Chapter Three #5
Lainey nodded. “I met your husband earlier. I hope you don’t mind, but Jason Price suggested I sit here with you.
If you’d rather I didn’t, I have a seat in that section over there.
” Lainey pointed to a section that would not have a good view of anything except the big monitor on the opposite end of the arena.
“No, please stay.” Celia set the diaper bag she carried by Lainey’s feet, then settled Addie Kate on her lap. The baby gnawed on a teething ring, and Celia used a burp rag to wipe away the drool running down the baby’s chin.
“Teething?” Lainey asked, smiling at the baby and receiving a slobbery grin around the hot pink teething ring.
“Yes. She just started getting a new tooth yesterday. Because she can get wildly cranky and behave more like me than her easygoing daddy when she’s teething, I sat out this rodeo.” Celia brushed the hair back from Addie Kate’s face and kissed her daughter’s forehead.
“You take photos?” Lainey asked, trying to recall what Jason had said about his employer’s wife.
Celia nodded and motioned to Lainey’s camera. “I’m a rodeo photographer. You’re the Faces author, aren’t you?”
Lainey nodded. “Guilty as charged. I have one more interview and photo shoot to finish up the portraits for my next book.”
“Really. What’s it about?” Celia caught the teething ring before Addie Kate could toss it.
“Matriarchs in the West—you know, the women who are the glue that hold together their families or businesses. It’s been incredible to meet all the women I’m including in the book.”
“It sounds fantastic.” Celia pulled a sippy cup out of the diaper bag and handed it to Addie Kate.
The infant took a few slurps and then looked like she was going to launch the cup into space.
Celia grabbed it and set it back in the bag, and pulled out a soft storybook.
Recognizing it, Addie Kate squealed with delight and began slapping the pages and babbling in her own language.
“That must be a favorite book,” Lainey observed.
“One of her favorites.” Celia turned the page, and Lainey could see colorful illustrations of animals in a barnyard. “So, what brings you here, of all places, today?”
Lainey shrugged. “I’m due in Tillamook, Oregon, next week and decided, since I was only thirty minutes away, to check out the rodeo today before I head north.”
“I’m glad you did.” Celia motioned to the camera that Lainey still held. “May I see some of your other photos? Although, I admit Kash and Addie Kate are my two favorite subjects.”
Lainey laughed. “Want to trade? I’ll hold Addie Kate while you look.”
“Are you sure?” Celia asked, glancing at Lainey’s blouse. “She’s apt to slobber on you, or worse.”
“I don’t mind. It isn’t often I get a chance to hold an adorable little one.”
“Then by all means.” Celia set Addie Kate on Lainey’s lap, then took the camera from Lainey’s hand.
While the woman browsed the photos on the camera, Lainey found herself thoroughly enraptured with the baby on her lap.
Addie Kate patted her hand on the book and babbled something that Lainey assumed meant it was time for her to turn the page.
She bent down and lightly rested her cheek against the soft curls on Addie Kate’s head, breathing in the delicious scent of baby. For a moment, she closed her eyes and let her thoughts drift to dreams that had died years ago, then she opened her eyes and turned the page for Addie Kate.
Lainey glanced over to see Celia wasn’t quickly flipping through the images but studying each one. It was one thing for nameless, faceless people to purchase a book full of her photographs, but to have a fellow photographer slowly sift through them made her nervous.
Rather than show it, she focused her attention on the infant wiggling on her lap. The baby looked like a mix of both of her parents, although it was easy to see she was her mother’s daughter.
“These are incredible, Lainey.” Celia smiled at her before looking back at the camera’s screen. “You said something about a title before I so rudely interrupted you. Was it for a future book?”
“Maybe. I’m kicking around the idea of doing a Faces book with a rodeo theme. Not just the athletes but anyone connected to it, like a silversmith, for example.”
“Oh, my gosh! That would be an amazing book.” Celia gave her a sheepish look. “I have to confess, I’m fangirling a bit right now. I’ve loved every single one of the books you’ve published, but my favorite was Protect and Serve. You put so much heart into that one.”
“I did, and thank you. I’d love to see some of your work.”
Celia kept Lainey’s camera on her lap and took her phone out of the diaper bag, scrolled through several screens, then showed the breathtaking action shots she’d captured in the arena.
In many of the images, Celia seemed so close to the action, it was a wonder the woman hadn’t been ground into the dust by hooves.
“Wow! These are fantastic, Celia. I’ve never tried to get good action shots, but I know it takes a rare talent to capture images like these.”
Celia blushed and tucked her phone into a pocket of the diaper bag, then offered Lainey a pleased expression. “Tell me more about this book. Would it include a handsome pickup man?”
It was Lainey’s turn to blush. “Maybe.”
Celia laughed, then leaned a little closer. “There’s one thing you absolutely need to know about Jason Price.”
Concerned he had some terrible habit or a past she’d rather not know about, she offered Celia a hesitant look. “What do I need to know about him?”
“That he’s a unicorn.”
“A unicorn?” Lainey asked, confused. Maybe she’d misheard Celia, and the conversation was about to veer into astrological signs. Perhaps Celia had said Jason was a Capricorn.
“A unicorn,” Celia repeated. “It’s not every day you run across a handsome guy like Jason who is single, funny, kind, generous, gainfully employed, hardworking, and loyal to those he loves.
It’s about as rare as stumbling across a unicorn.
Any woman who catches Jason’s eye should feel very fortunate.
He isn’t someone who dates a different woman every week.
In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him on a date. ”
Lainey didn’t know what to say to that. She nodded and focused her attention on the arena, where the subject of their conversation rode out and waved as the rodeo announcer introduced Jason and Shaun.
When her heart skipped a beat at the sight of him on the back of his horse, looking like he rode straight out of a western romance novel, Lainey realized she was in trouble.
Big, big trouble.