Chapter 20
It was the most glorious photograph I had ever taken.
My eyes blurred with tears and I shook as I pressed the button to trigger the shutter. I took several in a row, but the first one was the winner. I was in a diner, and I had climbed onto a neighboring booth to frame a shot of John-Michael and take a picture of him. I laid out on the bench seat, tucking my head beneath the backside of the adjacent table, and taking the photo from under there. It was shaded and mysterious in the foreground, and in the background, there were neon lights and all the curved lines, and vinyl and chrome of a diner.
The focus point of the photograph was John-Michael sitting in the neighboring booth with the remnants of our late-night breakfast in front of him. He was holding onto a cup of coffee and looking like a piece of art. He glanced at me with that perfect half-smile when I shimmied under the table, and I caught the perfect moment—the perfect smile. I knew I would never take another photograph like it. I was shaking as I went back to our booth and sat across from him.
"What?" he said, seeing my intense face. "I think I just took an amazing picture. I don't even want to look at it because I'm nervous. "
"You're adorable. I can't believe you're working on your night off."
I pointed at the camera. "That's not work to me. Earlier tonight it was, but that what I just did, that was the most fun I could possibly have. I think it's my favorite picture ever. I'm so glad I brought this with me tonight."
I knew I wanted to make some new memories with my camera tonight, and I figured Miami would be pretty picturesque, but this photo was already close to my heart. I couldn't wait to plug it into my laptop and see if it was in focus. I knew it was.
At that moment, our server walked up and cleared some of our used dishes. She was pouring more coffee into our mugs when she said, "How long have you two been a couple?"
John-Michael and I met eyes when she said that, and he grinned at me.
"A couple of months," he said.
"You're cute together."
"Thank you," I said.
"Where'd you meet?" she asked, looking at me.
"In North Carolina," I said. "That's where we're from."
"My parents have a campground up there, and we met at the same firepit where they met."
"You two did?" she asked.
He nodded .
"You two met at the same place where your parents did?" she asked, looking confused and not getting it.
"My parents met there thirty years ago," he said. "They bought the camp because of that firepit, and that's where Sadie and I met."
The waitress nodded, getting it. "I was confused for a second."
"I didn't even think about that," I said to him. "We did meet there, didn't we?" I imagined that day, and how terrible I must have looked. That was the morning after the wreck. I felt a rush of regret and embarrassment at the thought but it melted away when he stretched his hand across the table. I reached out and held his hand, feeling thankful and reassured.
"Oh, my goodness that's so romantic. That's one special firepit."
"It really is," John-Michael agreed sweetly.
"I should go there," she said. "What's the name of the place? I could stand to find the man of my dreams." She was just joking and being friendly. She smiled and turned to leave with their tray of dirty dishes.
"Camp Eden," he called.
"Camp Eden? Aw, how pretty," she said as she walked away.
"I didn't even think about meeting you at the firepit and how your parents… I'm sorry for how we met that day, John-Michael. That sunburn. "
"Something had to get you there," he said, smiling kindly at me.
"I know, but I just want you to know that I regret things. I thought my life was so cool, and looking back, I… when you're in the moment, making the choices, you don't see what you look like from the outside."
"What makes you say that?"
"I don't know, just tonight… Nick. He had on these teeth. They were dental-grade pieces—fake teeth to make him look like a vampire. They made his teeth pointed. Not in a costume shop way, but in a discreet way that made it look real. The thing is, he thought he was the coolest person in the whole world tonight with those things, and everyone there went along with it like they agreed."
"It is Halloween," he said.
"I know. It's just so showy and cheesy, and none of it appealed to me at all. And then I think of how a few months ago, I would have thought that was hot, and now I could barely keep a straight face. It's not that I think I'm better than anybody it's just that, I don't know, I'm just relieved that I sort of see through some things. I think about all those pictures I took of him tonight and contrast to the one I just took, and I'm just… I don't know… thankful that I'm here. I want to never put myself in situations like that again. I'm sorry you had to come here."
"But you're not sorry I am here," he said as more of a statement than a question .
"No. Never. I'm going to call that lady about the job—the one from the school."
"Good. You should. She loves you already."
"How?"
"Those songs. She couldn’t leave Ethan alone about it. She loved that he knew so many songs. She sat there and did that whole, 'mack, mack, mack dressed in black, black, black' hand clapping thing with him. She couldn't believe he knew it, with the motions. Then mom started telling her about you, and showing her your work. She really does want you to call her."
"She knew that song?"
He nodded. "She knew the whole bit about asking the 'mother, mother, mother for fifty cents' and everything."
"Oh, I like this lady," I said.
"Yeah."
"She did the whole song with E?"
"Yes, and he was so proud that he knew it. My mom was completely amazed. She had never even heard of that song—she had no idea E knew it."
I grinned and shook my head. "I just taught that to him the other day."
"Well, he knew it, and they were both just rattling it off like they were best friends."
I laughed.
"Thank you," he said, his expression sincere.
"For teaching him those songs? It's my pleasure. "
"No, not just that… it does something for me that I can't quite explain. He's got women in his life, and they all teach him stuff, but it's my mom and sisters, and we kind of all know the same stuff." He shrugged. "I don't know. It's just neat to have someone pouring into him and teaching him new things… like a mom would or whatever. It makes me proud of him, to see him grow and learn new things, and I don't know… thank you… thank you for taking the time to teach him stuff."
My eyes stung with tears and became blurry. I wanted the responsibility of being a mom to E, and I deeply hoped John-Michael saw me as worthy. I wanted to be worthy.
"You're welcome," I said. "I love him. And I don't want you to think that I'm going to be running off and getting us into predicaments like this," I said. "I know it's not good for him to see you have to come here after me and miss his trick-or-treating. I want you to know I regret getting myself into this. I'm not going to take jobs like this again."
"You're done with vampires?" he asked, smiling sweetly.
I let out a little laugh as I took a sip of coffee. "Yeah, I'm sticking to alive guys."
"Specifically to me?" he asked, sitting back in the booth and looking like a giant hunk of gorgeousness.
"You and one other guy."
"Who?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing .
He was irresistible.
"E."
"Oh, me and E? Yeah, you can stick to us."
"I miss him," I said. "You need to send me those pictures of him as Mario."
He nodded. "I'll text them to you."
"John-Michael?"
"Yes?"
"When we get back to the hotel, can we get cleaned up and then snuggle up on the couch to watch a movie?"
"Yes."
"And can I fall asleep on your shoulder and you tuck me in when you go to bed?"
"Are you making me let you sleep on the couch?"
"It's an amazing couch, and I want to. I'll put out blankets and make it really cozy. And I have a whole big plan. I want to fall asleep snuggled up while the movie's still on, and then you can tuck me in and turn it off. Then I can wake up in the morning and drink coffee with you. Maybe you can come back over to me and snuggle again."
"That doesn't sound like a terrible plan."
"That's not all terrible. And I have more stuff I want to do."
"You do?"
"Yes, tomorrow. I want to get t-shirts and play carnival games. Can you do one where you punch something or hit some kind of target and win me a giant prize?"
He laughed. "Yes. Find me a game, and I'll win a giant prize for you."
"You will? I'll find it," I said, laughing with him. "We're joking, but if we're not leaving till Monday, I really would like to do something fun in this city tomorrow."
"I'm down for that. In a place this big, there's got to be someplace for me to win you a prize."
"I also want to buy a t-shirt and maybe have our caricature drawn or our picture taken by someone else, and maybe get ice cream and walk on the beach. Oh, my goodness Jn'Michael, I'm not going to be able to snuggle you too long in the morning. We've got a big day coming together—a lot to accomplish."
"We better go get started," he said, setting down his coffee cup.