With me working all week I figured it was going to be boring for Issa just hanging out at my place. I was going to have her drop me off at work and keep my car. It came as a surprise that she didn't know how to drive. I enlisted Sarah's help knowing she'd be all for a girls day of shopping since Issa wanted to do a little more than she had when we were in Savannah.
"I hate her so much." Sarah texted me.
"Why?"
"Because she's a size four and looks amazing in everything."
"LOL thanks for getting her out of the house. I'm certain she would have been fine, probably would have read every book I own, but at least she can socialize a little this way."
I was never good at texting, always writing out a novel.
"She casually dropped that you're not sleeping on the couch."
"I am not." I texted back. Sarah was smart enough to figure it out, and I'm sure mom has too. Word got around quickly that Issa was spending another week with me. I looked up and saw Wendy wandering the sales floor so I quickly typed, "Gotta go, work beckons," and slipped my phone back into my pocket.
Wendy had been right about the returns and tech support. I had a couple of people bring me their cameras and ask how to do things. I've always considered that the biggest problem with technology is people who won't read the manual. The 'just show me real quick' crowd was always there in this business. It was always the point and shoot crowd too. Professionals and enthusiasts always did their homework and even occasionally found things out about their equipment that I didn't even know.
"How are you doing today hotshot?" Wendy asked as she approached the counter.
"Couldn't be better."
"Has your friend left for the catwalks of New York?"
"Baltimore first, but not until the weekend."
Wendy gave me a look over her glasses. "And you didn't beg me to use your vacation right away? I'm impressed."
"She hasn't left the country yet. I may see her again if she makes a swing down this way again. Atlanta is an hour away and a pretty big city for the arts. She said she's going to actively set dates to be there to work before she leaves for home."
Wendy laughed. "So I should expect a short notice for that vacation time to be scheduled."
"You know what it's like this time of year, tire kickers. Everybody is broke after Christmas, the next influx will be when people start getting their tax refunds in February. We'll be coasting until then."
"Accessories, accessories, accesories." She chanted.
"Yes, I know." I rolled my eyes. "I've been doing this for a while now."
"Josh you're my best camera guy because you're not just some kid who learned about them while playing around with them. You put in the time and studied."
"Unfortunately until last week I haven't been doing much with that knowledge." I sighed.
Wendy gave me a look that I've seen many times. It said, 'I know this isn't how you pictured it, but it's paying the bills.'
"Do you want to see a few of the shots I got?"
"Are they work safe?" She raised her eyebrows, having heard from Bobby about what kind of model Issabella was. Many of the safe shots were from our Saturday afternoon session.
After a little more site seeing we'd gone back to the hotel with a few items Issa suggested. We'd stopped and picked up a bottle of very bubbly bubble bath and she had found a yellow rubber duck with the kids bath items. I thought she had planned to soak with one of her new bath bombs, but she pointed that they don't foam up as much as bubble bath and she wanted to play with bubbles, hiding parts of herself and watch the bubbles slide off her body. She was getting me hard just describing it. We had set up the lights, behind the tub about a foot away was a floor length window with white blinds. This window faced the other side of the B&B and even with the blind up only offered moderate daylight. I thought about it and I decided to leave the blind down and closed to keep the focus on Issa. She was filling the bath and I tore open the package and let free the rubber duck. I squeezed it and it let out a squeak and she grinned. We did a multitude of shots, first with her on her knees as the suds rose. She had put her hair up in a messy bun, a few tendrils framed her face giving her a relaxed sensual look. She was angelic to say the least, covered in soap bubbles and kissing the lucky duck. She reclined and played with shoals of bubbles, piling them on her chest, and then dribbling water to rinse them off. Eventually she stood and used a small pitcher, which I think ended up being a ceramic creamer, to rinse off. She eventually got out of the bath and we did a lot of towel shots, drying off, wrapping herself in one. She had me stand behind her at a slight angle so she could be seen in the mirror over the sink while she preened a little. She turned and gave me a smoldering look before letting her hair back down, shaking it free, the towel went shortly after. I'm not certain how the bed survived the night.
I snapped back to the present. "Of course. She doesn't just run around tearing off her clothes for the hell of it." I said under my voice. "You have to pay for that." I laughed.
Wendy chuckled and shook her head as I took my phone out. I went to my photographer portfolio in the browser and made sure that Safe mode was on before I gave her the phone to see the photos.
"Wow, I can see why people pay her so well. She's gorgeous. I mean I knew that when I met her, but these are terrific Josh." She handed me back the phone.
"Yeah, she's amazing." I said, wistfully.
"That's not all her. You have to be the one seeing her that way to get the shot. You're in there too. Don't give her all of the credit."
"Thanks. She's convinced me to make a go of it. I orderd a couple large prints of photos I took of her that I want to frame. I just need to find a place to show them."
Wendy's eyes narrowed. "Let me talk to a friend of mine. I may have an idea."
"Really?"
"You know I'm a crafting junkie. There are a couple public art spaces in the city that offer workspace rentals. When you've crafted a bunch of things, enough that you can put together a table, some of them will schedule a sales event. We've had them at the farmer's market and a lot of us will crunch a lot to get ready for the pre-Christmas market, but there's usually one every other month."
"That would be awesome!"
"Let me make sure they're okay with naked ladies first. There are some church lady types that might not be okay with it." She laughed. "In fact you might want to get some shots of her with her clothes on too."
I had a thought then that I should consider what types of photograph might sell besides just art nudes. I glanced up and saw Derek across the store and thought some fantasy style shots might work. The idea came from the fact that he was a huge Dungeons and Dragons player and never got through an entire conversation without bringing it up. I immediately thought of diaphanous gown in a woodland setting, or a maiden in a long dress, lifting it to wade into the water of a stream, soft or fog filtered. That might sell at comic and game conventions.
"Josh?"
"Oh, sorry. I was thinking of other ideas for shoots. I wonder if Derek ever does the renaissance faires or live-action role playing. He might know of someone local that makes that sort of costumes like a rennaisance dress."
"You can check with him, but you may not need him for that. I know a seamstress that might be able to help with that too. He might know someone who already has one made."
I spent the rest of the day piecing together ideas in the hopes Issa would be back this way by spring. That familiar pang hit me again. I was falling for her, to be completely honest I'd fallen for her long before I actually met her, but now that I have she is even better than my imagination had built her up to be. We hadn't really discussed how we'd sort of fallen into the sheet-scorching sex, and I refused to look for a reason. I had come to the simple conclusion that she liked me, for now, that was enough.
I drove home, cursing myself for not texting either Sarah or Issa before I left to see if they were back from their day out.
I got home to find Sarah sitting on one of the stools and Issa behind the counter working on something.
"Hey little brother." Sarah chimed.
I walked around to stand next to Issa and she turned puckering up for a kiss. I paused awkwardly and gave her a quick kiss. My eyes sliding sideways to Sarah who had a smug look on her face.
"Now that you're here, I'll head home and see what David is up to. He put a brisket in the smoker around six this morning. I can't wait to dig into that."
"Ugh that sounds so good." I said.
"I invited you both over, but Issa had other plans it would seem." She had a conspiratorial grin as she stepped down from the stool and reached for her coat. I glanced down to find a bowl with a red and green paste, a bowl of chicken pieces, and some other ingredients laid out.
"It looks like you're in for a really good dinner of your own. Trust me I saw the recipe." Sarah gave Issa a wink and leaned up and gave me a kiss on the cheek before grabbing her bag and bidding us goodbye. I turned to find Issa at the sink washing her hands.
"What's all this? I would have made us dinner."
"You have no food in there." She waved at the refrigerator which was kind of bare, but in my defense we had left for three days to go to Savannah. She tossed the towel aside and stood in front of me giving me an even nicer kiss hello.
