Picture Perfect (River's End Ranch Book 45)

by Cindy Caldwell

  Copyright © 2018 by Cindy Caldwell

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Also by Cindy Caldwell

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  The mountains surrounding River’s End Ranch were just beginning to turn purple with the dawn as Opal Hamilton peeked out the window. She’d gotten up before the sun to try to get a few shots in before she had to go to work at the gallery. Glancing at the clock, she quickly set the covered plate of scrambled eggs and toast in the refrigerator and bumped the door shut with her backside as she looked around for her camera.

  She knew her dad wouldn’t be up for a little while longer, and she wanted to make sure he had his breakfast—something she’d done every morning since her mom died years ago—and she hummed quietly as she pulled on her beanie and gloves, and quietly slipped out the door of the cabin on the ranch that she and her father shared.

  The morning was cold on her cheeks, and her exhaled breath spiraled around her. Spring hadn’t quite sprung yet at the ranch and patches of snow dotted the path she trudged along, heading to one of her favorite spots. She looked around as she walked, inhaling deeply and stopping every once in a while to shoot a picture.

  She loved this time of day as the mountains were still in shadow, and the colors changed by the second as the sun crept toward the back of the craggy mountains to the east. She only tripped once this time, and laughed a little as she made it to her favorite grove. From a little knoll past the first row of pine trees, she could sit on the big boulder and see the entire valley—the lake sprawling the length of it.

  She changed her regular gloves into the fingerless ones she kept in her pocket and flipped off the lens cover to her camera—the one she’d saved up for from the money she’d made working at her father’s hardware store back in Texas. Every time she did, tingles swept through her fingertips at the excitement of what she might find when she looked through it.

  Before she did that, she stood and swept her gaze across the valley. She marveled at the color changes while deciding where she might concentrate on this beautiful morning as the sun’s glow approached the top of the mountain and threatened to spill over into the valley.

  She lifted the camera and squinted through the viewfinder. She’d chosen a particular area she wanted to focus on, and pointed the lens in that direction. The past several days, she’d seen movement out of the corner of her eye in a certain glade, but hadn’t captured anything unusual in the pictures she’d gone over after work. Even magnifying them the best she could, she hadn’t seen anything but the usual trees, boulders and other magnificent scenery that was her hallmark, but she kept trying.

  The slight breeze had pine boughs dancing and since the spot she was focused on was on the other side of the lake—she hadn’t wanted to get too close until she knew exactly what it was—she was having a difficult time seeing anything unusual. If there was anything unusual there at all.

  She moved on after a while, taking what she thought would be some good shots of the soaring mountaintops covered with snow. It would be spring soon, and the snow would be gone for the summer, and she wanted to get as many shots as she could before that happened. Having lived her entire life in Texas, this was the first winter she’d spent in the snow, and she tried as much as she could to capture that magic through her lens.

  From the corner of her eye, she saw movement—not trees, but some other kind. She turned back to the copse that she’d been focused on for the past few days. She lowered her camera and squinted, but couldn’t see anything different. Back in the copse, behind the first row of trees, the colors blended into dark shadows, but her heart sped as she just had a feeling that there was something in there.

  She lifted her camera and snapped as many frames as quickly as she could, hoping that when she had the opportunity to blow up the pictures she might be able to see more.

  Her alarm on her phone sounded and she sighed, clipping the lens cover back on her camera and slinging it over her shoulder as she changed her gloves. She’d need to hurry if she wanted to get some breakfast at the cafe before heading to work at the gallery. She thought of her father, and hoped he’d had his breakfast. She’d stopped leaving notes long ago, and he just knew to look for what she’d made. Every day, and she smiled at the thought of it.

  She stomped the snow and pine needles from her boots as she reached the porch of Kelsey’s Kafe, inhaling deeply as the scent of bacon tickled her taste buds.

  Kelsi Weston looked up and smiled as Opal blew into her hands as she came in from the cold.

  “Morning, Opal,” she said as she reached for a coffee mug and filled it. She handed it to Opal, who quickly wrapped her hands around it and headed to the table she’d claimed as her own for breakfast since she’d been coming to the cafe for breakfast almost every day for months.

  “The usual?” Kelsi asked as she passed by.

  “Yep,” Opal said. She smiled at the petite blond who’d been so kind to her as she’d gotten her bearings in her new home. She hadn’t known a soul except her sister Olivia, but when she and her father came to the wedding and decided to stay, her uncle followed...and of course she knew her new brother-in-law, Fred, and his mother, who was now her aunt-in-law.

  She shook her head at all the changes that had come about so quickly and glanced over at Kelsi, who’d been a very kind constant for her as she’d gotten her bearings.

  She poured cream and a little sugar into the mug after she’d settled in the booth. Head down, she flipped through the pictures on the digital display her camera had, enlarging the pictures here and there.

  She was completely engrossed in trying to find something—anything—in the pictures of the grove where she’d seen something moving that she almost knocked over her coffee when Kelsi spoke from behind her.

  “Oh, new pictures?” she said excitedly as she set down Opal’s breakfast along with some hot sauce for her hash browns. She hadn’t left her taste buds in Texas and loved all things spicy, something that Kelsi really appreciated about her.

  “Yeah, I was able to see some movement but I’ll be darned...I can’t see anything in the pictures. I think I need to see them bigger than I can even zoom in on my camera.”

  Kelsi nudged her over and slid into the booth beside her, and Opal noticed that she did it a little more gingerly than usual, scooting back as far as she could and still barely clearing the table with her belly.

  “He’s got to be in there somewhere. You’re the best photographer I know,” Kelsi said quickly before Opal could bring it up.

  Opal rolled her eyes. Since the very first day she’d confided in Kelsi th
at she thought something was out there, Kelsi had sworn it was Bigfoot and that Opal was hot on the trail.

  Kelsi leaned on her elbows, closer to the pictures on Opal’s camera, squinting at the images.

  “Kelsi, it’s not Bigfoot,” she said as she rolled her eyes. She didn’t know what she expected to find, but she sure was hoping it wasn’t Bigfoot.

  Kelsi leaned back in the booth and folded her arms.

  “You don’t know that,” she said with a slight pout. “I know he’s out there somewhere, and I’m sure you’ll find him. I haven’t been able to go out searching for a while and I don’t know when I can.” She absently rubbed her tummy before she stood as she spotted another customer at the door and winked at Opal. “Keep trying.”

  She finished her breakfast and her coffee, set down the cost of breakfast on the table before tugging on her gloves.

  Opal shook her head and turned off her camera after a glance at the last picture. She just knew something was in there. She’d seen it moving, and if she didn’t find anything on the pictures after she could look at them blown up, she’d just have to go try again—Bigfoot or not.

  She took in a sharp breath as she looked at the clock and realized she’d be late for work if she didn’t get a move on. She gave Kelsi a quick wave on her way out and laughed as she opened the door to the cafe and heard Kelsi say, “Don’t let me down, Opal.”

  Chapter 2

  As the printer in the living room let out a rumble and ground to a very loud halt, Bernard Dubois looked at the alarm clock by the side of his bed and groaned. He’d fallen back to sleep after he’d started printing his pictures for the day, and the sound from the other room didn’t bode well.

  Grateful that his roommate had left early and he hadn’t woken him up, he dressed quickly and went out to see what had happened to the print job he’d started earlier.

  It was good thing that Brandon was working on the same project he was as pictures, both color and black and white, were hung on bulletin boards, almost like wallpaper in the cabin they shared at River’s End Ranch. Not that he would have noticed, really, as he’d been busy since they’d gotten there—falling in love with Lin while cooking until they were both exhausted.

  Bernard smiled at the thought of the two of them ending up together, and since Lin had accepted Brandon’s proposal a couple of weeks before, he hadn’t been home much. And when he was, he smelled of Chinese food as he was spending most of his time at the restaurant or sleeping—and always with that goofy look on his face.

  Bernard shook his head at what love could do to somebody so quickly. He was happy for his friend, but certainly couldn’t understand it. But Brandon and Lin sure were the real deal. Not like anything he’d seen in his own life, that was for sure.

  He scratched his head and lifted the cover of the printer. It was a heavy duty one that the company had sent him with as he scouted locations and angles for the upcoming TV pilot to be shot on the ranch. The printer had been pretty busy during the time he’d been there—and so had he—so he wasn’t all that surprised that it had died, but it couldn’t have been at a worse time.

  As the Director of Photography for the show, he’d been dispatched as soon as they’d expressed interest in the ranch as their location. By the time they’d signed the contract with the ranch owners, he was completely familiar with the set, the surrounding area, the lighting—anything that might have an impact on filming the show.

  He was happy to have had the chance to visit a couple of times before the contract was signed just to confirm that the ranch was an appropriate venue, and he’d fallen in love with the place. He hadn’t had a single objection when he learned he’d be spending months and months in such a beautiful place.

  So he’d had plenty of time to take the photographs that lined the walls. There were pictures of the Old Town at almost every possible time of day, cloudy or sunny. All that was left was for him to take pictures of the surrounding mountains for the off-site scenes they’d need to do, and he’d be exploring those parts of the ranch next. Especially after what he’d seen in the past couple of weeks in the background of the pictures of the old town, he couldn’t wait.

  He was done documenting the town. All of those had printed perfectly—and he rubbed his forehead as he realized that the printer had choked on the pictures he’d wanted to print most—the personal ones.

  His phone rang and he didn’t have to look at the clock to know exactly what time it was since it was Tuesday. He looked at the screen to confirm, but knew that he got the same phone call at the same time on the same day—and had for years.

  He reached into the refrigerator and took out the cream, pouring it into his mug before the coffee as was the French tradition. He stared at the printer, willing it to start again, as he sipped his cafe au lait. He absently reached into the box of croissants from the bakery he’d finally found in Riston that made them right, and his hand came back empty. He’d need to go get some more as soon as possible.

  He rubbed the back of his neck. He should have printed the pictures he wanted most first, and kicked himself that he hadn’t. It had been a couple of weeks that those strange images had popped up in the background of his pictures and he’d almost gotten the exact location narrowed down. And when he did, he was going to go exploring in earnest.

  Brandon had said it might have been Bigfoot, and he’d laughed at the time. But whatever it was had shown up in enough shots that he was curious. Even though he didn’t believe it was Bigfoot, he now really wanted to know what it actually was.

  Maybe there was a place in Riston that could print the pictures for him, and he could hit the bakery at the same time. His stomach rumbled loudly, and he realized he wouldn’t make the drive without something to eat, and aside from the croissants, his cupboard was bare.

  He’d spent the last few weeks surviving on leftover Chinese food or burgers from the restaurant—and croissants. But he’d missed dinner the night before as he searched his pictures for more of the strange sightings and fallen into bed hungry. Now, he was starving.

  He grabbed his memory stick with the pictures on it from the printer and shoved it in his pocket. He had a new one in his camera so he grabbed that, too—he never went anywhere without it—and headed over to the cafe. They didn’t have croissants, but he’d been once or twice and their American breakfasts were good. That would tide him over until he could get into Riston and print the rest of his pictures.

  He walked into the cafe and sat at the end of the counter, passing an older lady and gentleman on the way. The lady had smiled and nodded at him as he passed, and as he sat on the stool at the end, she was still staring at him. He’d seen her in there once or twice, but they’d never spoken. He wasn’t the chatty type and he had a lot to do. He was more comfortable looking at the world through the lens of his camera, so he smiled as politely as he knew how and turned away.

  The petite blonde waitress came over and handed him a pitcher of cream and waited, her coffee poised over his mug while he poured in the cream. He hadn’t been to the cafe that many times, so he was impressed that she’d remembered that he preferred to put the cream in first.

  “Good morning,” she said with a bright smile as he looked over the menu, her blue eyes sparkling. She looked from him to the lady down the counter, who was still staring at him as he followed her gaze.

  As Kelsi looked back to him, she winked and said, “That’s Jaclyn. She seems to have taken an interest in you.”

  His eyes flew wide open and his face heated. How could that possibly be? He knew virtually no one at the ranch and was happy to keep it that way.

  “Oh, no, no, not like that,” Kelsi said and laughed so loudly she had to put the coffee pot down so she didn’t spill it.

  “Oh, good,” he said with relief.

  Kelsi cocked her head as she looked at him. “It may not be as good as you think, depending on how you feel about—well, never mind,” she finished as the chef peered out the window to the kitchen and
scowled. Bernard thought he must be a very unhappy person to yell and frown so much, but everybody seemed to just laugh when he did.

  “Coming, Bob,” she said to Bernard with a smile as she turned away, and he barely had time to place his order before she was out of earshot.

  He turned on his camera and flipped through pictures while he waited, enlarging some that he thought might have something in the background, but it really was no use. He needed to see them in print with a magnifying glass.

  Well, what he actually needed was a big screen TV or computer monitor so he could really zoom in, but he didn’t have either as he was still doing preliminary work. He should be getting those things soon from the production company, but he was having a difficult time waiting.

  “What’s with all the cameras this morning?” Kelsi said as she set his ham and eggs on the counter in front of him.

  “Hm?” He turned his camera off and set it to the side as he reached for his fork.

  “Opal was in here earlier doing the same thing,” she said.

  “Opal?” he asked as he salted his eggs.

  The older lady a few stools down who’d been staring earlier started to cough, so much that the older gentleman accompanying her asked Kelsi for a glass of water.

  “There you go, Jaclyn, that should help,” Kelsi said as she set down the water, eyeing the older woman with concern.

  Bernard watched until Jaclyn’s coughing calmed.

  “Say, you wouldn’t happen to know where I could print some pictures, do you? I have a printer but it broke, and they’re fairly large. Bigger than the average size,” he said when Kelsi returned.