JOSH LINGERED after the interview concluded, taking time to add more notes into his tablet. Kathleen and I rose from the table to give him space and to check our phones. I was in the middle of answering an e-mail message from Allison when Josh stood up from the table and approached Kathleen, his hands tucked into the pockets of his designer jeans.
“Are you heading back up to Portland now?” she asked. “Or do you get to spend the night in town?”
“I’m staying the night. I thought I’d go to Bend Brewing Company. I wondered if you’d join me for dinner.”
My fingers froze over my phone. It was impossible not to be within earshot of their conversation, but I was doing my best not to stare daggers at the young man. I’d never been in the position of having to size up any potential competition when it came to Kathleen. I didn’t know what type of man she’d dated, but Josh wasn’t right for her.
I was right for her.
“I’m so sorry, but I can’t.” She smiled at Josh and I turned my back to hide my own grin. “Did you get a chance to meet Tracie upstairs? She’s the one who introduced me to that place. She’s always looking for a reason to go. She’s a lot of fun, and she knows everyone down there. You should ask her.”
“Great.” Josh was disappointed, but his recovery was quick. “She’s the one with spiky hair, right? Yeah. I think I will.”
“Please do,” I encouraged him, unable to resist. “You’ll have a fun time with Tracie.”
Josh returned to the table to gather his things. Afterward, he said his goodbyes and went upstairs to speak with his Plan B.
“Who wants to go first?” Chad brought us back to the matter at hand.
Kathleen stepped back to the table and picked up her purse. “I’d like a few minutes to check my makeup. Why don’t you go first, Jack?”
“Sure.”
Over the years, I’d gotten used to having my photograph taken for work, even to the point of adopting a trademark pose. I wandered across the studio and took my place in front of a dark blue backdrop. I took the familiar stance, but the photographer shook his head.
“Too formal. You need to relax.”
The smile slid off my face. “Um. All right?”
I heard Kathleen’s light laughter from across the room and dared to look her way. She was watching this awkward moment and my face warmed. Kathleen took one last glance into the mirror of her compact before snapping it shut and setting it down. She rose from the chair and began a slow, thoughtful approach. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Her figure was hypnotic.
“He’s right,” she told me. “You just need to relax.”
“How?”
“Pace the room a little bit and then come back to your mark. Don’t think about anything, just come back and stand like you normally would.”
I followed Kathleen’s instructions and when I returned to my spot she was standing right behind Chad’s shoulder.
“What’s Heide up to at school right now?” she asked.
My self-consciousness evaporated the moment I thought of my daughter. I grinned with pride and love. The photographer began taking his shots, one right after the other. I did my best to ignore him and instead focused on Kathleen and her question. I told her about Heide’s latest progress report and as I did I noticed a perceptible shift in Kathleen’s regard of me.
“You have a great smile. These pictures are going to be amazing, Jack.”
At first, I was embarrassed. She was watching me, but as the moments passed I grew more confident. I was flattered by her attention. Chad instructed me to reposition my stance and as I did, I asked, “You think so?”
Kathleen nodded and smiled. “You’re always so well put together. You’re a good dresser. This backdrop is going to show that off.”
She was complimenting the photographer as much as me, but she’d never spoken to me so personally and her words caught me off guard. I still wasn’t one to believe in signs, but this was an admission that she’d been noticing me.
“Thanks,” I said, my voice deep with sincerity. I wanted to say something more, yet I couldn’t find the words. What would be the right response in this scenario? I recognized this rare moment of emotional vulnerability and made eye contact with her. It wasn’t just the lingering sting of my divorce that ruled me at this moment, it was also her. She was the one woman in Bend who had captured my interest, and I was experiencing her deliberate consideration for the first time.
“I shouldn’t say this at work, but you’ve raised the bar around here,” she admitted with total honesty and a tender expression. “You’re one of those whole-package types. I have a feeling many women are going to develop a sudden interest in the business side of advertising when they see your photo on that cover.”
“She’s right.” The photographer’s interjection jolted us both, severing our connection. We both glanced at him as he scrolled through the digital images on his camera. “I have what I need here. Why don’t you two switch places?”
I stepped away from my mark and the backdrop with a bit of disappointment.
“Should I go?”
“Not yet,” Chad answered. “I want to take a few shots of you two together. It makes the most sense for the cover shot, but I may want to play around with the backdrops a bit. Let me take some pictures of Kathleen and then we’ll figure it out.”
“Right. Of course.”
I watched Kathleen as she took her place and saw a new and unexpected confidence appear. She needed no pep talk and Chad began taking photos right away. She was smiling appropriately and doing an excellent job of modeling for the camera. She came across as a natural, not mugging too much for the photographer or acting too bashful as she took her turn in the spotlight. Spending time at her side this afternoon, listening to her talk about her family and watching her watch me during my own photo session left a deep impact. My attraction to Kathleen had been growing, but this was the first time my guard was coming down in her presence.
I was drawing closer and closer to asking her out on a date. I’d waded through a long mental list of pros and cons. We worked together, and not only that, her father was my boss. I was older, not quite divorced and a single parent. She was young, but not immature. Kathleen was someone I could introduce to Heide, but I was still contemplating how to approach my seven-year-old with the prospect. Dating Kathleen was not a carefree consideration but watching her date anyone else was unacceptable.
The biggest barrier, however, was my own past. If I was going to pursue Kathleen, I was going to do so in a way far different from my past relationships. I was in my forties, but I had yet to successfully manage my love life. I had always approached romance with far less care than I should have. I was tired of losing at love and, more importantly, I had my daughter’s welfare to consider. I needed Heide to learn how a man should treat a woman.
“Okay, Jack. Time for you to jump back in.” Chad had caused another interruption, but this time I wasn’t upset.
I strolled over to Kathleen’s side, and Chad followed close behind. As she held her place, Chad instructed me where to stand behind her. He posed us close to one another and I detected a lovely, floral scent on her skin. In her high heels, Kathleen was nearly as tall as me. Chad retreated to pick up his camera while I racked my brain for something to say.
“Sixty-four years of marriage?” I began. “I’ll never make that milestone.”
Kathleen angled her head even closer to me. “If it makes you feel better, neither will I.”
“He’s out there somewhere,” I told her, hoping I didn’t sound as wistful as I felt. “Probably closer than you think.”
Kathleen looked over her shoulder and arched a playful brow. “Actually, I’ve decided to break the family record for remaining single.”
“Oh? Well. Then I guess my proposal is out the window.”
“No! No!” she protested even as she returned to her original stance. “Propose all you want. Just remember I’ll have to say no.”
We both laughed, and I noticed a slight shiver move through her when my warm breath brushed the back of her neck. We were both doing our best to hold our pose for Chad, but I just couldn’t help myself.
As the photographer brought the camera up to his eye and prepared to take the shot, I gave in to temptation, leaning forward. “Maybe I shouldn’t say this at work,” I repeated her words in a low cadence intended solely for her, “but the scent of roses on you is perfection.”
I stretched an experimental finger forward, running it across the exposed palm of Kathleen’s hand. “And your skin is as soft as a petal.”
Her reaction was beyond my expectations. She smiled with luminosity at my touch, her own happiness encompassing me. I grinned broadly at my successful flirtation. We were both relaxed and radiant as Chad took our first picture together.
My fingertip lingered on her wrist for the rest of our photo shoot, undetected by the photographer. Our first secret.
The pleasure of this simple touch electrified me.
Her acceptance of my admiration was flattering.
My body surged with passion as though we were experiencing our first kiss.
All too soon, the session ended. Chad told us we were free to go, and we no longer had a reason to stand so close together. With regret, I pulled my hand back from hers and held my breath as Kathleen turned to face me. She didn’t step back an inch, her full breasts so close to my own body I could feel their warmth. Chad was busy putting his equipment away, and I was thankful for the added seconds of privacy.
“You surprise me, Mr. Evans.”
I chuckled at Kathleen’s unusual formality. “Please. Don’t call me that.”
Her eyes sparkled with an emotion I could only describe as pleading warmth. “You surprise me, Jack. You do.”
“In a good way, I hope.” Recalling the moment I first touched her skin, I became nervous. I glanced at the backdrop we’d just posed in front of. “I know that was forward of me.”
Kathleen’s face lit up with a blushing smile. I hoped the kindness in my stare was clear to her. She was also nervous and fidgeting in place, but not in a way that communicated unease or distress.
She was the one to break the silence. “Thank you for everything you did over the past couple of days. You really helped me.”
“Give yourself some credit.” I waved a hand around the studio. “This comes naturally to you. I doubt you needed my help at all.”
“I absolutely did,” she disagreed, shaking her head. “Um… I like working with you.”
“The feeling is mutual.”
Kathleen brought her hands together over her stomach and began twisting her fingers. “I’ve handled this event alone for a few years now, so when Robert said he wanted to raise the bar and have you work with me, I wasn’t sure how that was going to go. I can be a bit territorial.” Her expression morphed, and she was now looking at me with concern.
I nodded at her predicament. “That’s understandable, but you hide it well.”
The alarm on Kathleen’s face deepened. “I didn’t mean to say that I resent you. Or that I didn’t like you. I just have trouble sometimes.”
“Trouble with what?”
“Allowing others to get close, I guess. What I mean to say is, working with you puts me at ease. If you think interviews and photo shoots come naturally to me, I think it’s only because you make things like this worth looking forward to.”
I hadn’t received a compliment like this in a long while, and the pleasure Kathleen’s words gave me was a boost to my ego. The urge to ask her on a date damn near overtook me, but I swallowed it whole. She deserved the best version of me I could muster. I didn’t ask her out in that moment, but I would soon.
I chose my next words with joy. “I want nothing more than for us to succeed.”
Kathleen nodded. “I’d like that, too.”