after all. No one else would notice it because they wouldn’t have
the others to compare.
She clipped the photo to one of the skirt hangers she had
pinched from her mother’s closet years ago, added it to the line
to dry with the others and closed the door behind her. By her
calculations the workshop project had taken almost twenty hours
of her time already and still she had four photos to go, plus the
written application. Fortunately she had been able to do most
of her work after hours, but the pull of developing the first two
images had been too strong to put off until evening. Now after
spending most of her Monday morning in the darkroom, she
needed to tackle the stack of paperwork that had accumulated on
her desk in the past week. There would be no money coming in
unless she got her bills out.
No sooner had she sat down behind her desk than footsteps
sounded on her porch, followed by a man’s voice calling her
name. She hustled to the parlor to find two workmen, one of
whom was holding a large cardboard box.
“Man, you guys got here quick.” She had called the local
appliance store as soon as it opened to order an air conditioner
unit for one of the attic windows. The remaining photos were
more complicated than those she had shot yesterday and two
of them involved multiple lighting. It was too much to ask of
Claudia to endure the blazing studio lights without some relief.
While the workmen installed the unit in her south window,
she staged the preliminaries for the next weekend’s setup, in
which she would use natural light from the window that faced
the street. By the shadows falling across the rooftops between
her house and the wharf, she estimated direct sunlight would hit
the attic around one thirty. If Claudia came at one instead of
two, she could have the light streaming down from above instead
of directly in her face. That would make it trickier to position
the reflector, but worth it not to make Claudia suffer. It was
undeniable that using a friend instead of a professional model
was having an impact on her process—spending three hundred
dollars on an air conditioner was proof of that. But she had to
admit it made her care even more about the quality of her work.
The office phone rang from down below, but there was no
chance she could cover two floors in time to catch it so she left
it to her answering machine. Besides, whatever it was could wait
until tomorrow. Her schedule today was open until four, when the
eighteen-member Cox family was due for its annual Christmas
card photo sitting.
As soon as the workmen left she brought her files into the
attic and set Miss Murphy in front of the window. Every fifteen
minutes she interrupted her paperwork to snap a Polaroid,
writing the time on the back to document the sun’s position. Yes,
it was ridiculously more preparation than she put into most of
her sessions, but this was her most important work ever.
Claudia felt a twinge in her neck when she slammed her car
door and slung the heavy satchel over her shoulder. Leo had
warned her that the long periods of holding perfectly still could
make her stiff and sore, but she hadn’t expected to be feeling the
effect today. Granted, her workday had been considerably longer
than usual since she had held two parent-teacher conferences on
children who were struggling to keep up with their classmates.
She was bursting to share the news about her job possibility
with someone, but the only person who might celebrate with her
was Leo, and right now was her busiest time of day. Mike would
be the first to hear about it when he called at eight. She had
missed his call the night before because it had come two hours
earlier than usual while she was still with Leo. His message said
he had to go out to the job site and would try again tonight.
As she fumbled with the key to her front door, she heard her
0
phone ring. She tossed her satchel onto the couch and made it
to the kitchen just before the fourth ring engaged her answering
machine.
“Hi, honey.”
“Mike!” She was startled to hear his voice and spun to check
usually call this early. It’s only seven o’clock.”
“I know, but I have to go back out to the work site today.
I was there all day yesterday because the architects fucked up
something. Now I’m going to have to kick some ass to get it
fixed.”
She recognized the ire in his voice and didn’t envy the
construction crew. He had his father’s temper. “I certainly
wouldn’t want to be those guys on the job.”
“No shit. So where were you yesterday?” His voice carried
a slight edge, which wasn’t unusual when he was distracted by
work.
“I was with a friend of mine. We went to dinner down at the
wharf here in Monterey.”
“Somebody from school?”
“Yes.” The word came out before she could check it. If Mike
knew about Leo it would only fuel more questions about why
they were friends, and she didn’t want to tell him about the
photo sessions. Besides, it wasn’t technically a lie that she had
met Leo at school. “I don’t want to make you jealous, but I had
clam chowder.”
He groaned. “Stop, you’re killing me. I’m so sick of rice I
could puke. I was looking forward to Thanksgiving so I could eat
some real food.”
“What do you mean you were looking forward to it? Don’t
you dare tell me you aren’t coming home.”
“That’s why I needed to talk to you, baby.” He sighed heavily.
“They don’t exactly celebrate the Pilgrims over here. I’ve got
two subcontractors coming in that week from Shanghai and if
I’m not here to show them what’s what, they’ll fuck it up again
and I’ll end up having to stay an extra year to fix it. Which would
you rather have happen?”
She didn’t like either choice, but the idea of him being gone
an extra year was her least favorite. He would push her to join him
in Taiwan, but she didn’t want to postpone starting her teaching
career. “I definitely want you to come home sooner.”
“That’s what I thought. I’m sure you’ll have a good time with
Mom and Dad. Sis will be there with Hardin.”
Ugh. Mike’s mother was bad enough, but his sister and
her snooty husband were insufferable. Without Mike there to
redirect the conversation, she would have to endure Hardin’s
unending advice on where to invest, what to drive and how to
vote. At least the food would be delicious, since the whole feast
would be catered. “It won’t be same without you.”
“I know, but I’ll make it up to you. How would you like to
meet me in Honolulu the week before Christmas?”
“That’s the week I’m supposed to graduate. If you have the
time off, why don’t you come to Santa Cruz and ch
eer for me
when I finally get my diploma?”
He hissed as he drew in a deep breath. “Please don’t ask me
to do that. You know how I hate to sit through things like that.”
She was hurt that he didn’t even consider her request, but it
wasn’t as if he attended some events and not others. He avoided
all of them, including weddings, funerals and virtually all social
gatherings. Even at their first meeting, he had whisked her out of
the Christmas party.
“I know, I know. Forget about it.” Winter commencement
ceremonies were always small, but still they didn’t acknowledge
graduates by name, just degree. “I know you hate these things, so
I won’t make you come.”
“So what do you say? Three nights on Waikiki Beach? I’ll get
Nissa to book it.”
“Let me think about it.”
He let out a short, faint sigh of frustration. “Okay, but I’ll
need to get it on my planner within the next few days or Nissa
will start filling it up with meetings.”
“Please don’t be disappointed.”
“How can I not be, Claudia? I haven’t seen you in months. I
just offered you a trip to Hawaii and all you can say is you’ll get
back to me.”
Mike’s impatience served him well on the job site, where
subcontractors bent over backward to avoid his wrath, but it
was sometimes a challenge when it came to negotiating their
relationship. She had learned from experience that a calm and
reasoned response worked best to cool him off, and he often
came around if she just left him to think about it on his own. “I
want to say yes, but I need to check with Mom and Dad first. I
invited them to come already, and they might want to, since they
shelled out for four years of college. And besides, it’s important
to me too.”
He was quiet for a long moment, which was his usual reaction
when she resisted being pushed. She liked to think it was because
he recognized when he was being unreasonable. “Sure, check
with them and let me know. I’ll try to keep those days free a little
longer.”
Clearly the part about graduation being important to her too
had sailed over his head, but he had already made it clear how
he felt about the mass ceremony so it was no use to belabor the
point. “If it doesn’t work out, maybe I could come to Taiwan for
Christmas and New Year’s.”
“Okay, but I’d rather have you all to myself in Hawaii,” he said
in a lecherous tone. “I’ve got to go. Nissa says my car’s here.”
“Wait, I have something important to tell you. My principal
wants me to apply for an opening next year. That means I could
teach in Monterey while you finish up over there.”
“That’s a horrible idea. Why would you want to do that?”
She was stung by his response. “What’s wrong with it? I was
honored to be asked.”
“Claudia, you can’t complain about me being gone and then
say you want to teach in Monterey. You’ve been up there for four
and a half years. I was hoping you’d come over here when you
got finished.”
“Mike, I got a degree so I could teach, not so I could lounge
around all day while you’re at work. And I only said I’d come for
a visit, not to live.”
“I’m coming!” he shouted brusquely to someone in his office.
Then to her, “Why do you have to drop this shit on me when I’m
running out the door? We’ll talk about it next week.”
The connection crackled as he hung up, leaving her staring
slack-jawed at the receiver.
Chapter 14
Leo gathered the abundant cloth between Claudia’s shoulder
blades and pinned it, effectively turning her large white shirt into
a size medium. “Don’t move too much or you’ll feel the wrath of
these pins. I’m not much of a seamstress.”
“It’s okay.” Claudia smiled impassively and gazed out the
open window from her stool.
A ray of sunlight crept onto the floor. In a couple of minutes
it would be wide enough to bounce upward from the reflector
screen into her face. That would set off a systematic frenzy for
Leo as she took the first set of photos. She would have to juggle
her light meter, reflector and camera to capture a dozen images
with the ratio she needed. Then she would wait for the sun to
descend further and shoot several more straight on through a
white nylon diffuser.
“I’ll be taking a few more photos today than last week because
the sun will be moving while we shoot. But I promise you won’t
have to hold the same pose for longer than a minute, two at the
most.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Claudia’s words were reassuring, but her voice sounded
troubled. Something was bothering her, and whatever it was had
been there three nights ago when Leo had called to ask her to
come an hour earlier. “Is there anything I can do to make this
more comfortable? Would you rather have an armchair? I can
grab the one from my bedroom and bring it up.”
“I’m okay, honest.” Claudia sighed and her face took on a
grim look. “I’m just a little preoccupied because Mike’s being a
jerk.”“I’m sorry to hear that.” Not that she cared anything about
Mike. She was only sorry Claudia was unhappy. The line of light
had reached her feet, which meant the window for the first shot
was imminent.
“I’ve been in a shitty mood all week, and I haven’t told
anybody why, not even Sandy.”
“If you want to talk, I’ll listen…but I’ve got to be honest.
We’re going to lose this shot in about ten minutes.” As soon as the
words left her lips, she felt guilty for her selfishness. She weighed
the imposition of pressing ahead with that of rescheduling and
putting Claudia through the setup again. “But if you don’t want
to deal with this today, that’s cool. We can do it next week.”
“No, let’s go ahead. We’re ready.” Claudia wriggled her
shoulders and settled into the pose they had practiced.
Leo angled the reflector upward until it erased the shadows
below Claudia’s brow, nose and chin. Then she stepped onto her
platform to look down into her viewfinder and took three photos
at varied exposures. “Okay, relax. I need to do that again in about
three or four minutes. That was probably the best one, but I want
one more angle of light to make sure.”
Claudia took the opportunity to stretch her arms out to
the side. “My principal asked me to apply for a job next year at
Melrose. He can’t promise anything, but he hinted that he’d find
a way to pull it off.”
“He offered you a job?”
“Basically.”
This was terrific news for Leo, as she had begun to dread
Claudia’s departure in only a month. “That’s fantastic. So why
don’t you sound happy?”
“Because I told Mike and he had a shit-fit. He said I’ve been
gone longer than he has, and that four and a half years
was long
enough.”
“That’s ridiculous. He’s been overseas the whole time.” As
they talked, she took continuous readings of Claudia’s face with
her light meter. When it reached the desired exposure, she tilted
the reflector to match the shifting sun. “Bear with me one more
time.”
Claudia stared blankly out at the water while Leo repeated
the earlier process.
“All right, the first one’s done. Let’s take a break.” She pulled
the pins from the back of the shirt and fluffed it around Claudia’s
shoulders. “Why don’t you get up and walk around? I’ve got a
few things to do to get ready for the next one.” The next photo
required a filter, in this case, a white nylon screen that she
stretched flat and tacked onto the window frame.
“It’s ridiculous that I’m not even allowed to make my own
decisions. He thinks I should just pick up and move to Taiwan
to be with him after I graduate, like actually using my degree for
anything would be quaint. Big of him to indulge my little hobby.
He sounds just like my mother.” Claudia spun on her heel and
began pacing, her voice escalating with agitation. “But you know
what the worst part is? He practically hung up on me Monday
night, and then he wouldn’t take my call on Wednesday. I had to
leave a message with his fucking secretary, which he didn’t even
bother to return.”
Leo was taken aback by the harsh tone. It was hard to believe
this was the same person who had quieted a roomful of third-
graders with her gentle voice. On the other hand, Claudia didn’t
strike her as someone who let herself get pushed around either.
“Why does he think he gets to control my life all the way
from Taiwan? He isn’t even coming home for Thanksgiving, but
I’ve got to sit there with his whole family—including his jerk of
a brother-in-law—and smile through dinner like Doris Day. I
hope he doesn’t think getting engaged gives him the right to tell
me what to do. Marriage is supposed to be a partnership.” Her
voice was rising along with the color in her face. “And what is
this not taking my call? It’s like some three-year-old throwing a
temper tantrum because he doesn’t get his way. It just makes me
so goddamn furious.”