Bentley might have been a cheating asshole, the man knew how to have a good time. He was the only man who had ever covered a bed in rose petals for her, or lit the path to a romantic dinner with a hundred candles. And he was certainly the best kisser she’d ever locked lips with—no doubt because he had plenty of practice.
But still, nearly all her memories of him were good. All except for the really bad ones at the end.
Looking at the picture of the couple, Rori knew exactly why Aimee’s smile was so big, just as surely as she knew that the smile wouldn’t last.
Such was love, the highs and lows of it. Like a drug addiction, really. A drug Rori was happy to say she’d been clean and sober from for just over a year now. She’d tried things her way. She’d tried leading with her heart with unanimous results. Now it was time to give her mom’s approach a shot and let love come and go as it willed and just stick to marrying someone she trusted.
And that, most decidedly, was not Bentley.
So why was she still looking at his picture?
When her phone rang, Rori didn’t hesitate. She embraced the distraction like a lifeline and picked up. “Hello?”
“Hey there,” a happy, baritone voice replied.
It was Mike Cannon, although Rori wasn’t honestly confused to hear his voice. The last time they’d talked he blown her off and then spent the rest of the night bantering with Sydney on his Facebook wall when she accused him of photoshopping the image. Rori had all but written him off.
“I’m calling with a question that has an ulterior motive.”
Great. Just great. Mind games were the last thing she needed at the moment. “Okay.”
“I’ve got two shots to choose from right now. Both are awesome. One tracks the bride from behind as she walks down the aisle, and the other is a stationary shot from the front with the bride walking to the camera. Which would you prefer if you were the client? The track shot or the stationary shot?”
Okay, not what she had been expecting, but it might just be a question she could answer. “How long is her train?”
“Hmm. Six feet, maybe?”
“And do you get it all in the track shot?”
“Of course.”
“Then I think you have your answer,” she said simply. “A woman who goes through the effort of putting a train on her dress has it there for one moment, and one moment alone. For the aisle walk. That’s your shot until she reaches the front row. Then you switch to the other camera.”
“Good call,” he said and Rori could hear the click of his mouse on the other side of the phone.
“That can’t be why you called.”
“Just doing some research,” he said, voice light. “It’s always good to get a feel for a client before doing a job for them. Usually I have them watch a few samples and gauge their reactions to get a feel, but since you’re on the other side of the country, I’m just going to have to settle on a few carefully chosen questions.”
“And asking me about which shot to use helps you how?”
“In many ways,” he said, still sounding like he was multi-tasking as he spoke. “You could have asked me any number of questions about the setting, or no questions at all, but you focused on the dress. Not the veil, not the building, not the size of the room, or the number of people in attendance. You didn’t ask if she was pretty or how high the cameras were or whether the groom could be seen in either of the shots. You asked about the train. That definitely helps as I plan for your show.”
“I still don’t see how.”
He stopped working then. She could tell by the change in his voice. “Well, for starters, you didn’t ask about the bride or how she looked. You asked about the dress. That tells me that you are not interested in having someone follow you around with a camera all night to capture your journey through the evening. You would much prefer if I focused on the art and capturing it in a way that will allow people who can’t come in person to see it without missing any of the details you slaved over. Am I warm?”
Okay, he was good. “More than warm.”
“Told you,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. “Trust me, I won’t have these