Page 96 of Safe With You
He smiled and slipped the camera strap over his shoulder.
“Come on. Let’s start outside.”
For the next half hour, I got to stay on the safe side of the camera.
Ellis moved through the bookstore differently when he was working.
I’d noticed it during Open Mic Night, but I hadn’t been able to watch him then. I’d been too busy making sure eighty people had somewhere to sit and nobody knocked over the microphone stand.
This morning, I could.
He took his time.
He stood near the entrance for a while without taking a single picture.
I tried not to watch.
Eventually, curiosity won.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking.”
“You’ve been looking for five minutes.”
“That’s usually helpful before taking a picture.”
I rolled my eyes.
He lifted the camera.
Click.
“Did you just take a picture of me?”
“No.”
“Ellis.”
“I took a picture in your general direction.”
“Delete it.”
“No.”
“You said we weren’t doing me yet.”
“We’re not.”
“Then what did you take?”
He turned the camera around.
I walked closer.
The photograph was mostly the bookstore.
Morning light stretched across the hardwood floors from the front windows, catching the edges of the tables and shelves. I was near the register in the background, slightly out of focus, one hand wrapped around my coffee.
