They gave their orders to the waitress who came to the table, and when she had brought the two cups of coffee, they settled back to talk as they waited for the meal. As Carrie spooned sugar into her cup, she asked curiously, “How much more work has to be done inside the buildings?”
Gabe’s expression changed as she slid into thinking about business. “I have electricians working on the wiring right now, and we need to have phones installed. The plumbing is finished—really, it’s just the final touches. About half the building space is already rented out, and now is the first time that I’ve given any thought about the open spaces. The photographs would be used to advertise both to the businesses I plan to contact in New York, and to the general public about the eventual opening of the shopping centre.”
She interposed with amusement, “Dad doesn’t think you’ll make your August deadline for the opening of the centre.”
Gabe shook his head, chuckling. “I know. He’s told me several times. But I think I’ve got a good chance at it, and August would be a good time for business if I do. Have you decided whether you’d like the job or not? You’d get good publicity yourself, when I take the pictures with me to New York.”
Carrie hesitated, turning her head to stare out the window. He waited patiently, making no attempt to persuade her as she tried to make up her mind. She said, thinking aloud, “It really would be fun at that—and the buildings can’t talk back, like some of my models do!” She sighed. “I don’t know. Would I have pretty much a free hand to do whatever I wanted to do?”
“Of course,” he said instantly. “I did as much with Roderick, and the results were more than satisfying. I can do as much for you.”
Finally, she gave in. ”Oh, all right I succumb! To tell the truth, I’d love the job. How about if I take a roll of black and white pictures and a roll of colour, and then you can have the lot, good and bad? Although, I might add, I never take bad pictures! Oh, wait, I forgot—I don’t have anywhere to develop the pictures here. All my darkroom equipment is in Chicago.”
“No problem. I have a darkroom at my house. You can develop the pictures there.” Gabe airily waved away the dilemma.
“You have a darkroom?” She didn’t know why she was so astonished.
He looked modest. “I like to putter around in it. Photography is a hobby of mine, although I’m nowhere as good as you. You capture something in your photographs, a certain element of power and movement that I could never match.”
“Oh,” she said rather stupidly, at a loss. She continued impulsively, “I’d like to see some of your work, if you wouldn’t mind. Really, I’m very interested.”
He looked pleased at this. “Maybe when you come over to develop the pictures, I’ll show you a few. Which reminds me, when would you like to start?”
She asked hesitantly, “Would tomorrow be too soon?”
“Certainly not. The sooner the better. Do you have any idea how long it might take you?”
She shook her head. “Not really. What I’d like to do is just follow you around as you work, to take pictures of both you and the buildings. Then, if I get an inspiration, I could just wander off and get lost. I would like to get some early shots of the morning or evening, when the sun is near the horizon. That’s the only definite idea that I have right now.”
“Then can I pick you up around eight tomorrow morning? We can see how the day goes, and if you finish shooting early, I’ll bring you back to my house so you can develop the pictures,” he suggested. “And if you need to, you can finish shooting up the next roll on Wednesday.”
She agreed with this arrangement. “All right. But there’s no need for you to pick me up. I can just drive myself just as easily, and leave whenever I’m done. I know where the Carroll’s ranch is, which is where you’re living, and that way you won’t have to leave work before you’re ready just because I’ve finished.” When Gabe made no objection, Carrie for some reason felt disappointed. Which, she told herself, was ridiculous. It was quite illogical and unfounded. Or so she told herself.
The next morning, she was up very early, making sure she had everything she needed in her camera bag before getting ready herself. This time she had enough foresight to put on a pair of serviceable jeans and a light summer top, while neglecting to put up her hair again. She wore little make-up, realizing that as much as she would be tramping around in the heat, she wouldn’t be able to stay fresh. The only thing she bothered with was mascara, leaving her already tanned face to its own natural glow.
Emma fixed her a thermos of lemonade to take along, in case she got thirsty in the middle of the day, for which Carrie was later grateful. She started off around seven, planning to arrive at the site before anyone else. In this she was thwarted, for a dark blue Mercedes was parked along with a van and several cars by one of the buildings where the main office was. She told herself she was disappointed that the lot was not empty, but her reaction to the sight of Gabe’s car contradicted this. She ignored the rush of excitement and the pounding slug of her heartbeats quickening, and quite deliberately put off going into the building where Gabe was. Instead, she retrieved her camera, an expensive but rather older model that had been for years one that she knew like an old friend, familiar and reliable.
After checking to see if she had the film in the camera started properly, she took off to explore the buildings on her own. Soon she was lost in a world of her own as she concentrated on the angle of the buildings and the position of the sun. At one particularly tall building whose roof jutted high and intersected the morning sun’s rays, she stopped. She tried several positions and distances, but she couldn’t seem to line up the building to satisfy what her mind had envisaged. She got a glimmer of an idea and sprawled flat on the ground, trying to shoot straight up. She wasn’t close enough. Scrambling up halfway, she scooted a few feet on the ground and plopped down again.
As she focused the camera on the high jutting roof that was a silhouette in the bright sun, a dark figure appeared in her camera’s field and she started. “I hadn’t realised you were here,” it spoke quietly in the tones of Gabe’s deep voice.
Caught by the sight of the man’s outline dominating the hard angles of the building, Carrie cried out, “Don't move!” Gabe, caught by surprise, held very still. Excited, she began to take pictures, rolling to one side to get a different angle of him and to capture his profile. “Look out toward the mountains, straight ahead,” she ordered, preoccupied. Patiently he complied. The lines of his body, powerful enough at a normal angle, were greatly emphasized as she crouched at his feet and stared up. The natural outward jut of his shoulders from trim lean hips was a perfect foil for the contrasting building behind. It was a beauty of a picture.
“Okay,” she said at last, standing up in one quickly graceful movement, her face flushed with pleasure and hair tousled from her exertions. She was beaming from ear to ear. If she didn’t get another good shot that day, it wouldn’t matter to her. She was fairly sure that she had got the best possible combination of man and object already locked into her camera’s film.
Gabe was smiling faintly, indulgently, at the look on her face. “Can I move now?”
“Of course. Oh, Gabe, that was gorgeous!” she enthused, falling into step beside him and tucking her arm into the curve of his. He squeezed gently. “It couldn’t have been better if I’d planned it myself! I even had the right film in the camera—black and white. Perfect for the picture’s composition!”
He chuckled. “You’re making me excited too! I can’t wait until you develop the pictures.” After consulting his watch, he added, “But now it’s time for a coffee break. Do you have any idea what time it is?”
When she shook her head, he told her it was nearing ten o’clock. She was shocked. “You’re kidding! I could have sworn that I got here just half an hour ago.”
She squinted up at the sun. It was beating down in fierce, scorching waves of heat, and she suddenly realised how sweaty and tired she felt. “I have a better
idea than coffee,” she offered quickly. “Emma put some lemonade in a thermos for us, with lots of ice. Let me go and get it.”
And with that, she ran lightly over to her small car and reached in the back. Gabe waited until she caught up with him before walking on into the office building. Carrie followed, glad of the sudden coolness that the inside of the building afforded. When they reached the room where Gabe had temporarily set up shop, she sank into a seat with a sigh.
“Whew!” she blew out, wiping her forehead with one hand. He took the thermos from her grasp and found two paper cups, pouring the cold liquid into them and handing one to Carrie. She took it with thanks. “You know, if you hadn’t come after me, I’d probably still be tramping around the place, dying of heat exhaustion and never knowing it!”
He laughed heartily at this, and she watched his mirth with appreciation. She liked his laugh; it was low and attractive, and it seemed to invite her to share with him his delight. “I somehow doubt that. You’d have quit long before the heat would have gotten you.” Draining his cup quickly, he sighed. “That was good. Thank Emma for me, will you?”
“I plan on it.”
“How much more do you plan to do today?”
She looked at her camera. “I’ve almost shot up this whole roll. I think I’ll finish up today at the end of this, and shoot up the colour film tomorrow. Then, if I may, I’ll develop the lot tomorrow afternoon or early evening, whenever I finish shooting.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” he said. “Why don’t you just stay over for supper tomorrow night, and I’ll have Mrs. Hastings fix us up a real treat.”
She protested at this. “Oh, no, I wouldn’t want to impose on you.”
“My dear girl,” Gabe drawled mildly, “I insist. It would be a pleasure.”
Carrie allowed herself to be persuaded by the charm that he exerted into his voice, and by the encouraging twinkle that she saw in his dark eyes.
After a few more minutes of conversation and rest, she left the building to continue shooting up the rest of the film. She finished for the day and stopped to poke her head through the door of Gabe’s office. He was bending over some electrical plans with a grey-haired man, and he looked up with a quick smile. Her mouth pulled into an instant response; it was quite irresistible.
She said quickly, “I thought I’d let you know that I was leaving.”
Gabe nodded without surprise. “Thanks. See you tomorrow morning. Drive carefully.”
She waved as she turned and left.
She was surprised to find out how eagerly she was looking forward to the next day, and found herself waking up early without the aid of her alarm. Dressing as quickly and as simply as the day before, she looked out of her bedroom window. If she hurried, she would be able to catch the sun peeping over the mountains, for now everything was suffused with a pale glow that precluded dawn. It would be a wonderful shot in full colour. She cannoned out of her room and sped on down the stairs, grabbing her camera and feeling inside to make sure she had the film as she went. Then, reversing her car in a quick, tight circle, she pressed her foot down hard on the gas pedal, taking up the long, straight stretch of private road in a roaring flash.
She took the main road at a more sedate pace, although she was still travelling way over the speed limit. All the while, she kept a close eye on the eastern mountains as she neared the shopping centre. With a squeal of the tyres, she careened around the corner to stop dead in the middle of the parking lot, not even attempting to pull into an allotted space. Vaguely she was aware of a dark blue car parked near the office, but she didn’t pay any attention as she fumbled frantically for her camera. The tip of the sun would be topping the horizon any moment.
The door to the office building opened, but Carrie, dashing about like she was, ignored it. The right angle—she had to get the right angle. Great, brilliant rays were shooting from a focal point where the sun would appear. They were getting stronger every second. She came to a snap decision and started running west as fast as she could. Circling the end of a fence, she sprinted hard into the open field and, judging herself to be at the right distance, she whirled, bringing her camera up to focus frantically. Just as she was bringing the scene into clarity, the sun appeared, spilling gold over the edge of mountaintops and shooting rays in abundance directly over the site. She sighed with pleasure as she snapped three pictures in quick succession. It was a good sight.
Carrie walked leisurely back to the site, camera dangling from one hand as she strolled. The rest of the pictures could wait. As she approached the buildings again, a figure rounded the corner and walked towards her.
“Good morning,” she called cheerfully. “Beautiful sunrise, wasn’t it? I got a perfect shot!”
Gabe didn’t answer until they drew near to each other, his face more serious than she had ever seen it before, and his manner preoccupied. He said abruptly, “It was you I heard shooting into the parking lot so recklessly, wasn’t it? I’m surprised you didn’t break your neck!”
Carrie smiled a little at that. “It was a toss-up.” Speaking lightly, she tried to pass it off as a joke. “I was so intent on getting here that I didn’t really pay attention to what I was doing. Actually, I’m surprised that I stayed on the road at all! I certainly don’t remember driving here. But I think you’ll find it was worth it. There are some real beauties in here.” She patted her camera with satisfaction.
He retorted swiftly, his mouth tight, “Do you really think it was worth it? Do you think I would find the pictures worth it? What if you’d wrecked your car and gotten injured, maybe seriously? Would it have been worth it to you then? I think not!”
Carrie could see that Gabriel was very angry. It surprised her very much, and it shook her up in a way that she couldn’t explain. It was as if he cared.
“For God’s sake, Carrie,” he sounded fed up, “drive more carefully next time, even if it means that you pass up an opportunity for a good photograph!”
She stared at him. “I’m—sorry,” she murmured blankly. “I guess I just didn’t think.”
He looked at her sharply. Then, putting an arm around her shoulder in a casual gesture, he pivoted her on towards the buildings as he replied, “I know you didn’t, and I know you weren’t being deliberately careless. But imagine how it would feel to the rest of your family if they received a phone call informing them of an accident that you were in. Just like that, no warning. No preparation.” Staring into her darkening eyes, he could tell he was upsetting her, and his face softened. “Just be more careful,” Gabe said gently.
She nodded and blinked as he quickly kissed her nose. It had tickled and she smiled as she rubbed the place his lips had touched, but he was already off, striding on towards the office, not looking back. After standing for a moment and staring after him thoughtfully, she turned and began to think about where to take pictures next.
Later, though, she found herself thinking back on Gabe’s odd show of intensity. She had not really realised how careless she had been, preoccupied as she was with the sunrise, and his telling her so had jolted her greatly. It was not a characteristic that she was used to, this active show of concern. Always before her family had been cheerfully insensitive to any kind of risk that she had been exposed to. It was not that they were uncaring; it was merely that they were remarkably free of worry. They so blithely assumed that disaster would not fall their way. Quite remarkably, it hadn’t as of yet, and so the possibility was incomprehensible, therefore impossible. And Carrie was not the only one; the Metcalfes had the habit of taking everyone in their immediate circle for granted. Childhood injuries, falling off a horse, or down the stairs, or in the pool, all were treated with the same happy assumption that the victim was all right. You were set on your feet, patted on the head, sent your own way, and that was that. Growing up as she had, it was no wonder that she felt an oddness when anyone showed worry for her benefit. It gave her a strange, warm feeling inside. It made her feel—cherished.
Carrie tramped about the place, taking pictures now and then, and checking her camera to see how many more she had left. She was close to the end of the roll.
Deciding to get a few of Gabe in his office, she turned back and let herself in quietly, going down the hall, up a short flight of stairs and turning left. His office door was open and light streamed out. Silently, she walked up to the doorway and eased her head around to peep in. Gabe was intent on some papers in front of him on the desk, and didn’t appear to hear her, which was exactly what she wanted.
She brought up her camera, focused in on the dark, handsome head, and started to glide cautiously forward, wanting to get past the door frame and snap a picture before he became aware of her presence. Gabe, catching the slight sound of her camera’s shutter clicking, looked up sharply. Carrie waited just that split second more and then took a picture of the smile that began to spread across his face spontaneously as he recognized the person behind the camera.
“Thank you,” she said with satisfaction. “That smile couldn’t have been better if we’d posed the shot. Perfect.”
“Are you about done for the day?” he asked quietly. She nodded, and he continued, “Would you like to come over and develop the prints today, or would you rather wait until tomorrow?”
She thought for a moment. “Would you mind terribly if I waited until tomorrow? Gail promised to go out for coffee with me some time this week and I was planning to give her a call. We haven’t seen each other in ages.”
“Of course not,” he responded instantly. “And you know the way to my house.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Large two-storey house with the dark brown shutters? I’ve never been actually in the house, but I do know it,” was her reply.
“The shutters are a lighter colour now, but that’s the place. I’ll of course be working, and probably am going to town to meet with someone for lunch, but I’ll let Mrs. Hastings know you’re coming and she will show you to the darkroom. Come any time, she’s there all day.” Gabe glanced down at his papers and she got the impression that he was wanting to start back on them, so she said a hasty goodbye and made herself scarce.
A Damaged Trust Page 6