I woke up to the sun shining through the blinds. I rolled over and yawned. Seth's arms were still draped around me. I sat up quickly in the realization of what had happened last night.
"Oh god." I put my face in my hands. How could I do this to Dallas? How could I do this to myself?
Seth stirred in his sleep. I pushed his arm off of me and grabbed my phone. I went across the hall and slipped on my work clothes. I tried to push all the events that had happened the last night out of my mind.
I checked the time. 8:40.
I ran back over to Seth's room while putting my hair up. I shook him awake.
"Seth...Seth."
"Huh?" His eyes fluttered open.
"You're getting Harper today. From my mom? At 10:00."
"Uh-huh." He rolled over.
"Okay. I'm leaving."
He mumbled something. I couldn't bother figuring out what he had said. I slipped on my shoes and grabbed my work stuff.
The ride there was quiet. The only thing I could hear was the regret and shame in my head. I really don't know what happened, what got in to me. Nothing made sense.
I pulled into my parking spot and raced into the office. I went straight to Mr. Hudson's office and knocked. He called out for me to come in.
"I'm sorry." I said out of breath, "I didn't mean to be late. Just a lot happening in my life right now."
I kinda lied...but kinda not.
"Don't worry about it Violet," he chuckled "It's only 9:02."
"Thank you." I said under my breath. I left his office and went to check my schedule. I had an appointment for family photos at 9:30. I went over to the photography room to make sure everything was in place. I changed the backdrop to the one that the family had requested. I checked the camera and lenses. By the time I had finished doing everything the family was in the waiting room.
"Good morning!" I said cheerfully, "You must be Mr. and Mrs. Richards."
"Oh please," The mother stood up from where she was seated, "Call me Sherri!"
She stuck out her hand and I grasped her chocolate skin in my hand.
"This is my husband, Lane." I shook his hand.
"And my children! Reese, Trey, and Aniyah."
The three kids stood in front of me. The eldest girl looked to be in her early teen years. I shot her a grin. Trey had his headphones in his ears. The youngest little girl hid behind her mother's leg, a thumb in her mouth. She was probably only 5.
I led the family into the photo room and asked them to stand on the backdrop. I posed them and took a few pictures. I repeated the process of posing them and snapping pictures. I took some of just the kids, and then just the parents. After about an hour, we finished.
I said my goodbyes to the family and they headed to the front to pay. I cleaned up the small mess I had made of the room. I took the SD card out of the camera and headed back to my tiny office. I sat down at my computer and inserted the card. I opened the pictures.
The family smiled back on me on the screen. The pictures were lovely! I even got Aniyah to smile in a few of them. They looked so happy. So out together and beautiful.
After I was finished taking the photos, the happy family walked to the front desk to pay. I cleaned up the small mess I had made and got the SD card out of the camera. I went back into my office and inserted the SD card into my computer. The smiling family stared back at me from the screen. I chose some of my favorites and edited them a tiny bit. I began making a portfolio for the client. As I got to the end of the clients photos a familiar face popped up on my screen.
The picture I had taken of Seth, Harper, & Matthew stared at me. I grinned at Harper's cheesy smile, Seth's scared face, & Matthew's sleeping eyes.
The photo reminded me. Seth's birthday is in the next weeks. I placed an order for a big canvas of the photo.
As I stared at the photo I was reminded,
Seth is Harper's father, and that's all he should be to me.