From the thousands of frames she took, she had at least a dozen favorites. She loved the intensity, the loving look in their eyes, the lust, the craving, the pleasure, all blended into one continuous raw lovemaking right at the end of her lenses.
The more she looked at the pictures, the more she could capture their chemistry and be aroused by it. She couldn’t get that kind of stimulation from two strangers having sex, that’s why she always approached young couples for her projects.
Tommy and Charlie was becoming her muse, she had become attached to them, and they ignited more ideas inside her head.
Tommy didn’t want to talk about the shoot as much as Charlie did. He was just glad she was back in his flat with him. He was unsure of his feelings about it. She was his, but after the shoot, he felt like he had lost a little bit of her to Maxine. It was a weird feeling he couldn’t shake off.
One thing for sure, school was going to start in September. Charlie was beaming about it despite the fact that she had to break the news to her parents.
Maxine was good with her words, the contract was rolling as soon as the shoot was done. A manager was assigned to handle Tommy’s affairs, offers started to food in. His appearance on the red carpet at the screening gave him the exposure needed. In between finishing his job at Studio 4, he went from one photo shoot to another, spent hours in the make-up room for preparation, and back in the gym in the morning as required in the contract.
The little time he had left in the day was spent with Charlie, or a few drinks with Jeremy. And the little energy he had left after that was put into good use in the bedroom.
As for Charlie, summer began to like playing house because Tommy was never home. She had to wait a few weeks to start her internship with Maxine, and school was not until September. She decided to call her mom to give her the heads up about the news.
Catherine was silent for a minute, “Have you thought this through, Charlene?” was the only thing she asked of her daughter.
A few days after the call, there was a knock on the door. Charlie was getting ready to go out for lunch with Jeremy. She thought it was him, when she opened the door, “Mom?!” her face lit up. She jumped to hug her mom who looked like a glamorous actress herself, she had never seen her mom dressed that way before. It’s been a long time since Catherine Ludlow came out from her nesting ground in Bluebridge.
“Hey, sweetie! I miss you so much … I thought I stop by to see how your summer is going,” she told her after the kiss on the cheek. She let herself in, her eyes wondered around the flat to see where her precious daughter had been living for the past month and a half.
“Where’s Tom?”
“He’s at work … he’s been very busy lately, I was about to go out to lunch with my friend from next door, you should join us,” Charlie invited her.
“I’d be delighted,” she replied with a smile.
They hugged again, they’ve never been apart for that long. Charlie grabbed her jacket and bag, put on her shoes when she noticed her mom was checking out the place and looked out the window to observe the neighborhood. Cathy didn’t say anything, her expression was unreadable.
“How long will you be in Goldstone, mom? Where are you staying?”
“For a week, at least … I think … I haven’t decided, I’ve made reservations at The Royale Blue Hotel, maybe you can join me there whenever you have time?”
“Sure! I have time,” Charlie said as she tied the laces of her sneakers. She introduced Jeremy to her mom right outside the door before the went to lunch together.
Travis was driving, their long family driver who was loyal and quiet. Catherine made comments along the way as she tried to remember the last time she was in Goldstone. “It changed a lot … gosh … I haven’t been here for … 20 years, I think, the last time I was here I wasn’t married to your father,” she chuckled at the memory. Time had went by her, stole away her life right from under her nose.
Catherine took her time on the menu, Charlie was already ordering her favorites, and started rambling about how excited she was to start her school at Arch Institute. It was the first time Jeremy heard about the whole thing too, and made the conversation even livelier.
“That sounds wonderful, honey, but … am I missing something here? It sounds like a sure thing already? But how did you pay for the admission? And the tuition? You’re not expecting your father to pay for all this, are you?” her mother was curious.
She stopped cold, not ready for an alternative answer to the truth. “Work … I’m going to work as an intern for her company throughout my study, and if it goes well … I will keep working for her as an employee after graduation.”
Her mom raised her eyebrows, “Your paycheck as an intern will cover the tuition AND your living cost for four years?”
Charlie shrugged, “Well … no … but Tommy’s paycheck will, he’s already got offers lining up while he’s still working at the studio right now … but I’m gonna pay him back, I mean … I will have projects too, Maxine told me,” she said with eager eyes.
Catherine fell silent for a moment, she couldn’t really pinpoint what it was, but she felt something was off. “Well …” she exhaled and smiled, “I’m gonna have to speak with Tom about it then, won’t I?” she didn’t want to go into details on why she thought everything was not quite right because Jeremy was there.
“Sure … of course … Tommy’s gonna come and see you anyways as soon as he’s available … but really, mom, it’s gonna be fine.”
“Hmm … I’m sure it will … and how are you planning to tell your dad about it? I gave him some hints before I came here, I told him you were looking at a school you’re interested in Goldstone … I didn’t realize it’s a done deal, and he was not happy about it.”
Charlie nodded, she knew it was the biggest struggle she had to face before she could really begin her new life in Goldstone, “I will talk to him … I was planning to.”
They finished their lunch in silence, each of them with their own thoughts. Catherine took pride in how much her daughter had changed in just so little time she had spent away from her. On the other hand, she worried because of how young she was that she might be too naïve to see what lies beneath other people’s good intentions.