She grinned, looking like what she was all of a sudden—a girl playing dress-up.
“Let me see.” Daniel came over and stood behind me. “Shit,” he murmured, his chin somewhere around my ear, his body pressed against my back. “She’s beautiful.” His breath tickled my hair, and my sad empty uterus tugged with attraction. Of course it did. He was Daniel the Hot Firefighter. Every uterus in the entire borough felt the same way.
I clicked to the next photo. “This one’s nice,” he said, and my entire left side shivered. Click. “But this one’s slutty.” Click. “Slutty. Slutty. Slutty. Beautiful.” There went my left side again, buzzing with lust.
“Daniel, you don’t get a say,” Lizzie said. “Ignore him, Kate.”
Yes, yes, good advice. After all, I was a widow who shouldn’t be lusting after Brooklyn’s Bravest, which was like saying “See that Border collie puppy? Do not think it’s adorable.”
Lizzie went to change again, and Max went with her, taking her makeup case for her girl-next-door look. When she came out, her hair smooth and parted on the side, a cropped top under a cute tweed jacket, skinny jeans and adorable high-heeled ankle boots, she looked like someone else entirely.
We walked to a different area to change up the setting.
“Let’s have her lie down on that bench and let her hair stream down,” Max suggested.
“Nope. Slutty,” Daniel said.
Max sighed.
“Let’s just go with sweet and happy,” I said. “Think Maybelline or Dove soap, that kind of thing. Imagine you’re waiting for a guy you like, and this is your first date.”
Daniel scowled. “How about if she imagines she’s about to go into the convent and can’t wait to turn her life over to God?”
“You’re such a loser,” Lizzie said. “Okay. Waiting for boyfriend, check.”
But when I held the camera up to my eye, I paused.
There it was, the little hint of what I couldn’t see without the camera. While Lizzie was smiling, her eyes were different. She glanced to her left and fixed her smile more firmly. A corner of her mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
She was worried. Nervous.
I clicked the shutter button. Looked up at her and smiled. “Sweetness and light,” I said, hoping to put her at ease. “You two will get ice-cream cones. He has a surprise for you, and it’s a kitten! Aw! A kitten, how cute!”
She tried to look excited, but whereas she’d totally brought it earlier, her face was weird, shoulders tense.
“Does she have a boyfriend?” I murmured to Daniel, who was standing at my side.
“She better not.”
“Does she, though?”
“Lizzie!” he barked. “You got a boyfriend?”
I sighed. There was a reason I’d asked him, not her.
“No,” she said. “Not that it’s any of your business.” But she started to pick at her fingernail, then stopped. Tried to readjust, but her neck muscles were stiff. She glanced to the left again.
I put the camera down and went to sit next to her. “Does he come to the park a lot?”
She looked at me for a second, then her eyes filled with tears. “I broke up with him, and he’s...he’s not taking it well. I think he’s...stalking me.”
Daniel was at her side in a flash, kneeling at her feet. “Who? Who’s the guy? Where does he live? What do you mean, not taking it well? Did he threaten you? Want me to talk to him? Let’s go right now.”
“No! Daniel, you’ll just make thing worse.” She looked at me. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Daniel growled.
“He’s probably not going to do anything.” Tears spilled over and ran down her perfect cheeks.
“I’m less than reassured,” Daniel said. “Come on. Tell me. Right now.”
Lizzie looked at me, rather than her brother. “It’s just...like, I was walking home the other day, and I heard him laughing, but when I turned around, I didn’t see anyone. And then... I don’t know. My phone rings at two in the morning, and it’s ‘Unknown Caller.’ He never liked the idea of me trying to be a model. Yesterday, there was a note in my locker that said I was ugly.”
Daniel started to say something, but I put my hand on his arm to stop him.
“You know,” I told Lizzie gently, “if I had a pesky ex and a big strong firefighter brother, I’d probably work that angle.”
“Listen to her. She’s smart,” Daniel said.
“I just want him to leave me alone. I don’t think he’d...do anything. You know. Hurt me.”
Daniel’s arm turned from old-fashioned hard to iron under my hand. I squeezed his biceps to keep him calm (and for the thrill of it). “Right,” I said. “But even if he’s harmless and just being a jerk, it can’t hurt for him to know you have this guy, you know what I mean?”
She picked her cuticle again. “Yeah. I guess.”
“So maybe your brother should have a word with him.”
“She’s right,” Daniel said, standing up. “Let’s go.”
“Daniel! Not this second! I’m getting my pictures done!”
“What’s more important, you idiot?” he snapped. “Pictures, or your safety?”
“God! I knew I shouldn’t have said anything!”
“Okay, how about this?” I asked. “Does this boy live fairly close?”
“Yes. Over on 8th Avenue.”
“Let’s finish this part of the shoot. Then you and Daniel can go talk to the guy, Max and I will get a coffee, and we’ll meet you at Daniel’s after.”
“Perfect,” Daniel said, crossing his Thor-like arms.
“No. Please come with us,” Lizzie said. “Daniel will beat Ewan up, and then the police will come and Daniel will get fired and Mom will have a fit and tell me how she’d only planned to have four kids, not five.”
“Ewan?” Daniel said. “You dated a guy named Ewan? You didn’t sleep with him, did you? Because that would break Ma’s heart, and then I have to kill him, and you will go to the convent.”
“Daniel, shush,” I said. “You’re not in a position to criticize names. Didn’t you date a girl named Waterfall once?”
He glared at me. “I don’t remember.”
“Of course you don’t, you slut,” Lizzie said.
Max sighed, which silenced the rest of us. “Let me fix your makeup, honey. Then your brother can go scare the shit out of this boy, and we’ll all be in the mood for drama shots.”
“Like there’s not enough drama with her already,” Daniel muttered.
But Lizzie perked up, and within fifteen minutes, I had some gorgeous shots of her, her shiny hair and lovely smile.
“You just glow in this one,” I said, showing her the shot. “And your eyes here are gorgeous.”
Daniel was pacing, his arms crossed, which made for some first-rate arm porn. “Can we get going here? Someone threatened my little sister. I’d like to take care of it.”
The little sister sighed. “Chill, Daniel.” Now that the problem had a solution, she seemed back to normal.
Max glanced at his watch. “As much as I’d love to come and stand in the background like the angel of death,” he whisper-said, which was exactly what I’d pictured, “I have to pick up the boys from soccer.”