Chapter 2
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“I f you can take pictures on land, you can do it underwater, Brynn. We all know what a wonder you are with a camera,” Natalie gushed.
The lapels on Natalie’s deep red suit were as sharp as a knife. Her short blond hair had been highlighted and styled into an asymmetrical swoop to one side, while the hair on the opposite side was almost shaved. Her make-up looked flawless and had to be airbrushed.
Standing with her, Brynn was very aware of her bare face and faded jeans. Her only redeeming poke at fashion was the pastel multi-colored tee that peaked from beneath the neckline of the oversized pink scoop-necked summer-weight sweater.
Setting aside her fashion insecurity, she concentrated on something more important. “A good photograph depends on many factors, Natalie. Light, atmospheric clarity, and composition. It’s difficult enough on land to capture those elements, but underwater…” Brynn shook her head. “I don’t have any experience using underwater camera equipment. That’s not something you can pick up in a matter of days or weeks. It takes years.”
“You’ll have five months to familiarize yourself with the camera equipment. And just so you can do that…I’ve lined up an instructor to teach you how to scuba dive.”
She said it like her announcement was a grand surprise and the answer to both their prayers.
She should have never done the skydiving thing. It had given Natalie the idea that she was a Wonder Woman with a camera. “I’m not sure I’ll feel comfortable enough underwater to do this. This is a specialized field and one I’ll be a complete novice at.”
“You can do this, Brynn. You’re the best photographer we have, and this is a big account.”
The woman was clearly delusional. “You need to hire someone outside the company who has experience. I don’t, and I’m not sure I’ll want to dive in the shark-infested waters of Australia. I’m up for a lot of things, but meeting face-to-face with a great white isn’t one of them.”
“We’ll have people there who’ll have your back. Besides, just imagine how many followers you’ll get on your podcast with this new adventure.”
The podcast had been a boon for the magazine as well as the sale of her photographs.
However, as she’d picked up more and more jobs and built a reputation, Natalie had been putting more and more pressure on her to work for the magazine exclusively. Though the money was good, Brynn resisted. The magazine work would swallow up all her time, and she already did a lot of advertisement work for them. If she were under contract, they could lay claim to every photo she took. She’d lose the opportunity to do her own thing. Life was too short to have her creativity bound in a stranglehold.
And she was all too familiar with strangleholds.
At her silence, Natalie said, “This trip is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Brynn. The guy I’ve contacted to instruct you is a master diver with the Navy SEALs.”
Brynn’s interest was piqued instantly, but allowing Natalie to see that would be like throwing chum to hungry sharks. The woman was relentless.
“I’ll give it some thought and let you know.”
“You need to let me know ASAP because he may be called up for a mission at any time. His team’s been shipped out at a moment’s notice before.”
“How do you know him?”
“I met him four years ago. One of the receptionists at the magazine I worked for was dating his teammate Denetti or Denotti—or something like that.” She waved her hand as though fanning herself. “He was a big guy with dark hair, a beard, and shoulders as wide as a door. He could’ve stood in front of the Colosseum with a sword in his hand, and you’d swear he’d time-traveled. I asked him if he’d ever done any modeling, and he laughed and said he was too busy living in the real world.”
At Natalie’s insult-edged tone, Brynn fought off a smile. Damn, she liked a guy who could stand his ground.
“Anyway,” Natalie continued, “I asked her about him later, and she told me he was a SEAL. She told me about meeting his swim buddy, Gilly. Not his real name, but anyway, she said Denotti told her he was the best dive instructor in the teams and an expert in several types of diving with all sorts of equipment. So, I reached out to him, and he told me to call him when we had concrete plans, and if he was in the country, he’d give you some pointers.”
Brynn bit back a sigh. “Pointers and diving lessons are two different things, Natalie.”
“He’s going to take one look at you and want to give you lessons on his own.”
The urge to roll her eyes like a teenager was almost too hard to resist.
“You’re gorgeous, and you know it, Brynn. Guys hit on you all the time.”
“Natalie…” She struggled to maintain her patience. “I don’t want a scuba instructor who’ll hit on me. Scuba is a sport, but it can also be dangerous. The human body was not built to withstand deep pressure beneath the ocean, and we certainly can’t breathe water. If I’m trying to learn a new skill with the added component of life-or-death safety issues, I need someone who’ll behave in a professional manner.”
“He is a professional. He was a master diver before he ever became a SEAL.”
“I’d rather talk to him myself to find out if he’s willing to take this on. I’ll have to see how I feel about the whole thing before I commit.”
“Okay. I have his number here somewhere.” Natalie moved some things around on her desk.
Brynn gathered her hobo bag from the chair next to her and stood. “Text it to me, and I’ll call him. I have some work to do.”
Natalie jerked it free of a folder on her desk. “Here it is.”
Brynn tugged her cell phone from her back pocket, snagged the paper, took a quick picture of the note, checked to see if the name and number were clear, and then handed the paper back.
“Call him soon, Brynn,” Natalie said.
“I will.”
“What kind of work are you doing today?” she asked.
“I’m actually going to take shots of children in the park for an ad. I’ve already lined up the kids. They’ll be there in an hour.”
“You could be doing so much better working for us.”
“I like my independence, Natalie. When I want to disappear for a week with my camera, I don’t want to ask for permission. As long as I freelance, I can sell my photos as I please.”
“I get that. I was a freelance writer for a long time before taking this job as chief editor for Living Large . Once I had my daughter, I needed a steadier income, so I sold out and signed on the dotted line.”
Surprised, Brynn paused to take that in, then nodded. “I get that, too.”
Natalie’s quick smile surprised her. “I may not be riding the rocket anymore, but I remember how it felt. You’re the best photographer I’ve ever worked with. I want the best for the magazine.”
She understood where Natalie was coming from. Her passion had shifted from writing to making the magazine as good as she possibly could. “I’ll keep doing jobs for you, but I’m not ready to sign an exclusive contract with anyone.”
“I’ll be waiting for when you are.”
Brynn chuckled and shook her head. “Later.”
“Call me—soon.”
“I will.” After she’d talked to the scuba instructor or met with him. SEAL or not, she wasn’t putting her life in just anyone’s hands. She’d done that once….
When she arrived, the park was nearly empty. She scanned the area for early arrivals, but not seeing any, she studied the interesting shapes created by the playground equipment. Though she’d already scoped out the area, she wandered around looking for visual opportunities she might have overlooked.
She made a mental note of areas where she could group kids and show off the versatility of the clothing supplied by the marketing team from the store.
A young mother held a toddler’s hand while they crossed the dew-damp grass, heading to one of the large sandy areas. The child, a boy dressed in shorts and a striped tee, gripped the handle of a bright red bucket in a tight fist, a plastic shovel rattling around in it with his every step.
Brynn snapped a couple of quick pictures of the two, testing the light. When she looked at the digital view screen on the back of the camera, she decided she’d chosen the right time of day and hoped no one would be late.
Ten minutes later, parents and children began to arrive. She went into work mode, hoping to finish the pictures before the children became restless. “All right, guys, gather around.” It was mostly kids and mothers, though a couple of Dads clustered around her.
“If you all cooperate, we’ll get this done quickly, and Mom or Dad can take you out for ice cream, my treat.” She whipped out gift cards to a local ice cream parlor close by and passed them out to the parents. “Okay, I’m going to send you three at a time to different parts of the park with your mom or dad. You can play until I call you to get in position for your picture to be taken.”
“What if they get dirty?” The blonde woman who spoke was in her late twenties and had two children about eighteen months apart. One was four and the other two and a half.
“This ad is about the durability of the clothing as well as the fit. A few smudges will be fine as long as they don’t go overboard.”
“Will we get to see the photos before they’re published?” another asked.
“I’ll send out a notice about publication. And you’ll have the option to purchase any photos of your child that aren’t used for the campaign.” That seemed to please the parents. “I’ll be working quickly to capture the clothing as well as the kids so they don’t get too bored.”
She whipped out her schedule, read off the first three names, the youngest of the crop, and sent them to the sandbox and swings. She’d photograph the youngest first.
The second group went to the jungle gym and monkey bars, and the third to the spider-web-like climbing area for older children. That area was designed more like an obstacle course than a playground, which could work for the clothing and the kids.
Brynn reached behind her into the camera bag secured against the small of her back for a lens and secured it onto the camera hanging from the strap around her neck. She strode toward the sandbox and swings where the younger children played.
Five-year-old Sally leaned back against the forward momentum and reached for the sky as the swing carried her high. Brynn squatted on the ground to follow the movement and captured the image of her small feet encased in bright red tennis shoes against a cloudless blue sky. She caught the flow of her shirt and shorts in the wind next, but also the grin on the child’s face.
She fell into her work mode, snapping pictures quickly, posing the kids if she needed to, but for the most part, she captured them as they played.
There was a skill to capturing an image that said more than this is a pretty picture. There was action and movement, color and light. The light said it all, giving the image a crisp, dramatic feel of clarity that played up the shadows. That’s what she looked for.
She photographed the next child, Kara, in the sandbox, her expression intent as she filled her shoe with the sand. When her father would have approached to empty it and put it back on, Brynn waved him off and circled, capturing Kara’s bowed head and intent expression along with the sand-dusted shorts and brightly flowered top. Kara was having fun and was unconcerned about the sand in her shoe.
The company wanted to promote the idea that its children’s clothing would keep kids looking stylish and endure their activities.
As Brynn snapped pictures of the last younger child as she rode the teeter-totter her mother pushed down, she captured all of that, as well as the beauty of the children wearing their clothes.
Attractive people wearing their clothes would sell them as well. She’d made a point of hiring beautiful kids.
Brynn fell into a rhythm as she worked, circling, looking for interesting angles, and always the contrast of light and shadow. As she finished with each group, she passed out contact info and moved on to the next.
Tommy hung from the monkey bars upside down, and Tony stood balanced atop the jungle gym. With her wide grin, Clara took a break from climbing and did cartwheels across the grass.
The younger kids were easier to photograph, while the older ones were more active. She had to be on her toes to capture the shots. She squatted, twisted, knelt, and, at one point, lay on the ground to capture the right angle and the right expression.
Ray scaled a climbing wall like an expert, stretching his T-shirt and shorts to the brink. Sander climbed a rope to the top of a wall, threw his leg over it, and perched there with arms upraised in victory. Sarah maneuvered over the rope mesh like a spider, her expression intense with concentration. Brynn captured that by taking a photo through the net beneath her and then later captured Sarah’s quick grin of triumph as she made it all the way across the rope expanse.
By the time Brynn dismissed the last of the kids, her skin was misted in sweat. She spent a few minutes looking back through the photos and smiled. There were good shots for the ad and others for the parents. She’d make good money off of both.
She walked to the restrooms and, holding her camera to the side, bent over the water fountain and took a long drink. Then, she untied the kerchief that wrapped around her ponytail, wet it in the water, and bathed her face and neck. After squeezing out the water, she tied the cloth back in place.
Her cell phone rang, and she reached for it from her back pocket. She didn’t recognize the number, but it could be a prospective client. She pushed the button to answer it.
“Brynn Barrington, speaking.”
“Hello. My name is Tucker Giles. Natalie gave me your number and told me you were in the park working. She said you’re under a time crunch to learn how to scuba and use underwater photography equipment. I thought I’d call before approaching you. I’m sitting on a park bench about a hundred feet from the restrooms.”
She turned to find a man watching her from the park bench. Her heart leaped and then drummed as though it might break through her chest. She automatically reached behind her back into her camera bag for the extending selfie stick and wrapped her fingers around the barrel.
The man raised a hand in a brief wave.
She studied him. In a quick sweep, she saw a muscular man, fit, his hair bleached by the sun to a two-toned dark and light brown with blond scattered through it. A scruffy beard darkened his jaw, highlighting his high cheekbones. From this distance, she couldn’t see his eyes or the details of his features.
He was dressed in cargo shorts and a white T-shirt that hugged his broad shoulders and chest.
“Natalie asked me to swing by the park and talk to you about the scuba lessons.”
She took several deep breaths to push back the edgy panic. It wasn’t his fault that Natalie had overstepped. More than overstepped. She’d been thoughtless. Her mouth was dry even though she’d just taken a drink. “Okay, I have to make a call first.”
She closed out the call and punched Natalie’s number. She picked up almost instantly.
“You didn’t call to tell me you’d sent scuba guy to the park. You, of all people, should know better than to ambush me like this. A strange guy watching me….calling me on the phone…”
“I’m…. I’m sorry, Brynn. I meant to call and got distracted. Brynn…he’s a good guy. He’s a petty officer in the SEALs. He’s been deployed numerous times. I did a background on him. No record—other than his service record, of course. He’s just there to talk about the lessons.”
“Don’t ever, ever do this to me again, Natalie. I’ll walk away from you and the magazine. You know my story and why I feel this way.” She didn’t wait for a reply, but hung up and stuffed the phone into her back pocket.
A tremor went through her as she breathed through her anger and her sense of betrayal, while the fear still pumped adrenaline through her system.
To his credit, Tucker Giles hadn’t approached her. He’d called to give her a heads-up he was here. There was no creep factor in that.
She tried to push all her emotions down, removed the camera from around her neck, and casually looped the strap around her trembling hand.
She took several deep breaths as she walked toward him. A Navy SEAL. They were supposed to be badasses. Trained to fight. Trained to use all sorts of weapons. Trained to kill.
Great.
She looked beyond the bench where he sat. Foot traffic had picked up, and kids and parents were scattered throughout the park. Close to the bench where he sat, kids played on the jungle gym she’d photographed only an hour or so before. She was fine. She had no reason to be afraid. He was here for a legitimate purpose.
She just needed to calm down.