AllFreeNovel
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“No.”
To Brady she asks, “Are you coming with us to Cabo?”
As the four of us head across the street to the restaurant, Brady hands me Thor’s leash and asks, “What didn’t you tell me?”
“I met someone, too.”
“Too?” Gemma asks.
Adjusting the camera slung over my shoulder by its strap I tell her, “Brady met a philanthropic drummer.”
“I’m sorry, please explain.”
Brady slows, hand up in a stop sign. “Wait. We both met someone?”
We decide to hold the storytelling until we snag a table in the bar, sand under our feet, straw ceiling overhead with short palm trees in corners, and life-size ones outside lining Washington Boulevard all the way the two blocks to the ocean.
“Three margaritas, please.”
“Salt?” the server confirms.
I nod for all of us. “And chips and guacamole, please.”
“You got it.” They disappear.
Over our drinks and chips and guac, then finally our meals of shared fajitas, enchiladas and tacos, we share stories of everything that happened while I was away.
With only crumbs on the table, and our second round almost gone, Brady asks, “What was that It’s Possible board you said you were going to tell me about later?”
My heart starts pounding. Showing strangers a photograph is one thing, but telling the people who know you most in the world that you might become an artist and leave behind the safety of a paycheck? Not so easy. Holding up my camera I feel like I’m shaking. “I have something to show you guys.” Flipping the camera on, I present my favorites, starting with a closeup of Arwen’s face with a halo-like glow from the sun behind her. To my surprise, after photo upon photo is displayed, my friends are speechless until Gemma’s blue eyes widen and lock onto me. “Willow! What the fuck? You’re really good!”
Brady stares at the closeup of a wren I shot bathing in their pond, little droplets caught mid-air. “Wow, that’s beautiful. You froze all the water it was spraying!”
Flipping through more, I tell them both, “I’m going to research how to make money as a photographer.”
Gemma raises a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “This is crazy!”
I give her a mischievous smile. “Gemma, you’re the one who said I live too safely.”
“I did but…wow Willow. You really…I’m very impressed.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes!”
My phone rings and Ben’s name lights up the screen. No photo yet, ironically. Gemma swipes it up. “She’s not moving!”
“Gemma!” I laugh.
She puts him on speaker. “This is Gemma, Willow’s best friend. Brady is with us. Oh, did you tell him about Brady?”
“She did,” Ben says with a smile in his voice. “Hi. I’m guessing Thor is with you.”
Brady answers, “Yep. Hi Ben. Nice to kind of meet you.”
Gemma demands, “Send a picture of yourself.”
Ben chuckles. “What? Okay. Hang on. You do the same.”
