Dumbfounded didn’t begin to cover what Lando felt. She’d never been given something this nice before, not from someone who was practically a stranger. “What if I just use it while we’re here, and then I’ll give it back.”
“Sure, if that makes you feel better, but trust me when I say you’re the only one who’s used it in seven years. Even when my sister comes to visit she doesn’t use it.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
Eli chuckled lightly as she took another sip of her coffee. “I believethank youwould suffice.”
“Thank you!” Lando’s eyes lit up, her fingers curling around the camera. Having a real camera to use would be amazing. It’d give her something to do, and even though Diane was the one designated to take photos, Lando could as well on the side. Maybe she could practice before the next storm. “Really, thank you.”
“Don’t think about it. Seriously. Go take some pictures. I’ve got to get started on dinner.”
“I can help you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.” Lando followed Eli inside, and they spent the next hour prepping dinner for all the guests.
As they slid the food into the oven to cook, Lando stared at the camera again. Eli laughed, picked it up, and shoved it into Lando’s chest. “Go take some damn pictures already. You’re driving me crazy with your excitement.”
“All right, all right.” Laughing, Lando walked out the back door of the house and stared around the landscape. Surprisingly, the camera still had battery life. She messed with some of the settings, changing it from automatic to manual and adjusting the aperture and shutter speed. Lando took a few test shots of the barn, working on focus. That was something she always struggled with, getting whatever she wanted into focus quickly enough to get the photo she wanted.
Lando spent thirty minutes just figuring out the settings. It had been at least an entire quarter since she’d found the time to check out a camera, and she wasn’t used to this particular model. Walking around the house and following the path down to the barn, Lando took photos of random things she could find, focusing mainly on some landscapes.
When she figured dinner would be ready, she turned to walk back toward the house but stopped short. Violet stood on the porch, leaning over the edge of it with her hands folded in front of her. She didn’t have a jacket on, and her hair blew around her face in the breeze, her features set. She must have been somewhere else in her mind, thinking and distracted by something.
Without thinking, Lando raised the camera and snapped a picture. She changed the settings, diminishing the light and making it darker when she took the next photo, adding to the mood she thought matched Violet’s. In the time they’d spent together, Lando had done nothing but try to decipher what Violet was thinking in any given moment, but she’d never managed to do it. While she was loud when she argued, she rarely revealed her true thoughts on anything.
Lando traipsed up to the house, but instead of going straight inside through the back door, she walked around the porch and caught another picture of Violet leaning over the railing, a perfect profile of the side of her face that Lando had come to know very well in the last week. She held the camera down to her side, debated whether or not to talk to Violet, but opted not to. They would have time that night if needed, when they were sleeping in the same damn bed as each other. Lando nearly groaned out loud at the thought. If this was some kind of punishment from Diane, Lando was going to have to work to get back on her good side.
The house smelled wonderful with the dinner they’d made. Eli was already working on setting the table, so Lando set the camera down and washed her hands before jumping in to help. She could at the very least earn her keep in a place like this. It might be above the bar of anywhere she’d ever stayed before, and she wasn’t going to burn bridges where she’d barely even built any yet. She and Eli worked happily together, setting the table and pulling out the food. The other guests filtered in, but there was still no sign of Diane or Violet. Shrugging, they began eating without either of them.
CHAPTER10
They madeit through the first night, though Violet barely slept. She’d withdrawn, and it was difficult to get out of moments like that for her. Lando shifted in the bed as Violet leaned over to grab her laptop after a long debate over how she would make less noise—working right from the bed or getting up and rustling around.
She had the laptop open and started up her maps. She barely had the programs up and running when Lando shifted again. Violet glanced down, Lando’s cheek brushing against the pillow as her breathing became shallow and her eyelids fluttered. So much for keeping quiet. Violet moving on the bed must have woken her, although Lando hadn’t come to bed until late into the night.
“I’m sorry if I woke you,” Violet murmured, keeping her voice low. The sun wasn’t even over the horizon yet, and frankly, most people would consider it still the middle of the night.
Lando cringed but opened her eyes and stared up at Violet. “What time is it?”
Violet glanced at the clock on her phone. “Just after four.”
“Fuck,” Lando groaned out. “Why are you awake so early?”
Violet chuckled lightly and rested into the pillow behind her back. “I’ve always been a morning person.”
“Really? Or could you just not sleep?”
Sighing, Violet clenched her fists, then her jaw. Leave it to Lando to dive right to the point. Risking another glance down at her student, Violet let the words slip from her mouth that she wasn’t sure she’d ever shared before. “I’m not used to sleeping in the same bed as someone else.”
“Oh.” Lando barely moved, her leg straightening out to where it brushed against Violet’s under the covers. “To be fair, I’m not either.”
Violet gave her a wry smile. “I mean, it’s been a few years since I lived with anyone, in that capacity. It’s hard to make that adjustment.”
“Well, if you prefer, I can ask Eli if there’s somewhere else I can sleep.”
Shaking her head, Violet reached out and grabbed Lando’s hand. “No. Don’t worry about that. I’ll figure it out.”