Portrait of Love Read online

  two

  Christina’s flight was two hours late. Mandy had thought to check the flight before leaving to pick her up, but she left early to avoid talking to Tony more than necessary—at least until she had time to process his being there. Why did he have to be so nice and so. . .good-looking? When Mandy arrived at the terminal, she spotted Christina standing between two tall, very attractive men. The only surprise was that Christina was already there—not the fact that she was flanked by guys.

  Mandy popped her trunk, and the guys loaded it. “Thanks for everything,” Christina said. “I hope your mother gets better soon.”

  “Thanks, Chrissy, I’m sure she’ll be fine,” one of the men said.

  The other guy looked like he was about to hug her, but when she leaned away from him, he pulled back. “Try to look at the bright side of things. Call me if you need more advice.”

  “Thanks, guys.”

  “Nice talking to you, Chrissy.”

  As soon as Mandy got in the car and snapped her seat belt, she turned to her sister. “Chrissy? I thought you hated people calling you that.”

  Christina shrugged. “A lot has changed since I left.”

  Mandy gave her a once-over before starting the car and pulling away from the curb. “You’ll have to tell me all about it after I get off work tonight. I’ll take you to Mom and Dad’s, but I have to run back to the studio.”

  “Can’t you take some time off?” Christina sounded hurt. “Mom says you haven’t taken a vacation since you started that job.”

  “There’s been a new development at work, and I’m not sure what’s going on,” Mandy explained. “I have a new boss.”

  Christina groaned. “Is this person a jerk, or something?”

  “I can’t tell yet, but so far, he seems okay.”

  “Did he get the job you were talking about applying for?”

  Mandy nodded. “Yeah, and not only that, his uncle is head of the company.”

  “Sorry, sis. That’s always the way it is, though.”

  “Okay, what gives?” Mandy asked. “I’ve never seen you so negative. What happened in LA?”

  Christina lifted her hands and dropped them in her lap. “So many things I don’t even know where to begin. That place is insane.”

  “Did you expect anything else?”

  “I knew it would be different from here, but I figured once I got to know the right people, things would fall into place.”

  That’s how it has always been for Christina, Mandy thought. Between her sweet disposition and drop-dead gorgeous looks, most people loved her. She was smart, too, but no one ever bothered to take the time to find that out.

  “You weren’t there long, though,” Mandy said softly. “Maybe you just didn’t give it enough time.” She cut her glance over to Christina who smoothed the side of her skirt.

  “I was there long enough to realize that’s not what I really want. There’s so much more to being an actor than acting.”

  Mandy chuckled. “It’s like that with everything.”

  “I’m sure it is, but I like it here better, where you can take people at face value and not some image they’ve created for the public.”

  “Wanna talk about Joe?” Mandy patted her sister’s hand. “I understand if you don’t.”

  “I guess I might as well tell you now,” Christina said. “Joe was such a sweet guy at first. He even went to church with me, but then he got offered this really big part, and suddenly I had to take a backseat to his career, and church wasn’t important to him anymore. I just never saw it coming.”

  “Is that why you left LA and came home—just because some guy dumped you?” The instant the words left Mandy’s mouth, she regretted the harshness. “That didn’t come out right.”

  “Nah, that’s okay. I know what you’re saying. It’s not the whole reason, but after all the stuff I went through, it was the final straw.”

  They’d reached their parents’ house. Mandy turned off the car and turned to face her sister. “I have to get back to the studio, and I’m working late tonight, so why don’t you relax with Mom and Dad, and we’ll get together tomorrow after I get off?”

  “Sounds good.”

  As soon as they had all of Christina’s bags in the foyer, Mandy left. All the way back to work, she thought about the parallel between her and Christina’s lives. Both had high expectations, and now they faced disappointment due to naïveté.

  Mandy found a parking spot close to the studio entrance. She took a few deep breaths before getting out of her car and heading back to work. Fortunately, her appointment hadn’t arrived yet, so she had time to get the studio ready before the children came in. She headed to the back with props in one basket and candy in another.

  “Are you always this organized?”

  She glanced up to see Tony leaning against the studio door frame, one long leg crossed over the other, arms folded, eyes twinkling, and his lips twitching into a grin. So far, with the exception of the fact that he had the job she wanted, there was nothing about this man not to like.

  “Makes it a lot easier to handle squirmy kids.”

  “No wonder you’re one of the company favorites.”

  She lifted one eyebrow and looked at him. The fact that he was trying too hard to be nice bugged her. He glanced at her in amusement.

  “Maybe you’ll want to give me some pointers before I start working with the children.”

  Mandy paused, hand in midair. “Haven’t you worked with children before?”

  He shrugged. “Just a few times—but I always had their parents’ help. I’d like to be able to do it on my own like you do.”

  Mandy shook her head. This was so unfair.

  Then she remembered the sermon from a few weeks ago about how life wasn’t fair. She swallowed hard and tried to focus on how much more Jesus had to face than she ever would.

  “Will you be able to work with me, Mandy?”

  She knew he’d closed some of the distance between them, but she didn’t look up. “Yes, of course.”

  “I believe in open communication, so if there’s anything you want to discuss, don’t wait until it’s too late.”

  “Too late?” She snapped her gaze to his.

  “I don’t want you to worry about anything. If you need to discuss something, I want you to let me know right away, instead of assuming things.” His empathetic—or was it sympathetic?—expression made her stomach churn. “And now that I’m here, you don’t have to take on so much responsibility.”

  She bristled. “Okay.”

  Mandy wished Tony would leave her alone to do her work. With him standing there, watching, concentration was difficult.

  “Just wanted to make sure.” The phone rang. “I’ll get that.”

  After he left, she quickened her pace. She adjusted the last light when Tony appeared at the door.

  “Your sister needs to talk to you.” He held the cordless phone toward her. “I’ll finish up here.”

  “No need. I’m done.” Mandy took the phone and walked toward the hallway leading to the offices and storage area. “I won’t be long.”

  Christina got right to the point. “Mom wants to know if you can come for dinner.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “She’s making chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes and gravy.”

  Mandy laughed in spite of her frustration. “She sure knows how to lure me in.”

  “It was my idea,” Christina said. “I wanted to make sure you came.”

  “That’s very sweet, but my job—”

  “I miss you, Mandy. Please come, do this for me. It’ll be like old times.”

  Old times, where the family sat around the table, Mom at one end and Dad at the other. All the attention would be focused on Christina and whatever she’d been up to lately. Okay, so she was being childish.

  “Let me see what I can do. One of the part-timers is scheduled to come in, so I might be able to get away.”

  “Call and l
et us know, okay?”

  “Sure,” Mandy said. “I gotta run. My appointment will be here any minute.”

  She clicked the button to disconnect and brought the phone to the office to place it back on the cradle. Tony still hadn’t changed anything in the room. Even her mints remained untouched.

  “Everything okay?” Tony hovered in the doorway, watch-ing her.

  She nodded. “My sister wants me to come to my parents’ house for dinner. I told her I’d have to get back with her, since it’s one of our late nights.”

  “You should go.”

  “Bella is scheduled to come in at four thirty, and she’s pretty good with the kids.”

  Tony pursed his lips for a moment before speaking. “I’m perfectly capable of handling clients.”

  “I didn’t say—”

  “You and I need to sit down and come to some terms, Mandy. Yes, I understand if you have hard feelings toward me, but we’ll be working together—at least until Uncle Ed thinks I’m ready for the home office. If I hadn’t taken time out to join the army, I’d be where I want to be right now, but until then—”

  “I don’t have hard feelings.” At least she didn’t want to.

  A sympathetic grin flashed over his lips. “Good. But we still need to talk. Maybe we can squeeze in some time between appointments.”

  The electronic buzzer sounded, alerting them that her appointment had arrived. “Sounds good.” She took off toward the front and greeted the family. “What a pretty dress, Audrey!”

  “My mommy got it for me.” The little girl gestured toward her sister. “Anna got a new dress, too.”

  “Both of you look so nice. Come on into the studio, and we’ll get started.”

  The girls had been to the Small World Portrait Studio before, so they knew the ropes. Mandy waved at their mother, who waved back as she sat down with a magazine. Mandy noticed Tony’s eagle eyes, watching, waiting. Her hands shook until she was out of his vision.

  “If we’re good, do we get candy?” Anna asked.

  Mandy tilted her head and nodded. “Absolutely.”

  Anna giggled and poked Audrey in the side. “Don’t make baby faces when she takes our picture. I want candy.”

  If Tony hadn’t made another appearance, Mandy would have commented, but he managed to render her incapable of her normal silly retorts that resulted in giggles from the kids. Instead, she lifted the multicolored toucan from the basket of props. “Say hi to Mr. Toucan.”

  She snapped the shot at the precise moment both girls grinned. Her next prop was a soft, brown teddy bear.

  “Can I hold him?” Audrey asked as she stuck her thumb in her mouth.

  Anna yanked on Audrey’s hand. “Don’t act like a baby, or we won’t get any candy.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Mandy had enough shots for the girls’ mother to choose from. As soon as Mandy was done, Tony lifted the basket of candy and motioned for the girls. Mandy started to tell him to hand them each one piece, but before she had a chance to say a word, they rushed toward him and knocked the basket out of his hand, sending candy flying in every direction.

  Anna squealed with delight, and Audrey gathered as much as her tiny hands would hold. Anna pointed to Mandy, who gave them the sternest look she could manage. “Put it back in the basket, Audrey. Miss Mandy only lets us have one.”

  Audrey pouted but did as her sister told her. “I want two pieces.”

  Mandy sighed. “Okay, just for being such good girls and helping me pick up all this candy, you may each have two.” A couple of minutes later, all the candy was back in the basket and each child had a lollipop with a safety stick. “Give me a few minutes to organize them, and you can see what we have,” Mandy said to their mother.

  Anna and Audrey sat down at the play center in the corner of the waiting area, while their mother continued to read her magazine. Tony joined Mandy as she organized the pictures on the computer screen.

  “You’re a gifted photographer,” he said softly. “I only have one concern that I didn’t think about until after the, um, candy incident.”

  She paused and turned to face him. “A concern?”

  “Was it okay with your manager to bribe kids with candy? What if their parents don’t approve?”

  “When I suggested giving the kids little rewards, Parker said it would be okay, so we always ask the parents when we book the appointments and note it in their files. Most parents don’t mind candy, but if they do, we have other thank-you rewards like stickers or age-appropriate trinkets. A little positive reinforcement can go a long way.”

  Tony studied her then nodded. “Sounds like you have everything under control.” He shook his head and laughed. “You were good back there. I had no idea what to do.”

  I have control over everything but my career. “When people pay to get photos of their children, they expect us to do it right. There’s such a small window of opportunity.”

  He lifted his eyebrows. “True.”

  “Do you have children?” The instant those words left her mouth, she regretted saying them. Tony’s personal life wasn’t any of her business. But now that she’d brought it up, she wanted to know.

  It didn’t seem to bother him. “Not yet.” After a brief pause, he added, “I’d like to someday, though—when the right person comes along.”

  “Sorry, it’s none of my business.” She cast her glance downward.

  “That’s okay, Mandy. We’ll be working closely, and I don’t mind if you ask personal questions.”

  He obviously hadn’t read the same manual as Parker, the former manager, who felt that work should be all business and personal lives should remain at home. That had taken some getting used to, but she’d adapted and appreciated it after he quit. Not knowing much about the man had been a blessing when she didn’t feel anything but the combination of annoyance that he’d left without warning and relief he was gone.

  After she had all the pictures arranged and the girls’ mother had chosen those she wanted made into prints, Tony encouraged Mandy to call her sister back and accept the dinner invitation. “After I get back to Atlanta, you better believe I won’t turn down a good meal,” he said with a smile.

  Maybe she should stay at the studio and send Tony to her parents’ house instead. The thought flickered through her mind so quickly she caught herself smiling.

  “I’m glad I made you smile,” he said. “Now go on and have fun with your family. We’ll be fine here.”

  She nodded then looked pointedly at her watch. “It’s not time yet.”

  “Committed to your job.” He paused and looked at her. “Every manager’s dream.”

  She didn’t want to be the manager’s dream; she wanted to be the manager. All kinds of sarcastic thoughts darted around in her mind, but she knew enough to keep them to herself.

  Christina answered the phone when Mandy called to accept the dinner invitation. “I am so excited! It’ll be like old times.”

  “Yeah. Old times.”

  She’d barely hung up the phone when Tony walked up. “Everything okay?” The look on his face was one of concern.

  “Sure.” She smoothed the sides of her pants. “Thanks for giving me some time off this evening.”

  “It’s not exactly time off,” he reminded her. “You’ve already worked more than forty hours this week. I don’t want you getting burned out.”

  “I don’t think my work is suffering.”

  “That’s not what I’m saying.” His instant seriousness disarmed her.

  Mandy had to clear her throat. “I’ve always been committed to my job,” she said softly. “I don’t mind working long hours.” She left out the fact that she didn’t have anything or anyone to go home to.

  He chewed on his bottom lip for a few seconds. “That’s going to change. From now on, you’ll only work forty hours. If my uncle or cousin saw you were still working long hours, they would be upset with both of us.”

  “I understand.”

  He looked at
her then nodded.

  She would have preferred his job—not fewer hours. “I have work to do.” She turned around and walked away, leaving him standing there alone. It took the rest of the time in the studio to calm down, and when it was time to leave, she stuck her head in his office. “I’m going now.”

  He narrowed his eyes and nodded without saying a word. That was just fine with Mandy.

  When she got to her parents’ house, she was annoyed even more that their mother was treating Christina like a child. Occasionally, Mandy caught Christina studying her as if seeing her for the first time.

  “What?” Mandy finally asked.

  Christina tilted her head and pouted. “You’re mad at me, aren’t you?”

  “No.” Mandy realized she was taking her frustrations out on her sister. “It’s just that work, well—”

  “You work entirely too many hours. You need to get out and have some fun.” Their mother looked at Christina. “Perhaps the two of you can find something interesting to do.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Christina said.

  “Now that we have a new manager, I’ll have more time. He’s trying to cut back on overtime.”

  “You have a new man in your office?” Their mother leaned forward and grinned. “Is he single?”

  “Mo–om,” Mandy groaned. “He’s my boss. That’s it.”

  “You never know,” Mom said. “Lots of women meet their future husbands at the office.”

  Maybe so, but Mandy would be willing to bet those future husbands didn’t steal the jobs those women wanted. “Let’s just drop this, okay?”

  After dinner, Mandy automatically started clearing the table. Christina was about to go into the living room, until she locked gazes with Mandy. She pursed her lips then lifted some dishes and followed Mandy into the kitchen.

  “You don’t have to do that,” their mother said. “You just got home.”

  Mandy held her breath, waiting for Christina to put every-thing down. To her surprise, Christina shook her head. “I don’t want Mandy stuck with the cleanup. It’ll go faster if I help.” She made a shooing gesture. “Why don’t you go hang out with Dad while Mandy and I load the dishwasher?”

  After their mother left, Christina turned to Mandy. “Now I get why you always acted the way you did.”