base with retail sales to the yoga participants.

Then I opened the doors from the yoga room to the pasture and took some wide-angle views of the grass with the barn in the distance. The whole time Kenny and Tobin stayed quiet, watching me work and only moving when I asked.

“What do you think about letting some goats into the pasture and taking pictures of them from inside the building with the doors open?”

“Sure thing,” Kenny replied. “How many do you want?”

Having seen how chaotic and crazy things got when there were too many goats let out at once, I thought carefully before answering.

“How about three or four? I don’t want anarchy. That wouldn’t be cute.”

Kenny shook her head at my description. “My girls are not anarchists. They’re lovely, well-behaved ladies,” she called over her shoulder as she strode across the pasture to the barn.

I giggle-snorted at that, making Tobin look at me with a confused grin.

“I have so many questions,” he said, “and one thing to say first.”

“What’s that?” I asked when he didn’t continue.

“I really like hearing you laugh, little fairy.”

His words, coupled with the intensity of his gaze, launched a dozen butterflies in my belly.

“Thank you,” I replied, then changed the topic. “What are your questions?”

He stared at me for another full minute before answering, making me squirm in anticipation of whatever he’d say next. Probably something about wanting more; about wanting to move beyond the friend stage. And I couldn’t be sure I would turn him down again. He’d shown me over the past few weeks that he could be patient and kind and only wanted the best for me.

“How many goats does Kenny have?”

“Uh.” His question brought my lovey-dovey thoughts to a screeching halt. I took a breath and gave myself a second to get back on track. “I’m not sure. I think maybe twenty or so?”

He smirked at my obvious confusion but didn’t call me out, thankfully. It gave me time to process the fact that I was seriously considering a relationship with Tobin, even knowing what that would entail. Because I had no illusions that he’d give up on his need to be in charge.

Kenny interrupted us by yelling across the field.

“Get ready. I’m releasing the cuteness.”

I lifted my camera and starting shooting as Kenny opened the door and let four little goats out, then quickly jumped back into the barn and pulled the door closed behind her.

They were a tumbling mess of brown, black, and white fluff that haphazardly made their way across the grass, stopping to play every few feet. I heard Kenny return to the shop before the goats made it halfway to where we stood.

“They got distracted, huh?”

“There’s a butterfly taunting them,” Tobin said, sounding just as amazed as I felt.

“They’re ridiculously cute, Kenny,” I said, trying to capture everything the baby goats were doing. It was hard, and most of these shots were probably crap, but it was fun trying to keep up with their antics through my camera lens.

“I don’t want to have them out too long. Their mamas weren’t too thrilled with me taking them away.”

“How are you going to get them away for a whole yoga class?” Tobin asked.

“They’ll be a little older by then, so it will be fine. If this goes well, I might get a few dwarf breeds, so I’m not always using the babies. Then I can train them a little better,” Kenny said, still focused on the animals in the field. “But I don’t want to do that until I see what the interest is. We’ll see how it goes next Monday when we do our test class.” She clapped her hands and started walking away. “That’s enough. I hope you got what you needed, Charlie.”

“Yeah, I’m good, Kenny,” I called after her, but she was focused on herding the baby goats back to the barn.

“She really loves her animals,” Tobin noted.

“Better not let her hear you call them that. Those are her babies,” I said, turning to face him. “I’m all set here so we can head out and you can take me home. I’m sure you have things to do today.”

“Dad’s covering for me, so I thought we could grab something to eat.”

“I don’t think lunch is in the budget my manager set for me this week,” I replied with a cheeky grin. “And I’d really like to get home to start going through these pictures. I think I got some good ones.”

“That’s very responsible of you. Your manager would be pleased.” He returned my smile with one of his own that somehow made him even more handsome. “How about we pick up a pizza, my treat, and we go through the pictures together?” he suggested, and even though I usually did a first run through on my own so I could get rid of all the duds, I agreed.

“That sounds like a good plan. I’ll get my bag and we’ll say goodbye to Kenny and head out.”

“I’ll be right here waiting for you, Charlotte,” he promised, making me scurry away before he could see the goosebumps his voice created.

We went straight to my house and ordered the pizza from there. Even though Kenny was my friend, I’d still dressed professionally for the photo shoot, and I was dying to get out of my dress pants and shirt. Tobin left about ten minutes ago to pick up our food.

As soon as I changed into comfy pants and a t-shirt, I downloaded the pictures to my laptop and started the process of weeding through them. Some I deleted immediately because they were unusable. Others I put into a “maybe” folder to possibly crop and use parts of if needed. That left me with contenders for use on the website, but I still reviewed each one with a critical eye, looking for anything that would get it dumped in the maybe folder.

I critiqued each picture like my college photography professor used to, often mumbling to myself as I worked.

“This one looks like shit, Charlie. Why did you think filling the screen with grass would be a good idea? Idiot,” I said, completely engrossed in what I was looking at and unaware of my surroundings. I put that one in the maybe folder, though, since the barn looked nice in the distance.

“Ugh. And you completely ruined this one. Should have turned down the exposure, dumb ass.” I clicked on the trashcan icon and shook my head in disgust at my rookie mistake.

“Charlotte!” Tobin barked my name from about two feet away, scaring me shitless.

“Jeez, Tobin,” I replied as I tried to get my racing heart under control. “Why are you sneaking up on me?”

“I didn’t sneak up on you. I came in, walked through the living room, took off my shoes, put the pizza in the kitchen, and then stood here listening to you berate yourself for a good two or three minutes.” His words were clipped, and his voice rose in volume until he wasn’t quite shouting, but it was clear he was upset with me.