Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“What? Now?” Raleigh said into the phone.
She glanced at Josh. “Okay, yes. I’ll be there as quick as I can, Phil.
Stall them until I get there. Tell them the light just isn’t quite right or better yet, ask them if they want to check their hair and make-up one more time.
” Raleigh clicked off the phone. “Sorry Josh, I’ve got to go. Lydia crisis.”
She stood up and waved at Dylan and then scooped everything up and threw it in her bag.
“I understand completely Ral, I’ll catch you later.” Josh got up and wound his way around the chairs as he left the pool area.
“What’s up? Is everything okay?” Dylan asked as he approached.
“A Lydia crisis. She wants to get some extra shots with her friends and she nailed Phil. He can’t escape.” Raleigh pulled on her coverup, grabbed her bag, and hustled out of the pool area. “I need to help him. The area where she wants the pictures taken is not ideal and she won’t listen to Phil.”
“So, where are we going?”
“Back to the cabin so I can change. If I show up like this, Lydia will fire me on the spot. She’s already had a meltdown with Donna today.” Raleigh practically ran down the path and two minutes later they were at the cabin.
“You need to let me check it first before you go barreling in there.” Dylan unlocked the door.
“We don’t have time for that.” Raleigh practically flew down the hallway to the master bedroom and stopped abruptly at the door. Dylan came up behind her. “What is it?”
“Uh, nothing. I just…” what? Need to grow up. Her job was on the line and she still had problems entering the room. Stupid. “Nothing. I’m good. I need to get changed.”
Dylan wrapped an arm around her for a quick hug from behind and then moved her out of the way. “I’ll give it a check and then you can do what you need to do.”
She bit her lip and nodded. The check took all of thirty seconds and then Dylan gave her shoulder a squeeze on the way out the door. She stood there for another few seconds, her heart pounding in her chest. This was silly. The room was empty. Move!
And just like that she did. She pulled off the cover up and her bikini and then donned her underwear. Selecting a pale blue-grey cotton patterned skirt and white tank top she’d packed for today, she dressed in record time.
Hurrying into the bathroom she freshened her make-up. She’d pulled her hair up in a messy bun this morning. It would have to do. There was no time to fix it now. She added silver earrings and a pair of white sandals and then grabbed her messenger bag and headed out of the room.
“We have to go…” Dylan was already waiting for her by the door. He looked good in his dress shorts and collared shirt that was a blue perfectly matched to his eyes. Focus. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking of Dylan.
“Let’s do it,” he said and grinned.
Raleigh opened the door and flew down the path.
Dylan cursed as he had to stop and lock the door, but he was beside her seconds later.
Within two minutes they emerged from a path to see Lydia in all her glory before them.
She and her cronies stood next to a white gazebo that had pink and yellow flowers surrounding it.
There were several large bushes that had deeper pink blooms and these were filled with butterflies.
Lydia had on a light pink silk dress and a charming straw hat with pink flowers along the brim.
Her friends had on coordinating outfits in purple and light blue.
They too had on matching hats. Donna was off to the left standing next to the bushes.
Donna’s eyes were surrounded by dark circles and her forehead was so creased it looked like she was ninety.
Her yellow dress was wrinkled. Was that dirt on her knees?
“I don’t care what you think. I want you to get shots of me and my friends next to these bushes. Make sure you get the butterflies in the background!” She turned to Donna. “I want the butterflies in flight during the picture so keep moving the bushes this time.”
Phil glanced toward Raleigh and relief flooded his face. “Raleigh, perhaps you could help with this?”
“Of course.” She smiled mechanically and dropped her bag against a nearby tree. “Lydia how lovely you look,” Raleigh said as she hustled across the grass. “Phil, maybe you can explain again what the issue with this angle is?”
Phil nodded vigorously. “Of course. I was telling Mrs. Harris that the light is at the wrong angle and it throws her face in shadow because of her hat. So if we removed the hat, it would be great or we can shoot from another angle to get the butterflies.”
“What do you think, Lydia? Perhaps if we remove your hat just for this shot, so we can see your smiling face?”
“Absolutely not! I had this hat made specifically for this outfit and I want it in the shot. He’ll just have to make it work.”
Raleigh stood next to Phil and dropped her voice. “Is it really that bad? Can you lighten it in editing?”
Phil shrugged. “I can try but honestly, it’s just a bad angle no matter how you slice it.
It’s an uphill angle which is not flattering and with the hat all you can see is her chins and I say chins because it looks like she had several in these pictures.
See?” Phil showed Raleigh the digital images on the screen at the back of his camera.
Raleigh glanced at the display and immediately swore.
They were ghastly. All three women looked like pastel zombies with many chins.
What the hell was she going to do now? She looked up at Lydia who was adjusting her skirt.
Fabulous. These pictures would be enough to get her fired and if they showed up in social media, she’d be banished forever.
Oh shit! She quickly looked around. No influencers in sight. Dylan was leaning on the back side of the gazebo out of Lydia’s sight line for which she was truly thankful. Bill, Clark, and Josh were all heading across the grass in their direction. Maybe one of them could talk some sense into her.
“Raleigh!” Lydia barked her name. “I am running late. This must happen now.”
Raleigh turned to Phil. “Just do the best you can and we’ll think of an excuse later as to why they didn’t turn out.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Phil adjusted his camera.
“Okay Lydia, Phil is going to start shooting.”
Lydia turned to Donna. “Shake the bush.” Then she turned and her two friends flanked her. Their faces morphed immediately into big false smiles. Donna shook the bush, scattering the butterflies. Phil started clicking away.
Donna shook the bush with a vigor that Raleigh was sure was inspired by what she wanted to do to Lydia’s neck.
The butterflies milled about looking for a safe place to land.
They gave up on the bush and started flying around the ladies.
The flowers on Lydia’s hat in particular seemed to attract them.
Lydia swatted one away that flapped near her face.
Then another arrived and she swatted at it with her other hand.
Suddenly one landed on the front of her dress and she screamed.
She swatted it as well and then more arrived.
Soon all three ladies were dancing in circles swatting at the poor butterflies that were just looking for a place to land.
It would have been hilarious if it weren’t for the butterfly carnage that was happening.
“Lydia,” Bill said as he stepped forward and pulled her away from the bush.
He ripped the hat off her head. “Stop swatting them. It’s fine.
They’re only butterflies.” He pointed at Donna.
“Stop shaking the damn bush.” She stopped instantly and within seconds all the butterflies migrated over to the bush again.
Phil’s shoulders were shaking with laughter. He hadn’t stopped taking pictures the entire time. “I got some great shots Raleigh. You’re going to die when you see them,” he said in a quiet voice.
“Oh, my God, don’t let anyone see those pictures!” she hissed.
She was doing her best not to laugh, but Clark couldn’t contain himself. He was chuckling away. Josh looked at her and grinned. She couldn’t help but smile back. She looked over at Dylan and he was outright laughing. She glared at him, but he just shook his head.
“I want all those shots deleted! This is all your fault!” Lydia yelled as she started charging in Phil’s direction.
Her hair was sticking up in bunches where Bill had pulled it off her head and her dress was twisted from the butterfly dance she’d done.
“And you!” she pointed at Raleigh but Bill grabbed her by the arm.
“We don’t have time for this. You need to go talk to your daughter and I need to speak with Andrew.” He practically pulled her across the grass to the path and their entire entourage followed behind.
Josh appeared at her side. “Don’t worry, Ral, I’m sure Bill will calm her down. She won’t do anything. You’ve got the shots that could make her the laughingstock.”
“But I wou—”
“I know you’d never use them but she doesn’t know that.
” He grinned. “She thinks everyone is like her. Just let her. It will make your life much easier. Soon you and I won’t have to run after the Lydias and Calvins of this world.
” He winked at her. Clark was disappearing down the path with the Harrises.
“Oops, I’ve got to run. Duty calls. Hang in there, Ral,” he said as he squeezed her shoulder and then started across the grass in the wake of his boss.
Josh was such a sweetheart. He had a tough job. Calvin Clark was a hard taskmaster. Why Clark was getting involved in Bedford Hills politics rather than staying close to home in the Hamptons was the question. Too much competition?
“Hey, Raleigh, I’m all packed up here. That was hilarious! I can’t wait to show you those shots on a big screen.” He grinned.
“You can’t show those pictures to anyone but me. Promise me. Oh, my God, what a disaster.”
“I don’t know, it certainly brightened up my day. I do feel bad for the butterflies though. And Donna. Somehow you just know she’s going to get it for that mess.”
Raleigh agreed. “Where are you off to now? What did you get this morning?”
“I got some shots of the guys playing golf and the women of the wedding party at the spa. Those will be good for your pre-wedding piece.”
“Great. Can you send some to me? I need some ideas on how to approach that. It can’t be more of what people are wearing or how happy they are for the bride and groom. I was thinking of doing a friendship angle for that one.”
Phil snorted and sat up again. “Well, you’ll have to make that one up then. These pictures show a whole different side to the wedding.”
Raleigh sat up straighter, her writer’s heart beating with curiosity. “What do you mean? What happened?”
“The girls got into it. Marielle…and what’s her name, Diane? They must have said something that upset Jenn because she went off on them. She accused them of not really being her friends, just using her to get ahead. Marielle was hurt, but I got the impression Diane was shocked.”
“Huh. Did you hear what set it all off?”
“It had something to do with your boyfriend and Andrew. I didn’t hear what the girls said, but I got the impression they were asking Jenn if she really wanted to marry Andrew.”
“Why do you think it was about that?”
“Because Lydia came in and said, of course, she wants to marry Andrew! Dylan means nothing to her. Then she grabbed Jenn’s arm and took her out of there.”
“Trouble in paradise then.”
Phil nodded. “Yup. And your boyfriend is smack in the middle of it.”
“Great.” Any effort Raleigh had put into feeling better died on the spot.
“Lydia’s going to be on the war path for the next while. You and Dylan might want to lay low.”
Raleigh nodded. She’d been thinking the same thing herself. “Thanks.”
Phil nodded. “I’m off to grab some lunch.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. Just thinking. Hopefully soon if…when everything works out, I won’t have to do this anymore, cover these types of events.”
“You’ve got plans? Anything I should know about? We’d hate to lose you. Your work is excellent.”
Phil gave her an enigmatic smile. “You won’t lose me. I guarantee it.” He winked. “Don’t worry,” he said as he grabbed his equipment. “I’ll make sure I get shots of both the lunch inside and some shots of people poolside.”
“Thanks, Phil. Do it after you eat though. It’s been a tough morning.”
“You bet.” Phil patted his belly. “Why do you think I’m going inside? More people outside, more food for me inside.” He grinned as he put his camera bag over his shoulder and headed into off down the path.
Dylan came over and stood next to Raleigh. “Well that was entertaining.”
She hit him on the arm. “You laughing didn’t help matters.”
“Come on, it was hilarious. Lydia the Ice Queen screaming and flapping her arms while dancing in circles. It doesn’t get better than that.”
Raleigh started to giggle. “You’re right, it really was funny but now she’ll be even more intense.”
He put his arm around her. “Yeah, but you can handle it, Raleigh. You’re really good at what you do.”
The warmth started at her toes and worked its way up to the center of her chest. It had been a long time since a compliment mean that much to her.
It was nice to have someone who believed in her by her side for a change.
They started to walk toward the path. “My bag. It’s by the tree. ” Raleigh turned back.
“I’ll get it,” Dylan volunteered.
“No it’s okay. It’s just back there. I’ll get it.” At his frown she said, “You can see me the whole way there and back. I’ll be fine.”
He nodded. “I’ll be here the whole time.”
Raleigh headed across the grass.