June 25, 2012
10:22 A.M.
"Smile girls!" the photographer shouted.
Victoria and Madelyn gave their best cheese smiles as the photographer flashed the camera for the seventh or eighth time. Sam’s face was getting really tired of forming phony smiles.
“How many more of these are we gonna’ do?” Sam asked irritably as the photographer looked at the photo.
“As many as it takes, Sam,” the photographer said. “Don’t you want your best smile on the front cover?”
People are gonna’ find a way to criticize even if I give my best smile ever, Sam thought.
“Alright girls!” the photographer shouted. “Now a silly one!”
Victoria and Madelyn both made the goofiest faces they could possibly make. Because the girls loved pictures so much, they clearly were having a great time. Sam, on the other hand, was so tired of taking pictures that his “goofy smile” felt extremely forced. Then again, all of his other pictures felt extremely forced. Sam could practically see how all the internet comments would turn out.
Victoria and Madelyn began to hop on Sam’s lap. Sam couldn’t help but form a mild grin.
“Daddy! Daddy!” Victoria excitingly shouted as she hopped. “Did I do good? Did I do good?”
“Did I do good?!” Madelyn shouted.
“Girls, you’re doing wonderful,” Sam said. “I’m so proud of y’all.”
“Thank you, Daddy,” Victoria said.
“Can we have ice cream after we finish the pictures?” Madelyn asked.
Sam rolled his eyes. “Yes, y’all can have as much ice cream as you want. But after we’re done.”
“YAY!!” the girls both cried out, bouncing on Sam’s lap crazily.
Maybe we should have salad tonight, Sam thought.
“Okay girls,” the photographer said. “Now give Daddy a kiss!”
Sam leaned down a bit so that Victoria and Madelyn could both kiss him on his cheeks. For the first time since the photo shoot began, Sam actually formed a genuine smile.
“Okay, great!” the photographer shouted after flashing the camera about four times. “Just a few more!”
You said “a few” like fifty times already, Sam thought as his smile faded.
At that moment, the doorbell rang. Sam flinched.
“Gah!! Interruptions!” the photographer shouted, irritably. “Every single time!”
“Ricci!” Sam called.
“On it!” Ricci called back.
“Let’s stay on task!” the photographer shouted. “Back into positions everybody!”
Yeah, let’s get this stupid thing over with already, Sam thought.
“Ice cream!” Victoria and Madelyn both excitingly shouted while bouncing on Sam. “Ice cream!”
After about two more pictures were taken, Ricci suddenly walked into the room.
“Hey Sam!” Ricci said. “Some blonde chick wants to see you. You want me to tell her you’re doing some very important business?”
“Blonde chick?” Sam replied. “What?”
“Some blonde chick with glasses. Kind of looks like an older Michelle Williams. Sort of. Is she some friend of yours?”
Sam suddenly felt quite stiff.
“You want me to tell her that Sam Kruger has a busy life and has no time to catch up on useless old garbage?”
“Please do so,” the photographer said in an aggravated tone of voice. “I only have so much time here! Come on everybody, let’s stay on task!”
“Be right back,” Sam said to the photographer, carefully lifting Victoria and Madelyn off his lap and onto the floor. He quickly walked out of the room and headed downstairs. He could hear the photographer’s grumbling all the way from the bottom of the stairs.
Sure enough, as Sam walked up to the door, he was met with a very familiar and unexpected face.
“Hi Sam.”
Sam was full of so much surprise and shock that it took him nearly a minute to respond. Even then, he was almost completely lost for words.
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“He…He…Heather?”
“It sure has been a while, hasn’t it?”
Heather hardly looked any different than the last time that Sam had seen her. Her wavy blonde hair looked exactly the same, she had the same exact black purse, and she looked as if she hadn’t aged at all in nearly five years. Heather’s only noticeable difference was that her glasses were now red instead of black.
“How…how long…how long have you been back in town?” Sam asked.
“I actually just arrived a few hours ago,” Heather replied. “Man, what an awful flight. A whole bunch of college kids were sitting right behind me. The things those kids talk about, I swear…”
“Did…did you come down to visit?”
“No, I’m actually back for good. At least for now. There’s really nothing left for me in New York.”
“What about the academy?”
“It didn’t work out. Long story. Let’s just say other priorities got in the way.”
“Don’t you still wanna’ be an artist?”
“I’d still like to. Maybe another opportunity will open up for me someday. For now, though, I’m staying here in L.A. I need to figure out what I’m gonna’ do in order to pay the bills. These next couple of days are gonna’ be a pain in the butt.”
“Hmmm. Well…well I hope everything turns out okay.”
“But I’d thought I just quickly stop by and say hi. Just to see how you’re doing.”
“Oh, okay.”
Heather looked around the house for a moment. Sam closed the door and walked over to her. He couldn’t help but tremble a little.
“How did you get my gate code, by the way?” Sam asked.
“Oh, Alan gave it to me,” Heather replied. “We both figured you wouldn’t consider me an intruder.”
“Oh. How did you get ahold of Alan?”
“Well, he still lives in the same place. And he has the exact same phone number. He was pretty happy to talk to me again.”
“Oh, okay.”
“I love your new house.”
Sam snickered. “Not really a new house. I’ve been living here for about eight years.”
“Well, it’s new to me.”
“I guess so.”
“It really is a nice house. Though, you could decorate the walls a little bit better than that.”
“What, you don’t you think my H.P. Lovecraft posters are cool?”
“Of course they are. But you could also go for something a little more colorful and family-friendly. Maybe you can add a little ‘pink, pink, and more pink’ to the walls.”
Heather winked at Sam.
Sam rolled his eyes. “I’m sure my daughters would love that. Oh, speaking of which.”
Victoria and Madelyn both skipped down the stairs and then began to spin and twirl around the room. Heather’s face completely lit up.
“Oh, they’re so beautiful!” she said.
“Yeah, I know,” Sam said, chuckling.
Victoria and Madelyn danced around the room for a little longer and then raced over to Sam and wrapped their arms around him. Sam grinned and patted the girls’ backs.
“Hi girls,” Heather said, waving.
Victoria and Madelyn turned around and stared at Heather for a moment. A very awkward expression suddenly formed on their faces. It seemed to be a mixture of shyness and fear.
“This is Heather, girls,” Sam said, stroking Victoria and Madelyn’s hair. “She’s Daddy’s old friend. Say hi.”
“Hi,” Victoria and Madelyn said very quietly. They both clutched Sam’s arms tightly.
“Hi girls,” Heather said. “I love your dresses.”
“Say thank you, girls,” Sam said.
“Thank you,” the girls said very quietly.
Sam chuckled. “They’re very shy around people they don’t know. Or, at least adults they don’t know.”
“I can see,” Heather said, giggling. “They’re four and a half now, right?”
“Yep, four and a half. Can’t believe they’ve already been in my life for that long.”
“I know, right? I still have that picture of you holding them when they were really tiny!”
“Those old People photos? Yep, I remember those. I didn’t even wanna’ do that photo shoot, but People just wouldn’t stop bugging me. Ughh…”
“Well, the picture is still really adorable.”
“Yeah, I guess so. And speaking of People, I’m actually doing another photo shoot with them right now. Heh, what a coincidence. That’s actually why we’re all dressed up right now. Have to look our finest.”
Wish I actually felt my finest, Sam thought, trying his hardest not to lose his smile.
“That’s wonderful!” Heather said. “I can’t wait to see the pictures!”
Sam merely shrugged.
At that moment, Ricci walked down the stairs. Sam and Heather both looked towards him.
“Didn’t want to be up there with Mr. Hothead,” Ricci said to Sam. “He’s whining like someone killed his father or something. Can’t stand that guy. Hope he crashes his car on the way back and dies.”
“Classy, Ricci,” Sam replied.
“And what was your name again?” Ricci asked Heather. “Sorry, I’m god-awful with names.”
“Heather Greenfield,” Heather replied. “And you are?”
“Riccardo Poletti. Or Ricci for short. I’ve been working for the one and only Sam Kruger for almost eleven years. And there’s no better job out there. And there never will be.”
“Thanks for that lovely introduction, Ricci,” Sam said. “Go get yourself some raspberry tea.”
“Oh sweet!” Ricci shouted. “Be right back!”
Ricci then ran off to the kitchen.
“He’s really interesting to have around,” Sam said, stroking Victoria and Madelyn’s hair. The girls continued to stand close to Sam with nervous expressions on their faces.
“I can tell,” Heather replied. “What happened to Malcolm?”
“Retired. Last time I heard, he was living in San Francisco. I still kind of miss him. But oh well. Ricci does a pretty good job.”
Heather nodded. “Hey, there’s something I wanted to ask you.”
“What’s that?”
There was a very long pause. Sam’s heart began to beat rapidly.
“How are you…are you…is everything…” Heather stammered.
“What?” Sam asked.
“I’m just wondering if…you…”
Suddenly there was a sound of footsteps coming from upstairs. Sam and Heather both turned around.
“Are we gonna’ finish this or what?” the photographer asked, bitterly.
“Can you give me just a few minutes?” Sam asked. “My friend just came over. I haven’t seen her in over-”
“We’re on a very short time limit, Sam! Let’s finish this already!”
Sam groaned out loud.
“I’m very sorry, sir,” Heather said to the photographer. “I’ll go ahead and leave right now.”
“No wait, Heather!” Sam shouted. “You don’t have to-”
“If you have that photo shoot right now, I don’t wanna’ be getting in the way. We can meet up when you’re done. How about we get lunch in a little bit?”
“Umm…yeah. Yeah, we can get lunch. Where do you wanna’ go?”
“Where do you wanna’ go?”
“You pick.”
Heather chuckled. “I pick that you pick something.”
Sam grinned. “Alright. How about Olive Garden? You still love Olive Garden right?”
“I sure do. How can I stop loving Olive Garden?”
“Great!”
“Come on, Sam!” the photographer shouted. “We’re losing daylight!”
Chill the hell out, Sam thought. Seriously.
“Give me a call as soon as you’re done,” Heather said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a tiny piece of paper. “I got a new phone a while back, so here’s my new number.”
“Thanks Heather,” Sam replied, taking the paper. “Yeah, I’ll call you as soon as possible.”
“See you in a little bit, Sam.”
Heather then waved goodbye to Sam, Victoria, and Madelyn and walked out the front door. Sam was about to hold the girls’ hands and walk upstairs, but they suddenly held their arms up towards him.
“Carry us!” Victoria and Madelyn both begged. “Carry us!”
Sam smiled and lifted both the girls up. He couldn’t help but constantly look back at the door as he walked up the stairs.
Didn’t see that coming, Sam thought.