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Once he had the cargo hold ready, we slid my larger suitcase in first. Since we hadn’t had any souvenirs or big purchases in Dawn other than the hotel room, we were able to get the suitcase and duffel bags to fit without much hassle. He shut the cargo hold, and I boarded the plane.
He got into the pilot’s seat, gave me the headset, and we prepared for takeoff. I didn’t remember the cockpit being so small for only two people, but I supposed that was because we had been in a large hotel room together, where there was room to spread out.
Once a couple more commercial flights had taken off, Gabe received the all-clear from the tower for take-off. Ours didn’t take too long. That much, I did remember.
As we made the trip from Dawn to Corinth, I couldn’t help but think that, as much as I wanted to explore the new feelings I had for Gabriel Delaney, I needed to focus on my deadline. If I didn’t turn in these photos before the end of the month, I could kiss my career goodbye. And if that happened, I wouldn’t have the money I needed to be able to start a freelance photography business.
I could smell his aftershave in the small plane, and I had to try and keep my mind focused. This was a work trip, and I needed to be ready to jump into taking pictures as soon as we landed; my career depended on it. If he didn’t understand that, then there was no reason for our relationship to go any further. I understood that he would continue flying planes, after all. If he wouldn’t extend that same courtesy…
I shook those thoughts away when I realized I had been absorbed in these thoughts the entire trip. He probably thought it was strange that I was suddenly silent. We’d been talking so much the past few days, and I now worried he thought I might be ignoring him because of the kiss. We landed on the strip in Corinth, and the plane’s engine noise was oddly absent from the whir in my ears.
I took the headphones off and handed them to Gabe.
“We need to get to the inn, and then, I need to start taking photos,” I said. “There’s not any time to waste.”
“As soon as we get the plane taken care of, we can do that,” Gabe said, though his voice conveyed some disappointment.
He knew of my deadline before we had come out here together. There was no reason for him to act like this was a new thing.
However, once we had our luggage from the cargo hold and had the plane parked safely in the hangar, I slung my duffel bag’s straps across my shoulders like those of a backpack. I had no time to waste, and despite what Gabe had originally thought in Dawn, I had traveled with both bags before. With my camera in the larger suitcase, just like this.
“To the inn.”
We rented a car and then made it to the small inn on the coastline that we had originally booked. They’d held our reservations after hearing about the storm, and I was glad for that. I’d already put down so much money on this trip, I couldn’t afford to lose the reservation I’d made at this inn. Not with having to pay for that other unexpected hotel stay in Dawn.
After getting our suitcases to the rooms, I grabbed my camera bag and changed into something a little comfier for the weather. The storm had decided not to travel this far west. Even so, there’d been a cold snap, and a light dusting of snow had come through the town yesterday. If we hurried, I could capture some fairytale-esque pictures before the sun warmed and melted the snow away. That would make for bad, muddy pictures.
“So… how does this work? Taking photographs of tourism spots?” Gabe looked at me like he had no clue what he was doing. “Do you need people in the pictures?”
“Not necessarily. Coming during the school year was supposed to make it easier to get good photographs without having to ask everyone to sign a waiver to appear in the photo,” I said as I pulled my good boots on. “Look, Gabe, I know you’re interested in seeing how I work, but maybe that could wait until I get the photos I absolutely need. I… I can’t risk getting fired.”
I grabbed my jacket; suddenly glad I had thought to also pack a lighter jacket – not just the heaviest of my coats.
Dressed in a simple navy-blue fleece hoodie, dark-wash jeans, and black knee-high rainboots, I knew that I didn’t look like much of a photographer. That was the point. I was supposed to be able to blend into the background, disappear if people wanted to get their pictures taken.
“Oh…”
Gabe frowned.
“I didn’t realize…”
“If we had arrived on time, I might have taken you with me to see what I do as I do it, but I can’t afford the distractions right now, Gabe. I’m sorry. I really am.”
With that, I walked out of the inn and started making tracks towards the tourist attractions. I had a small keychain wallet on my beltloop today, which held not only my debit and credit cards, but my hotel room key as well.
I pulled my hair back into a ponytail as I walked so that I could see through the viewfinder on my camera without issue.
Once I had found the models of the ancient ruins, I stopped. Something about them covered in snow was incredibly magical, but the view in front of me was a replica of a road that might have once been found in Rome. There was a raised cobblestone path for pedestrians that encircled the whole city of replicas, but pathways also ran between the buildings. The main road continued through the replica city as well, and I knelt down to assess the different angles I could use to take the first couple photos. The tracks from cars going down the road resembled something that I imagined might have happened when it rained hard, and mud made its way into the street.
I stopped and took a picture right here. I took it from a couple of different angles, including getting down on the ground for an angle from the road, which almost looked like we were just coming up on it in a car. The models weren’t as big as the original, but they were still impressively large. You could even enter some of them.
I took a moment to hold my camera in one hand and wipe the snow that had gotten on to the hoodie off with my sleeve as I walked further down the sidewalk. Even though I was just starting to take the snapshots, I could already feel that I had made the right choice to come and see this particular city right now. Obviously, the snow wouldn’t be there for summer travelers, but it certainly added a magical quality to the scene, giving everything this white glow that only made it look more interesting.
People would be looking to capture shots like these for years after I published them, I bet.
Thankfully, people were free to look around at all the models. Guided tours were available, but I didn’t need a tour to get most of my pictures. That meant the only thing I needed to pay for was entry into the model of the Pantheon. They were trying to raise money to recreate some of the temples based off some recreation sketches made available. And, they needed to make some renovations to the Pantheon model.
After all, it wasn’t proper Roman architecture, and it needed constant maintenance.
