What He Left Behind

Twenty Eight

The next day, Rena has to go to work. Ordinarily, Jacob would go to Alice's for the day, but I offer to take care of him; it saves Alice a job, plus I'd love to spend some one-to-one time with my nephew.

"You'll call me if there are any problems at all?" Rena checks for the ten billionth time.

"Yes," I reassure her.

"Okay, my phone will be on silent during the actual wedding ceremony of course, but aside from that, call whenever and I'll answer right away."

"I will do."

"I'll try to be back no later than 11. I wrote down everything you need to know," she explains, pointing to a piece of paper on the kitchen counter, "I also left some cash if you need anything and I left Alice's number aswell."

"Rena relax! We'll be fine," I assure her before looking to Jacob who is balanced in my arms, "Won't we?"

Jacob laughs when I tickle him under his arm and waves at his mom.

"Sorry," Rena laughs, "I get so paranoid. Come here honey." I pass Jacob to her and she gives him and a hug and a kiss before handing him back to me.

"I'll see you later."

"See ya."

Jacob and I spend most of the day playing games and playing with his toys. He holds on to his stroller and tries to walk, which he's getting increasingly good at, although he's still quite unsteady. He eats lunch and dinner and snacks without any problems and he naps twice during the day, giving me time to get on with some schoolwork and to tidy up around the house.

By the time Rena gets back, Jacob is fast asleep in bed and I'm doing homework in the living room. Rena is relieved when I tell her that Jacob was perfectly behaved and that there were no problems. She talks about the wedding and we chat for a while about photography.

"So is photography definitely something you'd like to go into?" she asks.

"Ideally. Like you said, it's tricky but I love photography so much and I'd really like to make a career out of it."

"I'll tell you what; I've got another wedding tomorrow, so how about I see whether you could come along and act as a second photographer?"

"Would you be able to do that?"

"I should think so. It's a bonus for them; they'll get more photos of their big day. I know it's last minute but I'll be working from home Tuesday and Wednesday, so this might be the only chance before you go home."

"What would the plan be exactly?"

"The wedding's about an hour from here so we'd have to leave around nine, but then you can shadow me, maybe during the lunch and the reception you can go take some photos of your own. I've only met the couple a handful of times but they seem lovely. I'm sure they'd be happy to have an extra photographer with how many guests they've got coming."

"Okay, I'm in!" I decide, "Thank you!"

"Awesome, I'm excited to do business with you," she teases.

We chat for a while longer before going to bed just before midnight. I decide to finally charge my phone which has been dead for the past 24 hours. The battery ran out on the journey down here, but, anticipating nothing but calls from my father to yell at me and Charlie to whinge at me, I wasn't tempted to charge it.

When my phone restarts, I'm surprised, but relieved, to see that there are no missed calls or messages from my father. As much as it proves my point he doesn't actually give a shit about me, it does save an argument. I do, however, have five missed calls from Charlie and a text saying 'ANSWER YOUR GODDAMN PHONE.' I laugh a little, not understanding how Charlie can possibly maintain the belief that he's not demanding. He's just as bad as all the girls he claims to hate.