How We Are Meant to Be

His mom ended up staying for three days. I only saw her once more and all she did was apologize which got old really fast. I tried to work at all the times she came over and I found great comfort in my office down at the Arena. Even the grounds crew knew that they did not want to come and clean my office until after I was out of it.
When she headed back to Montreal, I started to bring work home to complete it in the comfort of the couch. I liked to be closer to Micah now that he was injured; it was a relaxation thing for me you could say. Slowly, his head started to hurt less and less, so he tried to pick some things up around the house. He went back to building that stupid bookcase that has been sitting in the corner of the living room unfinished for six months. I still got a kick over him trying to understand the directions. He was terrible at putting anything together that came with directions.
It took eighteen days for Micah to stop taking the pain pills. It was a total of twenty one days when the doctor cleared him to do some training. He was not cleared for contact, but everything was in the hands of the team trainer. Micah was so excited because he felt really lazy with no exercise and I knew that this would kick him back into gear. He was excited and so was I.
The night he came home after his first training session, he was ecstatic. He rambled on and on about how well he did considering it had been three weeks since he even picked up any weight or did any training. I guess the trainer had spoken to Coach about it and on Micah’s way out of the Arena, Coach told him that he wanted him to play by the end of next week. It made me a little wary, considering that it was a much more serious concussion than most think it was, but because he was a little out of shape. You can’t do nothing for three weeks and expect to be full-force by the end of ten days.
“It’s great, isn’t it, babe?”
“Huh, yeah, you are right. It sounds amazing for you to go back that fast! I can’t believe Coach actually stopped to say that to you,” I reassured him that I just wanted what he wanted when I knew it might not be the best idea. But I wasn’t the trainer or the doctor, so I have no say. Micah would just think that I did not want him to play for some twisted reason, but I love to watch him play. He is so graceful on the ice. All I want for him is to be able to play, but at 100% and nothing less.
I made him his favorite meal for dinner and he ate it quickly before asking if I wanted to go out for a night on the town. I denied the offer but encouraged him to go with the guys from the team. He changed clothes and headed out a half an hour later planning on meeting the guys with girlfriends or families at home. Not that I would have minded if he went out with the single guys. He is a big boy who I trust with my heart. He would never do anything to hurt it.
I did not wait up for him after I finished editing my photos. I slept peacefully in his bed, wanting to be surrounded by his scent which helped me fall asleep when he wasn’t there to hold me. But I did know the exact moment he joined me because his breath stunk like alcohol and overly so. I have never smelt anything this disgusting unless I was at a bar being hit on by the drunk on a stool next to me. I had to turn myself to face away from him, but he didn’t notice because he had already fallen asleep and I knew that because his breathing was no longer labored, but even. I fell asleep not long after listening to his light snoring.
The next morning, I found Micah getting acquainted with the toilet bowl. He looked horrible. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t have anything nice to say.
With the team having an off-day, I had scheduled two appointments for new clients to photograph. I was meeting both at places they had chosen for their shoots. I left Micah a note of my schedule for the day and what leftovers he could heat up for lunch and the timing before gathering my equipment and heading out to the first location.
On the drive over, I found myself thinking a lot about how I have never seen Micah with a hangover before. In Canada, we were drinking at sixteen, illegally might I add, but he never got overly drunk. He just got buzzed enough to have a good time. When we moved here, we weren’t legal, so we never really drank at all. So I found it strange that Micah was hung-over today. I didn’t think that he would go that overboard after just going back to training, but I guess I am wrong.
I arrive early to get the lay of the land. I was in the dog-friendly park in Sewickley Borough. It is almost the center of town, which makes it an easy spot to get to and almost always filled with people. Even with the mass of people, I managed to find my clients and many spots to photograph them. I, of course, had to watch my step for any missed landmines left by the friendly dogs, but I knew the park was a great place to start a professional relationship with this client.
I noticed the daughters before their mother. Maybe it was because the girls looked so much like their father, the owner of the Slashers, that it amazed me. I was officially introduced to the other half of his family and noticed how beautiful his wife was. Marissa Mahoney was 5 foot 9 in flats with wavy blonde hair that went to her shoulders. Her eyes were piercing in their green color and it matched the color of her daughters. The only thing that I found wrong with the woman was that her chest was most likely fake because no one is that gifted up there.
But the girls, they had red hair, up in two pigtails, and freckles. They were obviously dressed by their mother because they wore complementing colors to their red hair, pale faces, and green eyes. I knew that this mother would get along well with my fashionista sister just by how she dressed her daughters and herself.
With the family was their dog, a trusty Golden Retriever that they called Rudy, or at least that’s what I thought I heard. The dog was well behaved when we headed to the first spot I wanted to photograph. Much to my surprise, the mother did not want to be a part of the pictures and so I took some of just the girls and their dog. We started by the fence line that lined the sidewalk just outside of the park, and then moved to a spot by the creek with some rocks that I positioned the girls on in many different poses. I ended the session by going to the trees and having them play hide and seek from each other. They ran around and I captured them in their joyous states. Their mother wasn’t happy to see them running, falling, and making a mess of themselves. But when she noticed how happy they were, she backed off. I just snapped the pictures and when they deemed themselves tired, I finished the session.
“Mrs. Mahoney, I can have your preliminary prints for you by Monday, will that be okay? I will be able to meet with you and discuss which are your favorites and put together an order to print what sizes and quantities you would like.”
“That will work fine, here’s my business card. Give me a call on Sunday; I will be away on business so call my cell phone. I think it was very successful. They even got to have a little fun. I look forward to your call, thank you for your time, say goodbye, girls,” she instructed the eight year olds. They smiled and waved in my direction before they each took one of her hands and left the park with the Retriever following dutifully. It made me chuckle, but it was their family dynamic.
I looked at my phone to see that the session had taken only an hour, so I was running on great time. I managed to stop by a drive-through to get a burger before heading to the other side of town to the local high school for my next session. I had been told that the client would be on the football field, so I hiked my way around Borough High and found a group of teenage boys playing a scrimmage game. I never really followed football, but I knew a pick-up game when I saw one. A blond boy finally noticed me, standing there awkwardly with a camera, and called a timeout.
“Hey, are you Sydney? My mom was the one who scheduled this thing. It is just me and my friends; we are seniors here at SBHS. I’m Danny.” I replied with who I was and asked him what kind of photos he wanted. I already knew what his mom wanted. “I think some of us playing would be cool, after you get the pictures my mom wants, of course,” he smirked.
“Yeah, just lead the way to where you want to do that,” I suggested. He nodded and ran towards the bench on the sidelines. I followed as fast as I could with my tripod. He stripped off his shirt and changed into a fresh one before coming back towards me.
“We should start by the goalpost, I play running back and kicker, so I score a lot,” he got a little toothy grin on his face. I noticed that he was an attractive kid, darker hair but not so dark, with dimples. It was then that I noticed his fresh shirt to be his jersey.
“Alright, why don’t you stand here so I can get the goal post and its entirety first? Then we will do some closer and a few more in a different spot. Does that work?” he nodded and I instructed him to pose certain ways before we moved to the grandstands where they had the name of the school on one side and the mascot on the other. I put him in the middle and had him posed against the wall it was written on and captured both the words and him. I then went further back to capture both the names in the photo. He wanted a couple with the yardage signs, or whatever they are called, so I took them. It was overall, easy. Then he was satisfied that his mother would be good with those pictures and changed back into his other shirt and joined his buddies on the field. I stayed for a half an hour to take pictures of the pick-up game and put my card in his bag of clothing. They hardly noticed when I left and I took that as an okay thing, between shoots, one of his friends asked me out and I had to tell him that I was one, too old for him, and two, that I had a boyfriend. He was disappointed, but his friends got a hoot out of it.
Overall, I had an amazing day doing my freelancing and I was set to go home and just relax now. Or I was until my friend Allie – the wife of Tagger – texted me, or she texted me during the shoot and I just got it now. I was to call her ASAP. So I dialed her up before pulling out of the high school.
“Hey, Al, what’s up?” I asked her as I connected the blue tooth in my car so I could call hands-free.
“My sister, Andrea, just had a heart attack. Is there any way that you could take Milo tonight while I fly home? Tagger had a business meeting or something about his parents’ estate in NYC. He’ll be home first thing tomorrow.”
“Of course I can, Allie. I’ll be there in ten or so, I’m coming from a shoot.” I backed out of my space and headed to the highway that would get me close to their house just outside of Sewickley. Milo is the Taggers’ son. He is five months old and a handful. He looks just like his Daddy and very little like Allie, but he is nonetheless, adorable. She thanked me before ending the call. I did ring for Micah after the call with Allie to give him a heads-up.
“Hey,” he answered.
“Hey, listen, Allie’s sister is in the hospital in Maine and Tagger’s in NY about his parents’ estate. We have to take Milo for the night until Tagger can get home. He does not need to be travelling to Maine to sit in a hospital.”
“Uh, okay, I guess I’ll clean up the place then. When will you be home?” he sounded better than drunk, so I wasn’t worried.
“Half an hour or so? It will depend on how long I last at Allie’s. She has to be driving herself nuts packing up Milo’s stuff and then stuff for her to take to Maine.”
“Alright, see you then,” I was going to reply with an I love you, but he hung up on me faster than I could say it.
I pulled into the Tagger’s driveway minutes later. I first put in the car seat and then the bassinet before Allie handed me the sleeping baby to put in the car seat. I reassured her that everything would be handled regarding her son for tonight and she should not worry. I knew she would anyways, and probably call us like ten times, but I did it anyways. I got a diaper bag and a bag full of extras that I didn’t look through before I headed back to the apartment on the other side of town.