Casual Layovers

Chapter Five

Avery smiles. "I'm sure that you're over-exaggerating." She says shyly. "A photographer is only as great as her subject. And those kids are really the phenomenal ones."

Ryan looks up and away from the screen to smile at Avery. "The kids and their parents will love these photos, Avery. And I mean it, they are all really great. Look at Braxton." Ryan laughs as she scrolls through the dozen pictures or so of Braxton dressed as a race car driver. "He's has the cutest expressions."

Avery smiles as she watches Ryan. The woman's smile can light up a whole room. She does not want to compare her to Julia, but she can hardly stop her brain from taking her back to the first time she brought Julia with her to the hospital. Sure, Julia liked the kids enough, but after it was all over and done, she made sure to remind Avery that she could be using her talents elsewhere, and with gigs that actually paid. Avery frowns.

Ryan can feel Avery looking in her direction. When she looks up from the screen again, she sees that the blonde seems to be lost in thought. She studies her for a moment wondering what she can be thinking about when she sees Avery's brow furrow and her expression turn to a more serious one. "Avery?"

This shakes Avery from her thoughts of Julia. "Huh?"

"I think that I lost you for a moment there. Is everything alright?" Ryan asks, slightly worried that she may have done or said something to make Avery upset.

"Yeah... Yes. I'm fine. Just thinking about something that doesn't matter anymore." Avery says honestly, before looking down and her plate, trying to find her appetite again.

Ryan nods slowly. She is certain that Avery is thinking about her recent heartbreak and knows better than to ask or bring it up. So, instead, she tries something that she thinks may change Avery's current mood. "Thirty-five."

Avery looks up once again and shakes her head in confusion. "What?"

"You asked me my age earlier. I'm thirty-five. I'll be thirty-six in February."

Avery's expression changes to one of pure delight. "Wow. You are older." She says with a wide grin.

Ryan narrows her eyes at Avery. "Watch it. I am quite capable of destroying you."

Avery puts both of her hands up in surrender. "Whoa, there. I was just gonna say that one, it's very hot that you're older. And Secondly, you look amazing. Whatever you are doing, it's working."

"Much better." Ryan says chuckling.

Avery shakes her head with a chuckle of her own. "So, are you ready to go back to work tomorrow? Did you have a good couple of days away?"

"UGH." Ryan says as she sighs. "No, I'm not. I was supposed to be spending this time with my family and I only really had those two short days with them."

Avery frowns. "Well, this may make you feel worse, but I'm very glad things happened the way that they did. We wouldn't have met each other otherwise."

Ryan smiles. "Well, you are the one and only good thing to come out of this whole mess, but, I still could really use the rest of the week off as well. I think I may have forgotten how nice it is to take time off without having plans of any sort. I read a whole book yesterday. I haven't been able to just sit down and read in a very long time."

Avery smiles. "You only have to work tomorrow and Friday. Then you have the weekend again. And I'm assuming you have next Monday off also. It's New Year's Day."

"Yes, I do..." Ryan trails off thinking about the company party that will be taking place this weekend. She is not exactly looking forward to that either and she wishes that she can just skip it altogether, but that, unfortunately, is not an option. Then she wonders what Avery is doing on New Year's Eve. In all the years that she has forced herself to make an appearance at the event, she has not once brought a date along with her. Even when her and Silas were enjoying each other's company outside of work, they never went to the ball together. His reasoning being that he wanted to minimize the office gossip that was already going on about the two of them, but she knows very well now that it was because he was never particularly interested in anything more than just the occasional rendezvous between the sheets. If Avery accompanied me to the ball this year, it would probably be a much better time than all the other years combined.