Chapter 17
CAL
Cal spent several days periodically trying to think of a gift that had moved him more than April’s portrait of his son, and he couldn’t.
It meant the world to him, not only to have a professional-looking portrait of Owen, but to see the boy the way someone else saw him.
Loving one’s own child was a given to Cal.
He knew he had an image of Owen that was skewed and biased in the best way.
But because of that, he would rarely get the kind of glimpse that came from outside.
The portrait April created showed a boy who was calm, curious, and delighted by what he saw around him.
Cal would never have been able to see that, precisely as seen through anyone else’s eyes, without April’s watchful camera.
He wanted to see all the pictures she had taken that day, almost as much as he wanted to see her again.
For that reason, it didn’t surprise him at all when he impulsively called her one afternoon.
She was at work but on lunch, so she answered, and he got straight to the point.
“Can I see the rest of the pictures you took?” He told himself to come up with a decent reason that didn’t make him look like an overbearing father.
“I thought it might be nice to have some companion pieces. Like a series, you know?”
“Of course,” she said without hesitation. “Where would you like to meet, or do you want to come straight to my place?”
“I’ll buy you coffee, if that’s OK.”
“It’s more than OK,” she said, and he could hear that she was smiling.
They set up a time, and Cal counted the hours until he would see her again.
Once they were settled at a table in the café, April laid out a spread of black-and-white photographs across the table. “These are my favorites. Let me know which ones you like.”
They were all beautiful photographs. In some, Owen was sitting on the swings, going down the slide, playing in the sandbox.
In many, he was looking directly at the camera with a huge smile that let Cal know the boy really did have an amazing time that day.
He wasn’t just saying so for April’s sake.
Cal chose three photos and tried to narrow them down.
“I think three’s a good number, don’t you?” he said.
April agreed. “You can take all three of them and mull it over tonight, if you like. You don’t have to decide right away.
Take them all if you want to keep them. I can always print more.
Let me know which ones you want framed, and I’ll create special prints that will match the one you already have. ”
“This is really sweet of you,” Cal said.
“Nah. I like doing nice things for my man.” She grinned at him. “Speaking of which, I brought some of your photos today, too, in case you’d like to frame any of them.”
“My photos?” For a second, he thought she had taken some sneaky shots of him, but then he recalled their recent “hunting” trip. “Oh, my photos!” he said, suddenly excited. “Did you develop them then? Did any of them turn out well?”
“There are some really good ones.” She pulled another envelope from her bag and started placing prints on the counter for him to see. “I think you have a natural talent. See that one there? Look how well it was framed. You did that naturally.”
Cal leaned over the photos to examine the one April was pointing to.
It wasn’t bad, really. He had spotted a doe across the clearing, reaching up to eat some leaves hanging high off the ground.
The way the branches surrounded her made a natural frame.
He hadn’t been thinking about it at the time, but now that he saw it, he did rather like it. “That’s a good one,” he agreed.
“Right?” April set out a few more for him to look at. “While I was developing your photos, I had this crazy idea. If you hear me out, I’ll share it with you. But you can’t freak out on me.”
“Have I ever?” he said.
She shook her head. “No, but I know it’s not going to be something you look forward to. So, you don’t have to answer right away, but think about it because it might be great.”
Cal narrowed his eyes at her. “Spit it out.”
“OK, OK.” She offered him a smile. “So, there’s this art festival next week.
They hold it every summer here for local artists.
My friends got together this year and helped me pay for a booth where I can sell some of my best prints.
I wondered…” She hesitated but then shrugged and asked, “Would you like to go with me this year? Sell a few of your prints? I really think someone will buy these. They’re beautiful, and you’re technically local.
These will look awesome once they’re framed. What do you think?”
She wasn’t wrong that Cal’s first instinct was to refuse her.
He was being made to participate more and more with the very town he wanted to avoid, and he wasn’t sure he was ready for it.
But if he wasn’t ready now, when would he be?
And was it really the best thing for Owen to stay up at the cabin and rarely interact with people other than his father?
Somehow, April was getting him to reconsider everything he once believed to be true.
Maybe Owen did need more out of life. Maybe he would enjoy an art festival, even if Cal might not.
Forcing Owen to live Cal’s preferred lifestyle because of some nonspecific phobia Cal had seemed less fair the more he considered it.
“OK,” Cal said under his breath.
April leaned in, clearly questioning her own ears. “What was that?”
“I said OK. It sounds like it could be a lot of fun. Owen would love it anyway.”
She took his hand and squeezed it under the table.
“I want you to love it, too, though. I really think you will. It feels good to make something with your own hands and then watch people assign it value by being willing to spend their hard-earned money on it. I can’t describe it, to be honest. It’s not the same as working a job.
It feels like more of a contribution, if that makes sense. ”
Cal knit his brow. “But you’re a nurse.” He couldn’t think of a more worthy career than she already had. “You already contribute far more than most other people do.”
She blushed but responded, “You make a good point, but you’ve got to trust me. It really is such a fulfilling feeling. Maybe because it’s creative. I don’t know. But you’ve got to try it. If you hate it, you can go right home, and I won’t say a word.”
“That sounds reasonable enough,” he said. “All right. I’ll come hawk my wares with you.”
“Yes!” She punched the air triumphantly. “I hoped you’d come with me. It’s going to be so much fun. You just have to trust me.”
“Oh, April.” He shook his head with a smile. “I don’t trust anyone. But I do believe you. Let’s see if anyone wants to hang my snapshots on their wall.” He laughed.
“They one hundred percent will.” She gathered the prints back into an envelope, from which she then pulled a single sheet with all the photos Cal had taken displayed on it. “Just pick your favorites, and we’ll find frames for them. Do I have permission to pick a couple, too?”
“Sure,” he said. “I’d trust you to pick the good ones over myself.”
She cocked her head at him. “I thought you said you don’t trust anyone.”
He tipped the last of his coffee into his mouth and slipped back into his jacket. “I did say that, didn’t I? Well, maybe it doesn’t have to stay true.”
The art festival was on a Friday, but April had explained that her boss had given her the festival day off.
Having a booth this year meant a lot to her, and she’d explained that to her boss when she requested the day off.
April had two passions, as Cal understood it, medicine and photography, and she didn’t want to sacrifice one of them for the other.
Cal admired that about her. She stood her ground and wasn’t afraid to fight for what she wanted.
She wasn’t a doormat, and he was extremely attracted to that aspect of her personality.
He watched her in a state of awe as she greeted each person who approached her booth.
She clearly knew many of them, calling them by name and asking them personal questions about their lives and families.
She had a little story for each picture, telling them all of the things she had to do to get each shot.
“I waited in a bush for five hours for this one,” she’d say.
And the person browsing her pictures would be all the more impressed with them.
She quickly sold several prints, and Cal was convinced it wasn’t really the prints the customers were buying. They were buying her charm, her stories, and the memories they evoked. They were all buying little pieces of her. Then, April started selling Cal’s pieces.
It hadn’t been a lie when she’d told him it would feel different, fulfilling in some way, to sell his own work.
Cal watched each potential customer listen to April’s stories about how the piece came about, which necessarily included their meet-cute love story and Owen’s role in getting them to a place where those photos were even taken.
Because of this, several of the customers included Cal in the conversation, asking him questions about his perspective on all of this.
He answered with the fewest number of words he could manage until April finally pulled him aside.
“Do you want to take the next one?” she asked.
“Only if you want me to talk people out of buying anything,” he said. “I’m not nearly as charming as you are.”
“Don’t sell yourself short,” April said. At first, he assumed she was joking, but the more he stared at her, the more he realized she meant it in earnest. “You have a quiet charm about you. I fell for you. Other people will, too. People love a no-nonsense mystery man.”
“Is that what I am?”
“Sure.” She stepped behind the chair he was sitting in and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
For a moment, he felt her hair brush against the side of his neck and his cheek, and he was all hers.
“You’re the most lovable lumberjack that ever lived.
At least… that’s what Nathan says.” She laughed.
“Try talking to people. You may be a little awkward at first, but I promise, they’re going to love you.
I think people have been curious about you for a while. ”
“That’s not very convincing,” he said, but she turned his head and kissed him. “But you are,” he had to admit. “OK, I’ll talk to the next customer.” He narrowed his eyes and added, “But if I make a fool of myself, you have to admit I was right.”
“You won’t,” she assured him.
One more kiss, and he was on board, waiting for the next customer to show up and consider buying a piece.
Not too long went by before a young woman showed interest in one of Cal’s photos.
It was the one with the doe stretching for leaves, the one April had told him was framed nicely.
The girl was looking at it for long enough that Cal knew it was time to approach.
“Do you like that one?” he said to her.
She jumped a bit at the sound of his voice but smiled when she saw him. “It’s so peaceful,” she said. “I thought it would look nice in my dorm. I’m leaving home this year for the first time, and my dad told me college can be stressful. But this photo looks so… quiet, I guess.”
“It was really quiet when I took it. Peaceful, just like you said. That’s a meadow near my home.
We were waiting all morning for the wildlife to show up, and this doe finally did.
” He decided to follow April’s example and tell the story of the shot.
“My son accidentally broke a twig while the doe was there. Usually, they bolt the second they hear you, but this one just looked our way and kept snacking. Maybe she knew we were only there to take her picture.”
The girl turned back to the booth to see Owen playing with April. “Is that your son?”
“Yeah,” Cal answered. “His name is Owen.”
“He’s really cute.”
“I agree.” Cal smiled. This wasn’t so bad. This was easy, and he detected no judgment from the girl talking to him. “Thank you.”
Then she made an assumption. “He has his mother’s smile,” she said.
The girl had assumed April was Owen’s mother. Cal didn’t know how to correct her. So, in a moment that was more instinct than anything, he opted not to. “He does.”
“My name’s Jen,” the girl said.
“Cal,” Cal said.
“I think I’d like to buy this.” She gestured to the photo they’d been discussing. “How much?”
Cal thought about it. He was feeling generous and warm, but he should cover the frame at least. “Tell you what,” he said after a few seconds. “I’ll give it to you for fifteen.”
Jen turned back to the picture. “Really? Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Consider it a kind of housewarming gift.” Cal took the picture down and carried it over to April. “Fifteen for this,” he told her. “She’s moving away from home for the first time, so I thought she could use it.”
April shook her head with a smile and wrapped up the picture for Jen. Then she collected the cash and handed the package over. “Thank you so much!” she said to the girl. “And good luck in college. Some of my best memories are from college. Try not to let the stress get to you too much.”
Jen hugged the package to her chest. “I know exactly where I’ll hang this. Thank you.”
“No problem,” Cal said. “Enjoy it.”
After Jen left their booth, April gave Cal a knowing look. “See,” she said. “I told you it would be fine. Just… try not to give everyone a massive discount, or you won’t break even.” She laughed.
Cal cringed. “Sorry. She looked so worried.”
April threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tight. “I love that you have a softer side. Especially for young people. You’re going to be an awesome father when Owen grows up.”
April always knew how to compliment Cal in a way that made him feel strong. She made him want to be a better person, a better father, a better everything. He could not see how her presence in his life would ever be anything other than positive.