Bethany fixed her daughter’s dress as she positioned her in the small chair, just as Jessie had instructed. The little girl was fidgety, but that was normal for a toddler.
Jessie made a note to up the box of toys she’d planned to have in the studio. Over the past two weeks, she had photographed every young Walker. This was the last, and she’d never say it aloud, the most precious.
Abigail Walker had a cherub face and Shirley Temple curls and was the spitting image of her mother.
“Sit very still,” Bethany instructed her daughter as she backed away from the chair.
Abigail’s eyes went wide and then Jessie distracted her with a funny squeaky toy. When she laughed, Jessie knew she’d captured the most perfect portrait of the child.
She heard the front door open, but she didn’t move from her perch. Abigail was just warming up, and Jessie was sure that the movie star in her was about to bust loose—after all, she was the daughter of a former movie star. It was to expected.
“Hey,” Bethany whispered as the person who had walked through the door walked into the studio. Jessie didn’t have to turn to know it was Todd. She could sense him now, and it warmed her from head to toe.
However, when Abigail saw her uncle, the session was over as she bound from the little chair and straight for his arms.
“There’s my big girl,” he said, picking her up and planting a noisy kiss on her cheek.
“I think you just ruined her session,” Bethany said, but Jessie turned the camera on them, and kept snapping.
The littlest Walker babbled to her uncle, and he hung on every note of her voice. He’d nod his head and agree to anything she mumbled as she played with the button on his shirt, or the pen behind his ear.
These were the moments worth capturing, Jessie thought.
She wasn’t oblivious to what seeing him coo over the little girl was doing to her insides. Sexy wasn’t a shirtless man on the cover of some magazine. No, it was a man holding a child he adored.
They finished the session, with Uncle Todd in the background, and that seemed to bring out an extra sparkle in Abigail’s eyes. She too was obviously as taken by the man as Jessie was.
When they finished, Bethany packed up her daughter, and they both hugged Jessie and Todd before heading out the door.
“I didn’t mean to hijack your session,” he admitted as he pulled Jessie to him and kissed her gently on the lips. “This was all I was coming for.”
“She’s enamored with you,” Jessie said as she lifted her arms to drape around his neck. “I think they both are. It’s nice to see a family that’s so close.”
“You’re close with yours.”
“Yes, and that’s a rare thing.”
“As dysfunctional as my family is, you’re right, all of us are close. We have each other’s backs.”
“It shows.” Jessie looked around the room. “I just have to clean up props and then I’m done here.”
“I have one more meeting,” he said with a sigh as he ran a hand up Jessie’s back. “What do you say to a quiet evening at home?”
“I say that sounds nice.”
“And what do you say to having that quiet evening at my home? The one out by the ranch?”
Jessie eased back to take him in. “Your house? I’ll admit, I forgot you had that house.”
Todd chuckled as he lifted his hand to her hair and tucked a loose strand behind her ear. “I forget it too. I haven’t checked up on it in a while. Besides, a night under stars that aren’t clouded over by city lights is what my soul could use right now.”
“That sounds nice.”
“You finish up and go home. I’ll meet you at your place and then we’ll head out.”
Jessie nodded and nipped his lips with one more kiss. “I’ll grab some groceries. I’m thinking anything you have there won’t be something I don’t want to eat.”
Todd finished his meeting, which landed him another wedding reception for the hall, and an appointment with Pearl for a dress selection. Phillip had called and asked for more footage of the parking lot, hoping to catch a car that might have driven by after they broke into another store.
The drive to Jessie’s had became as normal to him as breathing. He found that he enjoyed every moment with her. Were they just having fun, or was this going to turn into something serious?
When he thought about it, it was serious. In the month they’d been together, they’d lived together, worked together, and had most meals together.
Last week she’d taken him home to have dinner with her parents, which he thought had gone well. And Glenda had invited them for dinner the following Sunday.
As he pulled up to Jessie’s house, he laughed at the thoughts that had been occupying him on his drive about being Todd plus one when invited to dinners and functions—forever. Forever was a long time to plan for when he’d only been with Jessie for a month.
He noticed her walk by the window, and his heart rate kicked up. Did love really have a time frame? Any hesitancy on his behalf was him projecting his father’s life on his own. In his heart, he knew that he loved Jessie and when the moment was right, he’d tell her. But he wanted that moment to be special.
She stopped by the window and looked out to him sitting in his truck. With a quizzical look, she waved.
Todd waved back and climbed from his truck. Yeah, he thought, he’d make the moment special when he told her how he felt. But he wouldn’t wait much longer.