She felt like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland; running around worrying about how late she was for the photo shoot. the night before had been busy, for lack of a better word; her entire house was full of family and teenagers, not that she was complaining. She loved playing hostess for gatherings, no matter how many people showed up. This last time things had just not been in the possession of the right timing.
She always made it a point to be at the location a half-hour early, just in case, but also to have extra time to set up and get ready. Sure, they had make-up artists on hand but she preferred to do her own make-up and let them do touch ups during shooting. She was a slight control freak about that but she couldn't really help it; honestly!
With the last of the essentials re-packed into her kit, Mya kissed her twin sister and Marie, her daughter, good-bye as she detoured through the kitchen to the garage. "Have a good day! Tell Michael I said hi!" Setting the case in the back of her Jeep, her agile body was pulled up into a pair of strong arms for a second time that morning.
"Baby.."
"I know, your late. I just need one more kiss." How could she resist him when he phrased it like that? He needed it, not just wanted it; she could see it in his eyes, he craved the melding of their lips almost as much as she did. Bringing the naturally pink, plump bow of her lips to his, her tender hands cradled his handsome, stubbled cheeks between them as her heart melted into him through that simple yet passion filled expression of their love for one another. Extricating herself reluctantly from his arms and their kiss she scrambled gracelessly into the driver's seat and leaned on the door after he had closed it and the window had been rolled down. Noticing that he was still in only his boxers, a brow arched in faint intrigue.
"You do realize you just ran past your teenage daughter and sister-in-law in your boxers...Right?"
"I don't care. Another kiss from you is more important."
"Well...you're going to be late just like me if you don't go get dressed. I love you, be safe and have a good day at work."
"You too, if anyone hits on you..." He punched the palm of one hand with the other, it was one of their little jokes between the two of them. "I'll hit on them. Love you too baby, Drive safe and call me when you get there."
"I will! I mean it...be safe." At this, she finally backed out of the three-car garage, waving and blowing a kiss to the most handsome man in the entire universe as he stood on the cold concrete flooring in nothing but a pair of blue boxers. Following the long driveway down to the main road, she turned into the flow of traffic and took a deep breath in order to maintain her calm; she didn't need the slight (Ha!) case of road rage to ruin her good mood so early in the morning.
Some days the drivers of Tallinn, Estonia were the best in the world. On others they seemed to make New York taxi drivers appear to be God-fearing, polite and cautious people. By the time she reached downtown she had witnessed three accidents and two damn-near-misses as well as a handful of kamikaze pedestrians who thought they were invincible. When the lights went on in her rearview mirror, she checked for an open space by the curb, expecting to see the police cruiser rocket by only to watch him pull off behind her. Grimacing, she shoved the car into park and shut it off, careful to keep her seatbelt on even though the engine was off. Dragging out the necessary credentials, she looked up only to smile at a familiar face.
"Eugene, what a lovely surprise."
"Indeed it is, I don't need to see those, pretty sure I know this is yours. I figured it was you or Marie out today. I just wanted you to know that your brake light needs to be replaced."
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't even know. Thank you for letting me know, I'll have Alek fix it for me later when he gets home."
"Okay, it's just a 'warning' so no ticket this time. Drive safe and tell the family we all said hello. Don't be a stranger."
"I will, thank you again and we won't be. Have a good day and be safe Eugene."
"I will Mya, you too."
Waiting until he was safely within his cruiser once more, she pulled back into the flow of traffic once more and followed the directions that came up on the GPS now that she was heading out of familiar territory. Once she was on the rural roads with barely any other drivers her lead toe came out to play as she raced against time so her arrival time wasn't as bad as it could have been if she had done the speed limit the entire way.
xxxx
The shoot went well, she ended up being right on time even though she still considered herself late. The crew had to rearrange the set four different times because the photographer ended up not liking how certain props looked beside each other which meant Mya had plenty of time to really settle in and get ready like she preferred to. All in all, the shoot only took four hours to photograph with an hour break and another two additional hours of previewing the images they had snapped off.
Glancing down at the watch on her wrist, the slim design of her phone was retrieved from the depths of her purse before the bag was slung over her shoulder. Cradling the phone against her ear with one hand, she pulled the case of necessities along behind her as she headed out to the parking lot, the dull ring of the line boring her to death and back until he finally picked up.
"Hey sexy lady, How's the shoot going?"
"We're done already, it went really good though, super smooth. Where are you?"
"Heading back into the city actually. Eugene called me."
