"Hello?"
"Is this Rob Sewall?"
"Yes." I said.
"Hi, my name is Chrissy Reed. You may not remember me, but I used to work at Birches Resort on East Lake. I was the event planner. I handled the weddings, you were one of the regular photographers."
"Sure. What can I do for you?" My voice was hesitant as I tried to recall her while flipping through my contacts.
"Well I want to know... I need a photographer. I was wondering if we could meet to discuss it?"
"Sure. Where are you these days. I know the Birches closed down a couple years ago. It was too bad, I loved that venue."
"Are you available today? I could meet you at the coffee shop on Water Street, say eleven o'clock?"
"Sure. I'm free today. How will I know you?"
"Don't worry, I remember you." She said. A low chuckle came through and it made me a little curious.
I walked into the coffee shop a few minutes before eleven, ordered a coffee and found a seat by the window. A few minutes later a woman came up from behind me and turned, setting her cup on the table before sitting. I recognized her instantly. I hadn't seen her in a few years but I remember being utterly smitten upon meeting. She was medium height with auburn hair, bright green eyes, and a heart-stopping smile. She had only been at the Birches for a year the first time I met her and she was pretty green, but very good at her job.
"Chrissy. It has been a long time." I offered her my hand and she took it with a firm shake.
"About three years I'd say." She looked out the window for a moment before turning back. "I heard you fell on hard times yourself."
I became a little guarded. I shrugged, "I haven't been as busy as I was before the pandemic that's for certain. The economy hit people hard, and a lot of people are forgoing my services for collecting their wedding guests cellphone pictures."
A little smirk spread across her lips and disappeared. "I know how you feel. I haven't had a steady job since that one. Worked a few places like this, worked for a travel website as phone support." She rolled her eyes. "I did start a new thing over the winter and it's picking up a little, and I was looking to expand my business a little."
"You said you needed a photographer."
She glanced around to the other patrons. It wasn't overly busy but the lunch crowd would start filling the place soon enough.
"Well I've been doing okay myself, with my phone, until now." She stopped and took a long gulp of her coffee. "I've got a pretty good sized social media following but it's not as easy to become an influencer, as they say, without a gimmick. I've had a lot of private requests for... more. So I bit the bullet last fall. I had my girlfriend take some shots of me out by the woodpile. Lingerie, flannel, workboots, let's just say the response was better than I expected. I nearly doubled my viewership in ten days. Then came the questions." She bit her lip.
"I don't feel I'm going out on a limb to ask if you know about fan sites? The ones where you post pictures and videos for subscribers, tips, direct sales, and so on?" Her voice having dropped a little.
I nodded, seeing where she was going with this. I took a long pull of my coffee.
"How far are you planning to take this?"
"The economy has kicked my ass. I'm living with my friend and her boyfriend, a less than ideal situation, in a duplex on Sand Hill. He's hit on me a couple times and even drunkenly brought up the idea of a threesome which nearly got him thrown out on his ass. I've got school loans, and I've got this strange desire to survive."
"Have you thought this through? This kind of exposure isn't the kind you can easily recover from later should you find yourself wanting to leave it behind." I thought of how many women thought they could just stop and not have their past dragged out and flaunted to shame, control, or ruin them. "Depending on how far you want to go with this, it could be a path you can't change later on down the line. It's on the Internet, it will come back to bite you in the ass when you least expect it."
"I've looked into it and I've wrestled the demons."
I just raised my eyebrows.
"I know of two girls that I went to college with," she looked around and lowered her voice again, "that are escorts now just to pay the bills. Sadly it's the oldest profession for a reason. I can't see myself going that far, not that I didn't consider the threesome if it kept a roof over my head for a little longer, until I found he wasn't paying the rent, she was."
"Why me?" I asked.
She took another sip of her coffee. "You recognized me when I sat down. I could see it in your eyes. Do you remember why?"
"I'm fuzzy on it other than I remember you were very good at your job and I found you very attractive. Did I ask to photograph you?"
She tried to hide the smile. "You did, very drunkenly offer to take me upstairs and make me a star." Her eyebrow raised a little. "There was something else though. The Lachance and Thibault wedding?"
My eyes went wide as the memory came to me.
Chrissy's smile went even wider. I was pretty certain she wasn't trying to blackmail me, but had the goods if she wanted to do just that.