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Ty walked into the photography studio and looked around. He wasn't sure who he should talk to. He scanned the people in the room noting the makeup artist, the lighting tech probably, and then the tall brunette in her bathrobe, facing away from him. Inya. No one had told Ty she was going to be here. This was the shoot for the cover of the CD. They had done the photography for the interior of the booklet that morning with the whole band. Ty had thought they were done, but then he had been told to report to the studio.
"Oh, good you're here," said a guy who was dressed all in black. "Twenty minutes late."
"Sorry, traffic," Ty said.
"Whatever. Hair, makeup, over here. No over there, you go over there," the guy pushed Ty towards a chair.
Two people crowded in front of Ty. One man, one woman. Hair and makeup respectively, at least as far as Ty could tell from what they were holding in their hands.
"What are we going for here Dylan?"
"Simple, messed up, a little. The I just rolled around in bed nailing Inya multiple times look."
The woman rolled her eyes. The man practically shoved Dylan out of the way znd started poking at Ty's hair with his fingers.
"Not bad, this will work, let me get..." hairdresser guy walked away, muttering to himself.
Ty stole a look at Inya. He wasn't sure if she had heard the nailing her multiple times comment or not, or if she had she just didn't care. Dylan followed Ty's gaze.
"Right, Sara," Dylan called out.
Ty jumped at the mention of Sara's name.
"Do you mind. Sit still, Jesus," the make-up artist cried out.
"Sorry," Ty said.
Ty didn't hear the girl's reply. Inya had turned around, but it wasn't Inya. It was someone else and she was walking towards them.
"Sara, Sara, Sara with an H. Where is your last name? Who cares. This is Ty Winslow."
"Hi," said Sarah, holding out her hand which Ty shook. "Parker, Sarah Parker."
"Sorry, I thought you were someone else."
"Inya?"
"Yes."
"Yes, I look exactly like her, from the back that is," Sarah laughed. "I guess that's why they picked me."
"I wonder why?" Ty didn't finish. Someone pushed a cart out of the way and Ty got his first look at the set they would be shooting on. A bed.
"Why Inya didn't do it?" Sara finished his thought for him. "Well, my daily rate is a lot cheaper, I think. But she did the video for you, so I don't know, you tell me."
"She gets half the ad revenue from the video."
"Oh."
"Ouch," Ty said, when the hair dresser yanked on his hair.
"Hold still," the guy ordered him.
"I'll let you finish up here and I'll meet you over there, I guess," Sarah wandered back to the bed.
Ten minutes later the hair and makeup were done.
"Get his shirt off. Jesus, the hair. Why the hell didn't you have him take his shirt off first? Christ, Bobby.” Dylan was screaming at the hairdresser.
"Sorry," Bobby said then added, "Prick," under his breath. "Mary help me, will ya?"
The makeup artist helped and they carefully pulled Ty's shirt off, by stretching the neck out, as far as they could. Bobby fussed with Ty's hair a little more and then they were ready. Sarah got in the bed. Ty got in with her.
"So we need her back, your face, got it?" Dylan said.
"Got it," Ty said and looked down at Sarah. She shrugged, but pulled the sheet a little closer.
"I won't look," Ty told her.
"Thank you."
The photo shoot was different from the video. Aside from not having to worry about Sarah groping him in front of a roomful of people the way Inya had it was more about getting the perfect pose and holding it. And trying to look perfectly natural while staying perfectly still which was about as unnatural as you could get.
After what seemed to be about several hundred shots, Dylan announced he wanted to look at what they had.
"Don't move," he told Ty and Sarah.
Ty assumed Dylan meant from the bed and flopped down on his back. Dylan didn't scream at him, so Ty figured it was okay. Sarah rolled off her side onto her back, covered herself with the sheet and stretched out next to Ty.
"So you model, huh?" Ty wasn't trying to impress her, he just felt compelled to make conversation.
"Catalogs mostly," Sarah said. "The money's really good. My husband, he can work from home when I need to do a shoot. It works out."
"You have kids?"
"Two boys, five and seven."
The mention of the two boys hurt, more than Ty was expecting. Was he ever going to see Rob and Ben again? And he really needed to call his dad about Rob working in the shop. Shit, how could he have forgotten that? Would Sara even allow it now that things were over between them? Over. "It's not over," Ty thought. It's not.
Ty looked back at the other Sarah and her eyes were sparkling with curiosity.
"Do you have kids?" she asked him carefully.
"No," Ty said. "I dated someone, for a while, who did. That's all."
Sarah looked at him and started to say something, but then Dylan was back and he was yelling that he had told them not to move, hadn't he? Sarah rolled back up on her side and Ty leapt up over her. He laid his hand into the curve of her waist and closed his eyes for one second. For one second he could pretend she was Sara. His Sara.
"Oh, that's brilliant. Why didn't we think of that?" Dylan was yelling again.
Ty looked at Dylan,
"No, shut your eyes again!"
Ty did as he was ordered. The camera clicked and flashed, over and over, and finally they were done. Ty got up. Sarah's robe was lying on a chair, out of the shot and he handed it to her. Then he turned around and watched the crew while she struggled to get the robe on under the sheet. One guy who was watching Sarah a little too intently caught Ty's eye and Ty strode towards him. The guy saw Ty coming, took one look at Ty's face and remembered he was needed somewhere else, fast.
Ty hung out as the crew started packing up. Everyone mostly ignored him. He waited for Sarah to come out from behind the screen where she was dressing. Sarah emerged, looking more mom than model, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, her hair up in a ponytail. She really was very pretty, but from the front no one would ever mistake her for Inya.
Ty asked Dylan if he was free to go and got reprimanded for wasting more of Dylan's time. Sarah watched laughing and shaking her head. Ty joined her as she was going out the door. While they were waiting for the elevator she called home. Ty tried not to listen, but it was next to impossible. Typical what did the kids do today, what's for dinner stuff. The kind of stuff Ty realized he was missing. A lot. Finally Sarah shut the phone off and then the elevator arrived. Ty held the door open for her.
"Would you like to come to the show at "Inya's" Thursday?" he asked her. "You and your husband I mean. I could put your name on the list."
Sarah hesitated.
"You could probably get in anyway, if you walk in backwards, that is. They'll think you own the place." Ty hoped he wasn't making her uncomfortable.
Sarah laughed. "It sounds like a lot of fun, but Thursday, school night, getting a babysitter, I don't know."
"Well, let me put your name on the list, just in case, okay? Sarah Parker was it?"
"Yes."
"And your husband?"
"Gary."
"Okay."
The elevator arrived at the lobby and they got off.
"Goodbye, Ty, I really liked working with you. Thanks for being so nice about..." Sarah didn't finish, but Ty knew what she meant. "Good luck with the tour. I really like your song, you know."
"Thanks," Ty said.
"Is it about...the girl with the two boys?"
"Yeah, it is," Ty admitted.
"She must be really special."
Ty nodded, but he didn't feel like saying anything else. Sarah reached out and patted his arm.
"If it is meant to be, it will work out. I believe in stuff like that."
Ty didn't know what to say to that either, so he just nodded. Sarah turned one way and Ty turned the other. Ty knew she wouldn't come to the show at the club. It had been nice to spend the afternoon working with someone who was so, well, normal.
A couple of days later Ty got the e-mail with the cover art for the album cover, and although he wasn't happy about it, he wasn't surprised. They used the first picture of Ty with his eyes closed. No one, no one else in the world, knew what the look on Ty's face meant. But he did.