AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘God,I’msojealous.WhatIwouldn’t give to have six months away from my life.’
Stellahid her resigned smile in her coffee mug.Claudiawas obviously done hearing about the trip.
‘I’mshooting all these terribly rich people now and, seriously, they do my head in.Moremoney than sense, the lot of them.Theother day,Ihad a client from some country ending with ‘stan’and they actually broughtKalishnikovsand swords to the shoot.Fora family picture!’
Witha glance at the whiteCartierwatch onClaudia’swrist,Stellaraised an eyebrow.Sincemarrying into theFiennes,Claudiahad become terribly rich, too.Magnusnot only worked as a wedding photographer to theEton,Harrow, andOxbridgeset, but also managed a property portfolio that would make theDukeofWestminstergreen with envy.TheFienneswere old money.
Claudiadrained the rest of her cup. ‘Whenare you going back to work?’
Deflating,Stellasaid, ‘Goodquestion.ConnorandIhaven’t discussed it in much detail.Heseems to have assumed thatI’mnow full-time childcare until a spot opens up at a nursery.’
‘Whydon’t you just get a nanny?’
Stellastarted shaking her head no beforeClaudiaeven finished. ‘Connorprefers a nursery.Hedoesn’t like the idea of some stranger traipsing around town with our child.’
‘Godforbid,’ saidClaudiadefensively.
Rememberingthat her friend had a dedicated nanny for each of her boys,Stellarubbed her temple and said, ‘Sorry,Ididn’t mean it like that.’Jetlag had made her speak without thinking, even though deep down inside, she considered having two nannies excessive.Herthoughts turned to the many mothers and children she’d seen on their trip.Aftertravelling the world for six months and observing family life in a number of different cultures,Stellawas keenly aware of her privilege even having this conversation about childcare.Furthermore, she was lucky that she actually had the choice to work or not.Butafter the long flight, her brain couldn’t handle that discussion right now. ‘I’mjust tired.’
Claudiaflapped her hand to dismiss the unintended slight. ‘She’son a waiting list atDoodlebugDaycare, right?’Doodlebugwas the top nursery in the area.
‘Yes!AndBubblegumBabies,WeeWonders, andCuddlyCougars!Butnone of them can guarantee when a place will become available.’
‘Didn’tyou put her name down when you were pregnant?’
‘No,Ididn’t realiseIhad to.’
Claudiasucked in air through her teeth. ‘Rookiemistake.’
‘Comeon!Whoknew it would be harder to get a place at a good nursery than it is to become prime minister?’
‘Um.Everybody.’
‘Well,Ididn’t know.Youcould have mentioned it.’Stellanibbled her cuticles.
Puttingdown her mug,Claudiaswiped atStella’sfingers. ‘Cutthat out.Haven’tyou kicked that habit yet?You’vebeen relaxing for six months.’
‘Relaxing?Iwish,’ saidStellawith a huff.
Claudianarrowed her eyes. ‘What’sgoing on?Doesthis have something to do with that email you sent me about “wanting a change”?’
Stellabit the inside of her lip.Sheforgot that she’d sent that email toClaudia.Shehad done it when she was angry atConnorbecause he’d taken on another impromptu shooting assignment on what was supposed to be their family holiday.Atthe time, they were staying at a five-star hotel inCapeTown—a splurge for the final leg of their trip.Whenthe hotel realised that the world’s best wedding photographer was staying there, they asked him to shoot their new wedding portfolio in connection with a local luxury bridal boutique.Inexchange, they’d wipe theKnights’ entire bill including food, which would save them thousands—even thoughStellawas confident that it wasn’t the money that attractedConnorto the job.Sheknew him well enough to know his ego was involved, and the attractive female event planner had done a good job of stoking it.
‘It’llonly take a day.Twoat most,’ he’d reasoned.Butof course, it hadn’t.ItrobbedGraceandStellaof five days withConnorwhile he organised and executed the shoot.Stellawas stuck in the hotel entertainingGracealone (which was when she’d started researching nurseries and signing up).
Italso rankled thatConnorhadn’t askedStellato be involved.
Especiallysince she was just as good as him.SincemarryingConnorand being absorbed into his business, she’d learned a lot: posing, lighting, that ease with the camera that came only from experience.Clientscould no longer tell the difference between one of her images and one of his.However, people always referred to her as ‘ConnorKnight’swife’, rarely by her own name.Whenshe worked a wedding with him, she never got credit for the amazing images she was shooting.Herwork got subsumed into theConnorKnightbrand.She’dthought about this a lot while they were travelling.
Whenshe’d emailedClaudia, she’d been toying with an idea about moving into portraiture and working under her own brand name.Whileit created some problems, it also solved a few.Stelladidn’t like how often shooting weddings would take her away fromGrace.Theirdaughter didn’t deserve to be a wedding orphan—to have both parents working almosteveryweekend.Movinginto portraiture would make it easier to have aMondaytoFridayjob.
Pickingat some imaginary lint on her sleeve,Stellasaid, ‘IthinkI’mready to try something new.’
‘Whatdo you mean “new”?You’renot going to change careers again, are you?’Fouryears ago,Stellahad transitioned from being an advertising copywriter to wedding photographer after having an ill-fated affair with her boss.
‘No, nothing like that.’Sheleaned back and rested the mug on her chest. ‘I’mjust not sureIwant to carry on with weddings.’
‘Ha!Itold you you’d get tired of them.They’rea bloody headache.WhatdoesConnorthink?’
