‘Of course, I’ll do it straight away. Is there anything you need for your shots first?’
‘No. I’ll sort that out for myself.’
He felt a pang of guilt as she nodded and slunk away, but he couldn’t have her social life interrupting his work. Her social life. Envy pierced him as he thought about what she might have been doing last night and who she might have been doing it with. She was young and attractive, if in a girl-next-door kind of way, and she could be with whomever she wanted to.
He watched as she carried the mounted steps across the square towards the Mary Poppins statue. She was probably cursing him like mad, he thought now, judging by the way her forehead was creased in a frown and how her jaw was held tightly, as though to stop herself from saying what she really thought of him. He didn’t blame her really. Okay, so maybe he had a right to tell her off today, but most of the time he was exceptionally short with her for a completely different reason. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, as unprofessional as it was, the honest truth was that his feelings for her were growing by the day. Being grumpy with her was one way he could stop himself from telling her how he really felt.
* * *
An hour later and it had begun to rain, putting an end to the hope of getting any more decent shots.
‘Come on, we might as well call it a day. Go back to the studio and see if we’ve got anything salvageable.’
Anna felt a pang of guilt at his words. If she hadn’t overslept, they might have been able to get some better shots earlier. She hated to think what would happen if they had to reshoot. Would he want to take the cost out of her wages? She hoped not, she certainly couldn’t afford it.
They packed up in silence. It wasn’t until he was driving back to the studio that she attempted to apologise again.
‘Daniel, I really am sorry about this morning.’
‘I don’t need to know,’ he said. Then he added more softly, ‘Look, it’s not as important if we’re in the studio, but if we’re out on a shoot or up against a deadline then I need to know I can rely on you.’
‘You can. This was just a blip. Last night I—’
She was about to explain her family situation but he interrupted her.
‘Let’s just move on, shall we?’
‘Sure,’ she replied and lapsed into silence. But she couldn’t say she was happy. He’d automatically assumed she’d been late because she’d been out drinking — her red puffy eyes had probably made him think that. Would he even believe her if she told him it was because she’d spent most of last night crying? Even though she felt they treated her badly, after what they’d all been through her family was important to her. She just wished they could show her a little bit of respect in return.
She supposed it was natural for Daniel to automatically assume she’d had a heavy night out. It’s what most people her age did, not running a household and looking after grown men who couldn’t seem to do anything for themselves. If she told him a bit more about her family life, it might help them get on better and stop him making assumptions about her. But nowwas certainly not the right time, as he’d made it quite clear he wasn’t interested in any of her explanations.
* * *
‘It’s no good.’ Daniel sighed after spending an hour poring over the photos he’d uploaded from the camera. ‘None of these are suitable. We’re going to have to reshoot.’
His words filled Anna with dread. Was he going to blame her for this?
‘Let me have a look,’ she said, desperate to try to salvage the situation.
‘What, think you know better than me?’
He gave her a sideways glance. She was amazed to see there was almost a twitch of a smile on his lips.Where had that come from?
‘No, of course not, just a different perspective, that’s all.’
‘Fine, fill your boots. I’m going to make a coffee. You want one?’
‘Please.’ She nodded and settled down into his chair, scrolling through images. She was filled with despondency when she realised he was right. The light was poor on all of them. She selected three that might be salvageable and tried to filter the light to make them more presentable.
‘How about these three?’ she asked when he returned with the coffees.
He paused for a moment, considering, as she flicked through them.
‘Um, they’re okay, I suppose. But I don’t think they’d withstand being blown up into large posters. Are they the only ones you found?’
‘Just about.’
‘Then we are going to have to reshoot. The promoter needs more than three and they’ve got to be much better than this.I’ll give them a ring and explain about the weather. In the meantime, do the best you can with those — we’ll send them through and see what they say. Let’s hope we can reschedule for tomorrow and get some better weather. Can you look up the forecast for me?’
