Thanks for breakfast,” Opal’s dad Allen said as she pushed open the door to the gallery. He said it every morning, and she laughed.

It felt good to be working with him again, and as she rounded the counter and gave him a hug, she counted her blessings that things had worked out this way.

“You’re welcome. Sorry I’m late,” she said as she shrugged off her coat and hung it on the peg in the back work room.

“No problem at all. Breakfast was great. I got here a little early and opened up. You go out looking for that...whatever, again?”

She turned around in time to see him wipe the grin off his face. He’d been teasing her for days, ever since Kelsi had mentioned to him, too, that Bigfoot might be out there, and that Opal was going to find him.

Her hands on her hips, she said, “Come on, Dad. It could be anything, but I know something’s there and I want to see what it is. I’m just curious, that’s all.”

She turned at the sound of the big printer in the back room spitting out something. When Mira and Tony had asked her to manage the gallery while they were gone in the winters, they’d just gotten the big printer that took up a large corner in the back room. They’d mentioned they had plans for it, but they were so excited to be off to their new home that they really hadn’t explained their future plans for such a big printer. But those were future plans, nothing Opal and her father needed to worry about now, and they’d rarely used it since Mira and Tony had left for Scottsdale.

“What are you printing?” she asked as her father went over to the printer and lifted out a photograph...black and white, on big, glossy paper.

“I’ve been busy this morning. I sold one of your prints and we need to make some more.”

He held up one of his favorite pictures that she’d taken at the ranch. She’d been in school learning about photography for a bit before they’d left Texas—just at the community college—and she loved it. When they’d arrived at the ranch, all she could do was stare at the mountains and imagine the images she could put down for posterity.

In fact, that’s how she’d met Mira and Tony. Her father had asked around about printing some photographs, and somehow he’d ended up at the gallery. He’d had some matted and framed for her for a Christmas gift, and she was flabbergasted to see her work on the wall of the cabin they shared.

Mira and Tony had offered her a part time job, and before she knew it, they’d offered one to her father also. Now that they were looking after it with Tony and Mira gone, it was just like old times, when she’d worked in her father’s hardware store after school and in the summers, and then part time when she was going to community college.

When Mira and Tony asked to meet her, they’d asked if she’d let them print and frame some of her bigger photographs of the spectacular scenery, saying that guests would love the black and white memories of their time at River’s End Ranch.

So now, a few short months later, she worked at a gallery with her father, and her photographs hung on the walls. She hadn’t thought she was very good, but Mira, Tony and her father had all ganged up on her and gotten her to agree.

But it gave her hope, as that’s how she wanted to spend her time, and if she could earn a little money that way—even better.

“Oh, my gosh, really?” Opal said as he held out the sales receipt to her, his smile ear to ear.

“Really. You’re better than you think you are. The people even compared it to Ansel Adams.”

She slowly took the sales receipt from his hand, tingles running down her spine. Ansel Adams! She’d studied his black and white photographs in school.

“Wow, Dad, I can’t believe it,” she said, her knees wobbly as she set the receipt back in the cash register and hugged her father.

The warm feeling of him holding her tight brought tears to her eyes. She looked at the ground when he squeezed her once more and held her at arm’s length.

“Opal, I keep telling you, you’ve got a gift. Someday, you’ll believe me.” He kissed her on top of the head and turned back to the printer as she looked down at the receipt one more time.

The bell on the door jingled, jarring her from her thoughts, and she looked up into a pair of the most interesting eyes she’d ever seen. Green, with flecks of brown and gold. Some of the most unusual colors thrown together, kind of like aspen and pine trees together...

“Hello?” the person attached to the eyes said as the corners of those eyes crinkled with his smile.

“Oh,” Opal said as she came back into the present. “I’m sorry. Can I help you?”

“I hope so,” the man said as he reached in his pocket and pulled out a memory stick. He held it out to her and dropped it in her outstretched palm.

It was just like the one in her camera—she recognized it at once. “Pictures?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yes, actually. Several. Kelsi over at the cafe mentioned maybe you could print them for me.”

She glanced at all her photographs her father had printed and smile. “We sure can, but depending on what size you want it might take a while.”

“No problem. I need the biggest size you have, actually. I’m looking for something.”

Opal reached for the customer order request form and a pen and scooted it across the counter to him.

“Okay. Just sign here, and we’ll start right away.”

She watched as he signed his name and his request—the form asked for the file names of the photos to print—and noticed that his hair was kind of golden, too, like one of the colors in his eyes. His jeans, boots and flannel jacket looked like just about everybody on the ranch but he seemed a little different. An accent, maybe?

Opal had never been much of a people watcher if she actually had to talk to them—only her family. But she was always interested in color and composition, and that’s what she noticed about him. He was different.

He stood up and smiled, handing her the clipboard with the form.

She turned it around and looked at his name.

“BER-nerd?” she asked as she scribbled a price next to the file names. “We’ll have them in probably a couple of hours.”

The man cleared his throat and she looked up at him, meeting his eyes. She cocked her head as she noticed a little pink creep from his collar.

“It’s Ber-NARD. Bernard Dubois. Pronounced as it is in France.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and it was her turn to blush.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. It’s not a real common name around here. Most Bernards go by Bernie, probably, or Bern, or...”

“Bernard’s a great name,” her father mercilessly cut in just as she realized she was rambling. “My name’s Allen and this is my daughter, Opal. Bernard reminds me of one of those old fashioned names. As a matter of fact, Opal was named after her great grandmother. Why, you two could be in one of those old-time photographs,” he said as Opal actually flinched. “Do I detect a bit of an accent, son?”

Opal drew in a breath. She’d run her dad’s hardware store with him for years and years and he called everyone younger than he was “son”, no matter what. And by the time they’d bought the hammer and nails they’d come for, her dad knew their entire life story...and unfortunately, they knew hers, too. She’d gotten used to it over the years, but somehow, today it sounded funny.

Bernard smiled and shook her father’s extended hand. “Yes, sir, hopefully a very slight one. I came to the United States when I was very young. My mother is French, my father was American.”

“Great to meet you. We’re from Texas,” her father said as he reached for the memory stick. “We’ll have this for you as soon as we can.”

He turned the corner in to the back office and Opal turned to look at Bernard, who was smiling down at her. Why all of a sudden did she feel the same as when she went on her first date and her father had left them on the porch—with the light on and the curtains open? She didn’t even know this man.

“And I’m her sister, Olivia,” her sister said from behind Bernard.

Where had she come from? She hadn’t even heard her come in. This was just getting worse by the second, as she had absolutely no doubt that Olivia had noticed the color of her cheeks.

“Very nice to meet you. My name is Bernard,” he said with a slight nod in Olivia’s direction. She shook his hand and cocked her head at him, her smile wide.

“Nice to meet you as well,” she said as she looked from Bernard to Opal.

“I’ll be back around noon for the pictures,” Bernard said, and as he turned, she noticed that he did have the same type of camera she had slung over his shoulder.

It wasn’t until he’d shut the door behind him that Opal realized that her sister had been staring at her—and she knew where this was headed.