fingers resting on my mom’s face. “I’m sorry,” I said as I quickly pulled my hand back.
“It’s okay,” Cassie said, the warmth in her voice comforting. “I always keep copies of the pictures I shoot. Even the ones I did for the magazine. I wasn’t sure if I could still find these so easily or not, but they were right where I thought they’d be on that external hard drive,” she said, pointing to a bright red box that sounded like it was going to crap out at any moment.
“There are so many,” I exhaled, still mesmerized as I stared at the screen, willing the pictures to come to life.
My parents looked so happy and so in love.
Cassie laughed. “Yeah. I always shoot way more than necessary. My motto was basically that it’s better to have too many pictures than not enough.”
Tears spilled down my cheeks. “My mom looks so beautiful.”
Cassie turned to face me. “And you look just like her.”
“You think so?” I wiped at my face, but it was no use.
“Yes, I do,” she said as she stood up from her chair and hugged me before looking right in my eyes. “I’m going to make you copies of all of these, okay?”
I practically stuttered, “Really? Oh, yes. Please. That would be so amazing. Thank you.”
“I’ll email you a link to the files too. That way, you can share them with your dad if you think he’d be up to seeing them.”
I wondered for a brief moment if the pictures would upset my dad or make him happy. “I think he’d love that.”
“Good,” Cassie said with a smile as she passed me a notepad and a pen.
I scribbled my email address down and pushed it back in her direction.
“Do you remember that day? I mean, I know it was a long time ago, but what were they like?”
“I actually do remember parts of it. Your parents were a great team. Even back then. They were so different in the way they came across, but they complemented each other perfectly. Like true partners. Does that even make any sense?” she asked, her head shaking like she was speaking nonsense when she wasn’t.
“More than you know,” I said as I started thinking about my own relationship in comparison to what my parents had been like.
They’d fought for each other, not against. They had been a team, just like Cassie had said. But Jared and I … I wasn’t sure we’d ever truly been on the same page. And we’d grown so far off course that I wasn’t sure we could ever get back. More truthfully, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to or not anymore.
Cassie started laughing softly as she pointed at a picture of my dad cracking up. Him laughing like that was rare. He was always inundated with work. Even when he tried to take time off, work stayed firmly rooted in the back of his mind, his phone never quiet, his wheels always turning. And that laughter had grown even rarer since my mom passed. I used to think that she had taken his smile with her when she left.
“I remember that your dad was trying to look tough for the photographs. He wanted to appear strong and smart. His goal was to attract big-money clients, and he said he couldn’t look soft. But your mom kept making him laugh. I don’t even know what she was doing half the time because I was too busy staring through my lens, but all of a sudden, your dad’s eyes would wander over my shoulder, and a giant, toothy smile would break out of nowhere.”
“That sounds like my mom,” I said almost wistfully.
“It was a good day. Fun. Your dad never remarried, did he?”
A surprised sound escaped me. “No way. My mom was the love of his life. He always said he could never replace her, so why bother trying?”
“That’s really sweet,” Cassie said with a smile before turning serious. “Jack had better feel the same way about me.”
“Are you joking? That man is so in love with you, it’s sick. But not really because who doesn’t want to be loved like that?” I added, feeling way too comfortable already.
“I love the way he loves me. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. There’s a bathroom around the corner if you want to go freshen up. I’ll just copy these for you.”
I nodded. “Thank you again. This is the best gift anyone could give me.”
“What a small world, huh?”
“Yeah, small