Another Shot: A Modern-Day Ruth and Boaz Story

by St. James, Brooke

  He scoffed. "That's false and you know it. You have a special gift, Rae. We're gonna put it to the test."

  "What? What's that mean?"

  He was amused at my jumpiness I could tell. I narrowed my eyes at him, and his smile broadened.

  "Next month I'm going to hold the first annual employee photo contest. I have over two hundred employees, and most of them are into photography. I can't believe I haven't thought of it before. You'll have to send a digital file or an 8x10 to me by November first. I'll hang the photos on the east wall. Customers will have the chance to place their vote at checkout using a number system."

  "I sure hope you're not doing any of this because of me. There are far better photographers than me down stairs, and that's just in shipping and receiving."

  "I'm having the contest. You don't have to win, but you have to enter. If you don't turn anything in, I'll just enter one of these."

  I giggled. "Which one would you choose?"

  "Laura probably, but the hopscotch—wow. I wish I could put all three, but I'll only be able to do one entry per person or else we'd never be able to display them all."

  I dropped my gaze. "I hope I got across how very thankful I am for everything," I said. "I'm baffled by your kindness.

  "You're family," he said simply. "I'm happy to do it, and we don't need to mention it again."

  I could see him swivel to put the photos on his desk. He crossed his arms when he turned back around, but all of this I saw out of my periphery since I was looking down. "London went well," he said.

  I glanced up and met his eye. "I'm glad to hear it."

  "I'll be opening a location there next year if all goes as planned."

  "Oh, that's exciting. I've never been there."

  "I took some pictures if you'd like to see them sometime."

  "I'd love to."

  "Now?"

  I smiled, and felt myself blushing. "I told Matt I'd be back down there as soon as—"

  "Rae."

  "Yeah?"

  "Do you know who I am?"

  "Yeah."

  "Who?"

  "Dominic."

  "That's right. And do you know whose name is written on the outside of the building?"

  "Yours."

  "Yep. That means I own the place, which also means I make the rules around here." He was smiling the whole time he was talking, which made me regard him with narrowed eyes. I could tell he enjoyed pushing my buttons.

  "I'd love to see your pictures Mr. Russo," I said.

  He smiled. "That's better."

  I stayed in his office for a good while, looking at the hundreds of photos he took in London. He let me sit in his chair and use his computer while he used his phone to take care of some email.

  "You're an excellent photographer," I said when I finished looking at the last photograph on the camera roll.

  He set his phone on the desk and leaned, regarding me with a smile. "Oh yeah?" he asked. "Think I could take you in the contest?"

  "Definitely," I said, without hesitation. "No doubt you could take me. Are you entering?"

  "No."

  "Why not? You'd win."

  "It's against the rules for me to enter."

  "I thought you just said you make the rules around here."

  "I do," he said smiling. "And that's one of my rules. I can't enter."

  I gave him another teasing scowl. "You're trying to take it easy on me," I said, "but just so you know, I could take you even if you did enter."

  He laughed. "I love it. I might have to just to accept the challenge."

  "Let's do it," I said, smiling.

  "I'll even let you pick what photo I submit," he said. He pointed at the monitor. "Go ahead and pick from the ones you just looked at."

  I sighed. "There you go again."

  "What?"

  "You're trying to take it easy on me. You can't let me pick your entry. I could choose the worst one on purpose."

  He gave me an offended look. "There aren't any bad ones in there."

  I laughed. "You're not tricking me into letting you let me win, mister," I said pointing at him. "I'm just playing," I quickly amended. "That implies that I think I could make it past everyone on the main floor, which I don't."

  "I'm glad you gave me the idea for the contest," he said. "I think it'll be a hit with the customers."

  "Thanks for liking my photos, and for the camera in the first place." I glanced at the clock and gasped when I saw that it was nearly time for me to clock out. The main floor stayed open late, but shipping and receiving shut down at five.

  I sprang out of the chair, and Dominic just stared at me with that same amused grin I seemed to evoke in him.

  "I emailed Debbie while you were looking at the photos. She had your things brought up. They're at Bridgette's desk. Matt's clocking you out when the rest of them leave at five."

  "I feel bad like they're gonna be mad at me or something."

  He cocked his head at me. "Who's the boss?"

  "You."

  "So why are you trying to impress Matt in receiving."

  "I'm not, I just don't want—"

  "Don't worry about it. Nobody's mad. Everybody loves you down there."

  I smiled shyly. "I loved your photos," I said. "I'd like to ask you some questions sometime when you get the—"

  "Now."

  "Like right now?"

  "Yep."

  I couldn't hold back a grin. I stayed in Dominic's office for the next two hours. I asked him questions and he gave me insightful answers. I learned more about photography in that two hours than I had in two weeks of extensive research, and I left feeling overwhelmed by how much I had to learn, but excited at the same time to try some new things.

  Chapter 7

  Dominic emailed all the employees of Nic's the very next day announcing the contest. Each person would be allowed one submission. Entries were due by November first. Halfway through the month, they'd announce the top ten. The slate would be clean at that point, and the remainder of the month would feature only the ten finalists.

  The winner would be announced the first week of December and would receive a check for a thousand dollars. The second place prize was five hundred and the third was three hundred. I had almost two weeks to decide which photo I'd enter, and that time snuck past me so quickly that I could hardly believe it was already time to turn in our entries.

  Dominic helped me narrow it down to two photos. He'd been extremely helpful the last couple of weeks, answering my questions and giving advice when I asked. I didn't call him or anything—I just relied on seeing him around, which had happened quite a bit since he'd been in the store a lot lately.

  I showed him my five favorite photos, and he chose his top two. I went with one I'd taken of a street act at the subway station. It was a photo of a one-man band. I took it from lying on the ground near the guy's feet and looking up at him with a really cool fisheye lens that Dominic included in my kit. There were no rules on whether the print had to be black and white or in color, so I opted for color since his clothes and instruments were interesting and bright. I went back and forth between that one and the portrait of Laura, which was Dominic's other choice. He loved them both, but it boiled down to the one I thought might get the most votes. Dominic didn't enter, but it wasn't because he didn't have a winning photograph in his portfolio; he just wanted it to be about his employees.

  He came down to receiving the afternoon the photos were due. "Entries to the photo contest are due by five today," he said, coming into the common area.

  "Everyone who's entering from down here already turned theirs in," Matt said. "How many entered so far?"

  "Over a hundred last time I checked," Dominic said. He glanced around the room with an easy smile, and stopped when his eyes landed on me. "Which one did you go with?"

  "The street act."

  He smiled like he thought that might be a good choice.

  "Mine's a picture of my little boy's feet," Matt said. "Did
you see it?"

  Dominic shifted his attention to Matt. "I didn't have the chance to go through them all yet," he said. "I'm sure I'll love it, though. I’m excited about it. I'm glad you guys entered."

  "Mine's a picture of my dog, but it's really cool. You'll have to see it," Nick said.

  "I can't wait to see them all," Dominic said. "We'll have a crew working on the display all night tomorrow and they'll be on the wall by Thursday morning. Don't forget you guys each get a vote."

  ***

  For the next two weeks, everyone who visited the main showroom floor could see the array of beautiful photographs. Some of them were amazing on their own, and others weren't, but seeing them all displayed together made them all seem appealing. I passed through there to look at them about every other time I worked, and it seemed like my favorite changed each time.

  "Did you vote yet?" I heard a man's voice ask from behind me. I knew it was Dominic. I recognized his voice.

  "I'm going to vote now. It's so hard for me to choose."

  He gave me a confused look. "Well, obviously you should vote for yourself."

  I laughed. "I can't do that. It's embarrassing."

  "No it's not. It's a thousand dollars." He paused. "I voted for you."

  "I can't believe you get to vote."

  "I can't believe you forgot I make the rules," he said smiling. He gestured toward one of the cash registers. "You need to go vote. The top ten are chosen tonight."

  "I know. That's why I'm standing here looking," I said. "I'm trying to decide."

  He leveled me with a stare, and speaking in hushed tones, he said, "You punch the number into the keypad. The cashier can't see who you vote for. Just go over there and press 8-6. You know you want to."

  He was so right; I did want to. "You promise they can't see?" I asked.

  He smiled. "Yes."

  "Yes they can see?"

  "No, yes I promise they can't."

  "Laura came in the other day and bought a pack of gum so she could vote," I said. "I think Frankie and Viv did too." (Laura had actually bought three different packs of gum since the contest started.) "Can you see who's winning so far?" I asked. I knew it sounded desperate, and I really didn't want to ask, but I couldn't stop myself—it just came out before I could do anything about it. I began blushing right when I said it, so I pretended to dig in my bag.

  "I can peek if I want to, yes," he said. I could hear the smile in his voice even though I wasn't looking at him.

  I glanced up when I said, "Did you peek?"

  His face broke into a broad grin, flashing his white teeth. "Yes."

  I gave him an exasperated look. "Did I get some votes?"

  "Well, you just told me about five, plus yours, that'll make six."

  "That's all I got? Five votes?"

  "I didn't say that."

  I gave him a look that begged him to be straight with me. "Is it even worth voting for myself, or am I not even close to the top ten?"

  "Do you want me to tell you?" he asked. I could tell by the way he said it that he would if I wanted him to.

  "I don't think so," I said. "It doesn't seem fair that I'd get to know ahead of everyone else."

  "That's not the reason I'm hesitating. I'd just hate to tell you one thing, and have something else happen by the time voting closes. I think there are probably other people buying gum between now and then if you know what I mean."

  "I could just give you the win if I wanted to."

  "Don't you dare," I said with wide eyes.

  He laughed. "I wouldn't. But I could. Hey, before you go vote for number 86, I had two other things I wanted to talk to you about."

  I gave him a curious glance, and he continued.

  "I had someone track down your one-man band the other day to bring him a print and tell him the photo was being displayed. I thought he might want to come by and see it. I hope you don't mind."

  I smiled at his thoughtfulness. "I don't mind at all," I said. "Thank you for doing that."

  "The other thing was, I wanted to ask if you'd be willing to do a photo shoot with me."

  "Like you need my help on a shoot… or are you asking to take my picture?" I instantly regretted saying that last part, but there was nothing I could do to take it back.

  "Neither. I need you to take my picture for an interview I'm doing with a magazine."

  I let out an uncontrollable laugh. "No." I said, as if that were the only reasonable thing for me to say.

  He just looked at me like he was serious.

  "I'm not ready for that," I said, stating the obvious.

  "Yes you are," he said. "I have a few ideas for it. We'll work together on it."

  "So basically all you need me to do is push the button?"

  He shrugged. "If you want to look at it like that."

  "I definitely don't want any sort of credit, not that I assumed you were gonna give me—what magazine?"

  He smiled at my ramblings. "Forbes."

  "Oh, no. No way. I'm definitely not ready for that."

  "Yes you are. You're off tomorrow. Can you make it to my house at say, 11AM?"

  I stared at him, hoping he'd take pity on my insecurities, but answered with, "I guess so if you're sure I can't mess it up."

  "You can't. I'll see you then. I'll send a driver to your building at 10:30. Bring Lulu if you want."

  "I might do that if you don't mind. She doesn’t have work tomorrow either, and we've heard how cool your house is."

  "If you think she'll come with you, I'll tell my mom to come too. I don't think she's seen Lu yet."

  "Not many people have besides Frankie and Viv. She still doesn't feel like the person she used to be."

  "That's understandable," he said. "She lost everything in that accident."

  "I know," I said. "They were sort of all I had too, but her pain has to be worse than mine. I can't imagine."

  "Do you ever think about what it would have been like if you'd have been pregnant?"

  It was a question no one ever dared ask me, but I answered without hesitation. "All the time," I said. "I feel a lot of guilt over that. Anthony wanted to start a family, and I thought we should wait a little longer. If I would have agreed to start trying, Laura might have a piece of her son."

  "Do you regret it for yourself—that you don't have a piece of Anthony to hold onto?"

  "I did at first, I think. The sadness of losing him was so great that I tortured myself with guilt about it."

  "And now?"

  "I don't know," I said feeling bad for even thinking about it. "It would have been hard trying to start over with a baby on the way."

  He studied me for a few seconds, and I thought he was going to say more about me not having Anthony's baby, but he didn't.

  "I'll send a driver for you and Lu in the morning," he said instead.

  "That's fine as long as I'm just pushing the button."

  He smiled at me as he turned to walk away. "86," he said from over his shoulder.

  I shook my head at him like he was being silly, but then preceded to march my booty to the register and type the numbers 8-6 into the keypad.

  Laura came with me to Dominic's house the next morning. The driver brought us to an apartment building about twelve blocks away. He told us to go up to the twentieth floor to apartment 203, so we did as instructed.

  "I think he's got two places," Laura said as we rode up the elevator.

  "That makes since, because Frankie mentioned koi ponds and gardens, and I can't imagine where they'd be in a place like this, unless he was on the roof."

  "I'm sure he has roof access," Laura said, pointing to the elevator buttons to indicate that we were riding to the top floor. "But I think he has a house outside the city. We'll have to ask him."

  Maria Russo will squeeze the ever-living daylights out of you, and she did it to both Laura and I when we walked into Dominic's place. It was way bigger than our apartment, but still not quite what I'd expect from someone about to appear in F
orbes Magazine. It was clean and masculine, and definitely nice, but it wasn't gaudy or overboard like I pictured from a camera mogul.

  "I can't believe what a little blonde angel she is," Maria said. She was talking to Laura, but staring straight at me. "She's just as cute as can be." She looked at Dominic. "She's a cutie, isn't she?"

  "Yes she is," he agreed. "I should be taking her picture instead."

  I stared down at the compliment. It was the first time he'd ever said something like that about me, and I felt shy and embarrassed about it.

  "Tony knew how to pick 'em," Laura said.

  "He sure did, Lu," Maria said. She was no longer correcting people when they called her that, and I smiled internally at the sound of it.

  "Should we get started?" I asked, looking at Dominic. I was anxious to get alone with him because I wanted to see if he'd tell me who the finalists were. Voting had already closed, and the top ten were going to be revealed Monday, but I thought he might tell me if I wanted to know. I didn't want to ask in front of Laura and Maria, but I was excited to find out.

  He had two studio strobes set up on the far side of his living room near a brick wall, and he pointed to that area when I asked if he was ready to get started.

  "We're working right there," he said. "We can make them go get a cup of coffee if you'd rather work alone."

  "It doesn't matter to me," I said, feeling awkward.

  "We'll get a cup of coffee and give you two the chance to get some work done," Maria said.

  "I was telling Rae I thought you had a house outside the city somewhere."

  "Oh he does," Maria said, answering for Dominic. "It's so nice out there. You should really come sometime."

  "I assumed Rae would bring Lu to the Thanksgiving feast," he said.

  I'd heard about the annual Thanksgiving feast—I knew it was something everyone looked forward to, but I had no idea it was at Dominic's house.

  "I thought it was all your employees plus one," I said suddenly perplexed.

  "It is."

  "That's like four hundred people."

  "It's a bit of a drive. Not everyone can make it, and some come alone, but we usually have about two hundred."

  "You have a house that two hundred people can fit into?"

  He smiled. "It's tight, but yeah, we fit."