When I Look At You

“Joe.”

“Dave.” Joe said, turning in his office chair to look at his boss as he stood in the doorway.

“As you know it’s mid-October now.” he said, walking in and taking a seat across from Joe who nodded his head. “We need some fall pictures for advertising. I’ll need you to find anything you can.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Joe said as his phone rang.

“Thanks, I’ll let you get that.” Dave said, getting up and leaving.

“Joe Jonas speaking,” he said, turning back to his computer and some photos he was currently editing.

“Hey, it’s me.” Faith said.

“Oh hi, what’s up?”

“I have a huge favor to ask you. You don’t have to accept but you were the first person to come to mind and it would be really helpful.” She said quickly.

“What’s this favor?” he asked, trying not to laugh.

“Well the daycare is putting on a fall carnival for the kids. Vivienne wants to use this opportunity to get promotional photographs to use in flyers and in newspaper ads. I suggested that you come and take the pictures. Again, you don’t have to. Especially if you’re busy. It’s going to be lots of fun and the kids will love it and I think it will be a great opportunity and…”

“Faith!” Joe said as she continued to talk. “Faith!”

“What?” she asked seeming slightly startled.

“I’ll do it.” he said with a laugh. “Geez, it’s like your psychic or something. Right when you called Dave was just telling me about how he wanted me to find some sort of job to take pictures for autumn promotions.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m 100% serious.”

“So you’ll do it?” she asked excitedly.

“I’d love to. Really. Just let me know what day and time and I’ll be there.” He said, grabbing a pen and his appointment book.

“Friday at ten am. It’s an all day thing.”

“Sounds great. I will see you Friday at ten am.” He said, writing it down.

“See you Friday.” She said, hanging up the phone.

With a smile Joe set the phone back on the receiver. He shoved away from his desk and made his way down the hallway to Dave’s office. Dave looked up at Joe, a confused look etched upon his face as Joe entered.

“Yes?” David asked.

“I’ve got an autumn shoot all lined up.” Joe said with a smile as he sat in one of the plush chairs across from his boss.

“Already?”

“That phone call that came when you were in my office? It was my sister-in-law. She works at a daycare center and she wanted me to come and shoot on Friday because they’re having a fall carnival. It will be advertisement for them and for us.”

“Sounds like a good deal.” Dave said. “Nice job, Joe.”

“Thanks.” Joe said, getting up and leaving the office.

****

Friday morning came and Joe stood in front of his closet, towel wrapped around his waist, wondering what to wear. He didn’t really want to dress up; he wanted to blend in for the fun. All of the work shirts were pushed aside. Pretty much all that sat in front of him was plaid.

“Plaid… good deal.” He muttered, pulling out one of his favorite blue plaid shirts. He finished getting dressed, applied some cologne, grabbed his camera and keys and headed for the door.

During his drive to the center he felt elated. He was going to be spending all day with Faith. Well, he’d be working but he’d be working with and around Faith. And the kids… but it was going to be a fun day.

He took the right turn into the center’s parking lot and the first thing he saw was hay. A huge wall of hay bales stacked together. Perplexed, he went and parked the car and climbed out, his ears hit by the sound of children laughing. His nose hit with the smell of apple cider and kettle corn. His eyes hit with the sight of Faith walking towards him in a pair of jeans and a purple plaid shirt, straw hat on top of her head.

“Howdy,” she said with a smile. Joe looked to her hands and saw she carried a similar straw hat to the one on top of her head.

“Hi,” he said, pulling his camera out of its bag and dangling it around his neck. “What’s that you’ve got there?”

“Just a little present for you.” she said, holding it out for him.

“No thanks. Straw hats aren’t my thing.” He said, waving his hands in front of him.

“Oh come on! Everyone’s wearing one.” She said, pointing over her shoulder to the ruckus. Joe looked and did in fact see that every person had on a straw hat. “It’s part of the fall carnival experience.”

“Fine,” Joe said, rolling his eyes. “For the fall carnival experience.”

“Thank you.” she said, smiling as he put it on his head.

“This all looks amazing.” He said as they got closer. He could see pony rides, kids bobbing for apples, pumpkin painting, and many other carnival games. “So… what’s with the hay?”

“Oh, you’ll see.” She said, leading him closer to all the commotion.

As they walked Joe snapped pictures any chance he got. He felt like a kid again, walking through the crowd with Faith, laughing and having fun. He stopped at one of the stands that was set up and grabbed two caramel apples and handed one to Faith.

“Thanks,” she said, taking it from him. “Ready to see what the hay is for now?”

“Absolutely.” He said, taking a huge bite out of his apple causing her to laugh. She led the way through the pandemonium and stopped suddenly, causing Joe to look up.

“Well, here it is.”

“Whoa.” He said in awe, staring in front of him. “Is that a…”

“Hay bale maze.” She said, turning to him, a huge grin on her face.

“Oh we are so going through this!” he said excitedly, rushing ahead and into the start of the maze.

“Wait up!” Faith called, following behind. Joe turned and looked over his shoulder to see Faith running after him and he kept going into the maze, following it to the left.

“Just try and catch me!” he called.

“Oh I will!” she cried.

He heard her but couldn’t see her. He turned to face front again and skidded to a stop at a fork in the path. He couldn’t decide whether to go left or right. Footsteps sounded behind him and he turned to see Faith’s smiling face headed toward him.

“Gotcha!” she cried, running into him, her hands slamming against his chest. “Why’d you stop?”

“I couldn’t decide which way to go.” He said, shrugging his shoulders. He could still feel her hands resting on his chest.

“Well, I think you should follow your own advice.” She said, backing up a little.

“And what would that be?” he asked, his eyebrows furrowing together.

“Turn right.” She said with a smile, turning down the right path. Joe stood there for a moment smiling at her as she walked backwards.

Two meanings for two simple words. Turn right on the path and follow her. Or… could she have possibly meant it just as the song says… turn right into her arms?

Joe shook the thoughts from his mind and followed Faith down the path. As they passed children going through the maze together or with their parents he would take the opportunity to take pictures. While they walked they talked about a lot of stuff. Nothing about Nick or Joe’s non-existent love life popped up. It was just Faith and Joe walking, talking, and enjoying each other’s company.

“That was so fun.” He said as they exited the opposite end of the maze.

“You seemed to enjoy it almost as much as the kids.” She said with a laugh as a few of the children rushed past, squealing with glee.

“I think I enjoyed it more than the kids to be honest.” He said. “But don’t tell them that.”

“Oh I won’t.”

“Faith! Could you come help me here for a few minutes?” April called from the pony ride area.

“Yeah sure.” She called before turning back to Joe. “Be right back.”

“Okay, I’ll roam around and take pictures. Call my cell if you can’t find me.”

“Okay.”

Joe turned away from her and started making his way through the small carnival. He stopped by the bobbing for apples and took pictures of a little brunette girl trying to wrap her tiny mouth around one of the largest apples. A smile formed on his face as he watched her struggle. Her friends around her were cheering her on. Finally, she successfully pulled her dripping wet face out, apple secured between her teeth. Joe snapped a picture and then let his camera dangle so he could applaud.

“Nice job!” he said, holding up a hand for her to high-five. She did so with a huge smile before joining her friends.

“You seem to have a way with kids.” A female voice said behind him. He stood up and turned to see Faith’s boss, Vivienne.

“Oh, hi Vivienne.” He said, sticking a hand out for her to shake.

“Hello. Thank you for coming here to do this. It was very kind of you to help your sister-in-law.”

“Of course. It’s like a win-win situation. I’ll have the photographs for your advertising and I’ll have photographs for my job. My boss wanted something for autumn to put in our ads.” He explained.

“Well, look at that.” She said with a laugh.

“This is really a great job you put on here. The kids seem to love it.” he said, motioning to the whole carnival.

“It’s a tad stressful but seeing their happy faces makes me want to do it all the time. Did Faith tell you we might turn it into an annual event?”

“No she didn’t but that would be great.” He said, bringing his camera up and taking a picture of Faith leading a small brown pony carrying a little blonde boy.

“So, you and Faith are very close for in-laws.” Vivienne said and Joe turned to look at her.

“Yeah but it’s like that with my other sister-in-law too.” He said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Oh. I didn’t know you had another brother.” She said.

“I have three brothers.” He said, his eyebrows furrowing together. “Faith hasn’t mentioned them?”

“Just you… and her husband of course. Though I can’t quite remember his name.” she said, tapping her chin.

“Nick, his name’s Nick. So… She hasn’t mentioned Kevin or Frankie at all?” he asked, still trying to wrap his brain around it.

“No, she mainly talks about you and your job and how funny you are.”

“What does she say about Nick?” he asked and Vivienne shrugged her shoulders.

“Not much. Mainly that he works a lot. She usually gets pretty quiet when she talks about him.” she said.

Joe turned to watch Faith help with the horses again. She caught his eye and waved; a smile on her face. Joe felt Vivienne move forward so she was right next to him.

“When she talks about you,” she said quietly. “I can see the happiness in her eyes. That happiness is gone when she talks about Nick.”

Joe turned his head to Vivienne, mouth open ready to say something but she was gone. He blinked his eyes a few times and turned to look back at Faith but she was gone to. Looking around he tried to find her face again. A tap on his shoulder made him jump.

“Whoa, didn’t mean to scare you.” Faith said with a laugh.

“Oh, there you are.” He said, letting out a breath. “Did you see where Vivienne went?”

“No. Why?”

“She was just talking to me and she disappeared before I could say something.” He said, looking around for her.

“I didn’t see her talking to you.”

“She was standing right next to me when you waved.” He said giving her a nervous smile. Faith shrugged and turned toward a food stand.

“Do you want lunch? I’m hungry.”

“Yeah… sure.” Joe said following her, trying to make sense of everything that had happened in the past few hours. Nothing was coherent. It was just one big mess.