In Sickness and In Health

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Cole POV

We are back in New York, the city that never sleeps, full of high rise buildings, bars open until four in the morning and the famous subway but also myself and Lili's home an old Georgian townhouse in Striver's Row on 138th Street in Harlem. It's a four bedroom house with a loft conversion where Lili and I keep our art. My photography equipment and a couple of cameras and Lili's sketch pads and notepads where she writes her poetry.

It's perfect for the two of us and our dog Theo who we adopted from the Vancouver Animal Shelter three years ago and lived with us in our apartment in Vancouver while filming Riverdale. He's our little baby who Lili loves to  spoil with a new collar or leash every other week. She even has dressed him up in a few outfits it's adorable but I feel sorry for the poor dog at times as sometimes Lili even sticks a bow on him forgetting that Theo is male dog.

Our neighbours Simone and Frank look after him quite a bit as currently myself and Lili are incredibly busy. Lili's acting career has completely taken off as well. She's starred in several movies since Riverdale all of which I've seen as she's dragged me to every red carpet. Her biggest role so far is that she was chosen to appear as one of James Bond's many associates in the latest film of the multimillion dollar British Secret Service franchise.

Its maybe only a minor part but she was over the moon when she got the call. She begins filming in the next couple of weeks and lucky for us the movie is mostly filming in Staten Island so she doesn't have to travel very far, she filmed an independent movie in Kenya just before our wedding so I didn't even get to see her very much in the weeks leading up to our big day. I wouldn't say I have separation anxiety or anything but I definitely feel slightly empty when she's not around.

As for my acting career, I've completely stopped with Riverdale being my first and last piece of acting after college. Why? Well I've always been a very passionate photographer and in the past while it has really taken it off and two years ago CS Photography was born.

Thanks to my lady Lili, even when filming Riverdale I was constantly being asked to do shoots of models promoting certain brands and designers so when we moved to New York, Lili went on the hunt to find me a professional studio to really have somewhere I could go and showcase my work and have people employed to help me along in case I was away or preoccupied with another shoot and she found the perfect place just off Nassau and Suffolk in Long Island.

It was an old recording studio during the nineties and was left abandoned till Lili found it while coming back from a table read for an upcoming movie. It was incredibly difficult at first to get any regular work as there are many well sought after photographers in New York and also the struggle of finding a honest brand as I've had my fair share of Catfish calls, I would come home some nights frustrated and angry as I had another day with only a minor shoot with a company that weren't really interested in using me, so without my wonderful wife Lili guiding me and reassuring me that things will get better I would have never made it to where I am today.

The studio itself has two large rooms both with incredible lighting and depth. At present I have three professional photographers employed. Matt a thirty two year old introvert who has an absolutely amazing eye for photography, Sarah a twenty seven year old originally from Kentucky who never fails to make me laugh and Nathan, the youngest of us all , a newly graduated photography student who is so dedicated and determined to succeed in life. We also have Michelle whose at the front desk and books all our appointments and upcoming events. The five of us work wonderfully together which is very pleasant and they are all absolutely crazy about Lili and Lili is mad about them too, although she has a soft spot for Sarah as she lived in Ohio before moving to New York.

I have just arrived at the studio and Michelle is sitting at her desk typing away while on a call.

"Hey guys I'm back" I shout while walking into the main photography room or as I call it 'The Haven'.

"Cole , man how are you? How was Rome?" Asks Matt while clearing up the aftermath of a busy day.

"Fantastic, I assume" says Michelle walking her way over carrying a tripod.

"Absolutely brilliant, where's Nathan? Come on in Nathan and you too Michelle." I say calling them inside as I have a few presents for everyone.

"Cole! Hey," says Nathan in a whisper.

"Well tell us all about your special day, What was Lili's dress like? You have any photos of your honeymoon? Come on Cole we haven't seen you in three weeks so show us." Michelle asks.

I begin to tell them how incredible Lili looked on the day passing around my phone and telling them that the weather was simply glorious and how Europe was amazing and I proceeded to tell them about our trip to a museum in Athens and how Lili felt I was interrupting our tour guide Adrianna when I actually was asking her a few questions and her knowledge on Greek Mythology. They all laughed at this and said they agreed with Lili on this occasion as apparently sometimes I get carried away with my love for ancient history.

We all laughed and joked around for a while until I got up, handed them their many gifts of French Artisan Chocolate and Italian ceramic pottery and said I had to to leave as I wanted to make Lili dinner before she came back from Simone and Frank's. I told them to pack up and to take the rest of the Friday and the weekend off as we hadn't any shoots until Monday.

We all left as I got the subway back to the house, did a quick shop and began to make some dinner. Just some simple pasta and a cream cheese sauce. I wasn't in the mood for anything too fancy as I could feel the jet lag coming on. I had survived so much of the day already but only was feeling the effect of travelling now.

I was in the middle of cooking when Lili came home with Theo.

"Hey honey,mmm that  smells good what you making?"she says coming into the kitchen to give Theo his dinner.

"Just some pasta, will be ready in five, you want to have it in the sitting room and watch a movie?" I suggest.

"Sounds great, I'm just going to put my pyjamas as I'm exhausted." She says as she comes over to the stove where I am and gives me a light kiss on the lips.

I serve up dinner as the two of us eat away on the sofa selecting a random movie on Netflix. We finish dinner and I begin to clear up , bringing the plates and cutlery back into the kitchen.

"You get any ice cream?" She shouts out from the sitting room.

"Yep! Your favourite Reece's Peanut Butter" I reply.

"Yay! Just bring the tub and two spoons" she exclaims.

I come back down with the ice cream tub and two large spoons as I lay back on the sofa and Lili lays on top of me and Theo on top of her just three of us cuddling up together watching a movie and eating ice cream...

Hey guys L here, part five of the sequel! Hope you are enjoying it so far, any chapter ideas or questions just DM me, lots of love
L 💗