Page 382 of Safe With You

“Everybody ready?” the photographer asked.

I looked toward Ellis.

He was standing off to the side, watching.

“Ellis.”

He pointed at himself.

“Yes, you.”

He shook his head. “This is your thing.”

“I know.”

I held out my hand. “Come here.”

He looked at me for a second before crossing the space between us. Maya shifted over to make room, and Ellis stepped beside me, his hand settling against my back.

The photographer raised the camera. “Everybody look here.”

I did.

Click.

“One more.”

Mila said something under her breath that made Naomi laugh.

I turned toward them. “Stop.”

“What?”

“I heard you.”

Ellis laughed beside me.

The camera clicked again.

“There,” the photographer said. “That one’s better.”

“Can we see?” Mila asked.

She ran over before anybody answered, and the rest of us followed.

The photographer scrolled back one picture, then another.

The first one was good. Everybody looking at the camera. Everybody smiling.

Then she got to the second.

Naomi was laughing. Maya was looking at her. Mila’s face was turned toward me, and I was halfway between looking at her and looking at the camera.

Ellis was looking at me.

Of course he was.

I felt him beside me before I turned my head.