31. Chapter 31

Chapter thirty-one

"Selfies aren't an acceptable form of photography."

A fter a couple tries for perfection, Gage and Sydney were sitting in her kitchen eating breakfast. She made them waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. They were wearing minimal clothing. Him in just his jeans, and her in a t-shirt and her underwear.

Sydney sipped some coffee. "We should work on your acceptance speech."

"For the paper?"

"For the paper and for the town meeting in two weeks."

"The paper will be more of an announcement."

"Right. With a lovely picture of you."

Gage blew out a breath. "I love taking pictures of other people. But I'm not so fond of having my picture taken."

"I'll take it. It's that or a selfie with your phone."

"Don't even go there. Selfies aren't an acceptable form of photography. At least not in my book."

"So you'll let me take some pictures of you? Then you can pick which one you want to put on the front page with your announcement."

"I suppose there's no getting around it."

"Nope."

"We can go to my place later and take some outside shots. I want to portray the real me. And that isn't me behind my desk wearing a suit."

"That's definitely the way to go." She smiled. "This is going to be fun."

"For you, maybe."

"When should we go?"

"After lunch."

She cocked her head. "And what should we do this morning?"

"Hmm." He looked around the kitchen. "We could clean up your messy house."

Sydney picked up a slice of strawberry and threw it at him. "You said you weren't going to look at my messy house."

"That was last night." He picked up the strawberry and ate it. "I can't believe you threw food at me."

"It's not that messy, is it?"

"Um…no. Maybe we could start with the dishes."

"I actually don't have a problem with that. I hate doing dishes."

"I kind of figured that." She picked up another strawberry and cocked her arm, ready to throw it. He held up a finger. "Don't do it."

She grinned, then ate the strawberry. "Do you want another waffle?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Yeah. I'm really hungry."

"All of that striving for perfection can make a guy hungry."

"Just lean against the post and look sexy."

Gage cocked his head at Sydney. "I'm not sure looking sexy is quite appropriate for my mayoral debut photo."

"I know. That part's just for me."

He smiled, and she snapped a photo. "Perfect."

"I don't want to be smiling."

"Why not?"

"Shouldn't I be serious?"

She let the camera hang from the strap around her neck and put her hands on her hips. "Do you want to be known as a serious mayor? Or a cute, sexy mayor with a beautiful smile?"

"Are those my only two choices?" He pushed away from the post and went down the steps. "I think we have enough. Certainly one of the dozen you took will work."

She took a step back. "One more on the steps. Sit and look pensive."

Gage laughed. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Immensely."

He sat on the steps. "One more."

"Look out at the trees."

"Pensively?"

"Yes."

Gage looked beyond her at the trees, and she took several shots. "Hey, that's not one." He stood and went to her again. "Give me my damn camera back."

She handed him the camera. "We should use the rest of the film, right?"

"Yes. On you."

"Me?"

"A much better subject."

"But I'm not headlining the front page on Tuesday."

"Just move around and pretend I'm not here."

"Hmm."

"Relax. This is payback. There are only nine more shots."

"Only nine?"

"Cooperate."

"Yes, boss."

They finished the roll of film, even though Sydney didn't fully cooperate. Then they sat on the front porch. When two deer wandered by, she got excited and Gage shushed her.

"You'll scare them away."

They watched the deer browse on the grass coming up where the snow had recently been. Spring had finally decided to arrive.

When the deer moved on, Sydney looked at Gage. "It's so pretty out here."

"Yeah. I love it."

"Even though you get snowed in once in a while?"

"I never get truly snowed in. I can always walk to Cooper's."

"That's true."

"I lose power quite frequently and cell service is intermittent. But that doesn't bother me."

"And no Wi-Fi?"

"That doesn't bother me either." He leaned forward in his chair. "Let's go into town and developed the pictures we just took."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay out here and relax today?"

"Being in the darkroom is relaxing to me. But we'll come back." He looked at her. "Will you come back with me later and stay the night?"

"Yes."

"Okay. We're going to take the Mustang."

Sydney got to her feet. "You could've led with that. I've always wanted to ride in it."

"Today is the day."

They prepared to go and Gage backed the vintage car out of the garage he'd built to keep it out of the winter weather. He only drove it once the snow was gone. And he stored it in the garage as soon as the first snows fell.

Sydney got in and smiled. "It's so beautiful."

"Cooper and Cabe helped me restore it while we were in high school."

"Where did you find it?"

"When old man Bailey died, it was in his barn. No tires, faded blue paint job, and the upholstery was a mess. But as soon as I saw it, I could see its potential." He looked at her. "Kind of like when I met you."

"Are you saying I was an old wreck of a car?"

Gage laughed. "No. You were obviously beautiful on the outside. But I could see your potential as a journalist and an asset to the paper. I also knew you probably wouldn't put up with my crap. So I figured I was going to be in hot water a lot of the time."

"Yet you hired me anyway."

"And I've never regretted it." He pulled onto the road. "We'll put the top down once we hit the highway."

"Isn't it a little cold, still?"

"Trust me. You'll love it."

When they got to Highway Three, Gage pulled over and put the top down. Then he went to the passenger door. "Okay. You get to drive."

She looked up at him. "What? You don't let anyone drive your precious Mustang."

"Do you want to drive or not?"

"Yes." He opened her door, and she stepped out. "I'm honored."

"When it warms up a little, we'll take it up the mountain."

"That sounds fun."

"It's a blast."

Sydney went around the car and got in behind the wheel. Then she put her hands on the steering wheel. "I'm so nervous."

"Just take it slow."

She pulled onto the pavement and headed down the road at ten miles under the speed limit.

"Not that slow."

She glanced at him, then sped up a little. When Gage heard a siren chirp behind them, he looked over his shoulder and saw Booker's Blazer. He flashed his lights for a second.

Sydney panicked. "Oh, my gosh. What did I do?"

"Nothing that I know of. Pull over."

Sydney pulled to the side of the road, and Booker parked behind her. Then he got out and came up to the window.

She looked at him. "What did I do?"

Booker laughed. "You didn't do anything. I just thought I was seeing things. As far as I know, Gage has never let anyone drive this thing."

She leaned her head against the back of the seat. "You scared the crap out of me."

Gage laughed. "The only thing I could think of was she was driving too slow."

"Is this the first time you let her out of the barn?"

"The car or Sydney?" Sydney swung an arm at Gage and he dodged out of the way. "It seemed like the perfect day to take her out. The car, not Sydney."

Booker laughed. "Clementine is going to be very jealous."

Gage looked at him. "You could not tell her."

Booker cocked his head. "You know how well that always works out for me." He stepped back from the car. "Sorry I scared you, Sydney. You look good behind the wheel."

"It's okay. And thank you."

Gage shook his head. "Yeah. Don't get used to it."

"Are you headed into town?"

Gage nodded. "We're going to spend some time in the darkroom and maybe grab some dinner."

"I'll let you get to it." Booker headed back to his vehicle, and Sydney looked at Gage.

"Lights and siren just to say hi?"

Gage laughed. "It was a bit of a power trip."

"Right. That sounds like Booker."

"Let's get going."

"I'm going to let him go first."

Booker pulled around them and waved as he passed by. Then Sydney pulled onto the road. She glanced at Gage. "Am I the first person to drive this besides you?"

"Cooper and Pax took it out once without my permission. They think I don't know. But I do."

"Oh no. You didn't want to kill them when you found out?"

"Yeah. I did. But then I figured it was some good ammunition. Someday, I'll use it."

They reached the edge of town, and Sydney slowed down even more. She continued to the newspaper office and parked in Gage's spot. When she turned off the motor, she turned to him and smiled.

"Thank you for trusting me with your car."

He took her hand. "I figured since I'm trusting you with my heart. I might as well trust you with my car."

She put her arms around him. "I'll take extra special care of both."