My Life After the Disaster

Chapter Seven

-Thursday, July 20th, 2023-

I’m all dressed in my new green dress and I just finished doing my makeup. It’s 9am so I have an hour and a half till my photo shoot and I’m so excited for it. I can’t wait to get my new head shots done. I want to get some full body photos too. I run out of my room, jumping up and down and head into the living room to sit down on the couch.

Guinevere comes over and sits beside me on the couch. “You look gorgeous Rose. That dress really suits you. And your eyes look so green right now,” she tells me, turning to face me.

“Thank you. I picked this dress for that very reason. And I love the way it looks on me. You’re coming with me to the photo shot aren’t you?” I ask her, placing my hands in my lap.

“Yes, of course. I’m going to drive you there. Then I’ll watch the magic happen as you get your photo taken. Your agent knows that I’m taking you?” She asks me, getting up from the couch. She heads into the kitchen to get something for us to eat.

I get up and follow her, leaving my purse on the couch where I was sitting. “He knows, yes. He sent me a text message last night with the details and I told him that you would be driving me there. He will just meet us there. And he said he can’t wait to meet you. I tell her, leaning up against the door frame.

“That’s good. I’ll be glad to meet him too,” she tells me, digging through the fridge.

I walk over to the little kitchen table and sit down. “How are you feeling now that you don’t have to go to work everyday?” I ask her, curious to see what she says.

She pulls some left over pizza out of the fridge and sticks it into the microwave, saying, “Honestly, I woke up this morning thinking I had to go into work then I remembered that I sold my company and I can sleep in or go do whatever I wanted to do. I feel strange but amazing all at the same time.”

“That’s good then. As long as you don’t regret it. Because that would suck,” I tell her, sitting back in my chair.

She takes the pizza out of the microwave and brings it over with her to the table, putting it down. “Yeah, I definitely don’t and won’t ever regret selling my company. That place had 25 years of my life. I’m done with it. And starting a new chapter. The Billionaire’s Life,” She says, laughing about it.

“If you want to stay a billionaire you’ll have to make some investments. When all you do is spend the money, it goes down and never grows. Also, I’m not going to eat that. It’s full of grease. Do you have any fruit in there?” I ask her, pushing away from the table.

“I already started a savings account. Like a trust fund. I put away a hundred million dollars for it to grow. And I left it in your name,” she tells me, looking over at me.

“Why would you put it in my name?” I ask her, shocked as I walk over to the fridge. I open the door and take out some blueberries. I bring them over to the sink and wash them off.

“Because you’re my sister’s daughter and I’ve always felt like you were the daughter I never had. It’s why I’ve always spoiled you,” she tells me, eating the leftover pizza.

I sit back down at the table with the blueberries and start eating them. “Okay. Thanks then. But I already got my parents money. They weren’t billionaire’s but they also weren’t poor. They had about 500,000 dollars when they died. And that all went to me. Along with the house. I will never live in that house. I’ll have it cleaned and then sell it. Since my parents were murdered in that house it’ll likely sell for less than it’s worth. But that’s okay…” I trail off as I look out of the kitchen, staring into space.

“Okay. Enough about money. Let’s eat and hit the road,” she tells me, shoving some more pizza in her face.

An hour passes by so we head out into the garage, get into Guinevere’s car and head off to the photo studio that I’ll be taken my head shots and body shots at. It doesn’t take long, just about ten minutes of driving. When we pull up to the photo studio were 15 minutes early.

I get out of the car and spot Adrian’s car close to the building. He gets out of his car when he sees me.

“Hey there gorgeous girl. You’re looking fine this morning. I love that dress on you,” he tells me, making his way over. Then he spots Guinevere coming out on the driver’s side and says, “You must be the aunt, it fabulous to meet you.”

Guinevere comes over to us and looks at Adrian, smiling, “Thank you young man. It’s lovely to meet you as well. Shall we go inside?”

“I think we shall,” I say, making my way towards the door.

We all head inside and walk over to the area that was set up for taking photos.

As soon as we walk in Guinevere freezes in place, she spots the photographer, he’s an older looking man and he’s holding a camera.

“Guinevere?” he says, spotting my aunt. “Is that really you?” He sets his camera down on a table and walks over to her.

“Joseph Miller, I thought I’d never see you again. What are you doing here?” she asks him, looking shocked and confused.

He touches her face, smiling as he does so and says, “It really is you. Oh Guinevere. I never stopped loving you. I met other woman as I went on fighting for our country but none compared to you. I got into photography and came back here to find you but I couldn’t . And now, here you are.”

“You waited for me, never marrying?” she asks him, looking hopeful.

“Yes my love, only you reside in my heart, no one else. My heart beats for you,” he says, then pulls her close and kisses her passionately on the lips.

I walk away and go over to stand on the mat. I’ll give them some privacy. Adrian follows me, not really wanting to see that.

“Did you know that was going to happen,” he asks me, glancing over in their direction.

“Not really, no. I had no idea what he looked like, just his first name. My aunt had told me about him a few days ago. She’s never stopped loving him either. I feel like this was fate stepping in to bring them back together. She just sold her company and it was that company that stopped her from following him,” I tell him, smiling at the thought of it. I’m happy for my aunt. She deserves to be happy.

“So this beautiful girl here is your niece?” I hear Joseph say as they make there way over to us.

“Yes. I never got married or had any kids of my own. My sister had one child, a little girl. When her and her husband were killed she was left in my care. She’s the only family I have left. But she looks just like her mother,” Guinevere tells him, smiling over at me.

“Okay guys, I booked this space to get Rose’s head shot and body shot done. If we could move along to that, that would be great,” Adrian says, using his authoritative voice.

Joseph looks over at me and Adrian and says, “I’m so sorry about that Mr. Mills, I will do that right now.” He then picks up his camera and tells me to stand up against the green screen.

Adrian moves off the mat and I go up against the green screen, standing straight and looking directly at Joseph.

Joseph takes a couple photos then he tells me to do some poses and takes some more photos of me, moving around to get different angles. “Perfect. You’re doing great,” he tells me, snapping some more photos. He pulls the camera away and looks through the photos he took of me. “Looks like we’re all finished here. I will have these uploaded to my computer and edited. Then I will send them off to you.”

“Thank you very much Joseph, always a pleasure to work with you,” Adrian tells him. He then walks back over to me and takes my hand. “Would you walk with me outside for a minute. I wanted to talk to you about some work you might be interested in doing?”

I nod my head and say, “Sure, what kind of work are we talking about?” I signal to my aunt that I’ll be right back then follow Adrian outside.

“Well, I got two new modeling jobs that I thought you would be perfect for. But if you’re not interested then I can give them to my other clients. The first one is for a car show, which is happening next week, you’ll have to wear a bikini. The other one is on Saturday, it’s a fashion show, you’ll be wearing whatever outfit they want you to show case. This job requires more than one model so you would be one of five girls. What do you think?” He asks me, closing the door behind us.

“I guess I’d be okay doing both jobs. What day next week will the car show be? Just out of curiosity,” I asked him, turning to face him.

“Friday, the 28th of this month. It starts around noon, right after lunch,” he tells me, letting go of my hand.

“Alright, I’ll just put that in my phone calendar. What time is the fashion show on Saturday?” I ask him, taking my phone out of my purse.

“It’s at 3pm. I can pick you up and take you there,” he tells me, looking straight at me.

I put the information into my phone then I put it into sleep mode and stick it back into my purse. “Thanks Adrian. That should be fine. It’ll give my aunt some time with her long lost love. I’m sure they’re making plans right now to go on a date,” I tell him, smiling about it. “I’m going to head back inside. I’ll see you on Saturday.” I turn around and head back inside.

I hear Guinevere laughing playfully almost like a teenaged girl. The sound of it makes me smile. “I really should be getting my niece back home. But everything is paid for and I would love to go on that date with you. Saturday, for lunch. I’m looking forward to it.” She says. Then I hear what sounds like kissing.

I turn the corner to see the two of them in a loving embrace kissing like it was their last kiss ever and the world was coming to an end. That is just the sweetest thing ever. I wish I had that kind of love.

Joseph reluctantly pulls away from Guinevere, staring lovingly into her eyes. “Alright my love, I’ll see you on Saturday. I’ve got your number and you have mine so don’t be scared to give me a call if you want to talk,” he tells her, tucking her hair behind her ear.

Guinevere smiles and leans in again, kissing him one last time, this time not as desperately. Once she pulls away she says, “I love you Joseph Miller. Don’t you ever forget that.”

“The two of you are so sweet. I could watch you all day,” I say, walking over to them.

They pull away from each other, stepping back, almost embarrassed to be caught. Guinevere is blushing all over her face. “I was just about to go find you,” she says, putting her hands behind her back.

“I know. Hey Joseph, do you think I could see the photos you took of me?” I ask him, curious to see how they look.

Joseph quickly walks away from my aunt and grabs his camera. He turns it on and goes into the photos then he walks over to me and shows me the pictures, handing me his camera.

“These are really nice photos. How long have you need taking pictures?” I ask him, out of curiosity.

“Oh, I’ve been taking photos for years. But when I got out of the military I decided to do it professionally. My heart brought me here. I’ve been here for five years now,” he tells me, looking over at my aunt.

She looks down at her feet and walks away from us.

“Thanks for the photos. I love them all. You really know how to capture an imagine,” I tell him, handing him his camera back.

“That’s not all me, you have a gift for modeling, you know how to feed the camera. I’m happy to work with you. Maybe I could become your full time photographer,” he says with a wink.

“Alright, that’s enough. I think it’s time to go. I’ll see you on Saturday Joseph, we’ll talk more then,” Guinevere says, grabbing my hand and pulling me away.

We walk back out to her car and we’re both smiling as we go. Who would’ve thought she’d meet her lost love here of all places after 25 years. If she hadn’t sold her business yesterday she wouldn’t have even been here. That there is fate, no doubt about it.