The Street Photographer

Chapter 22

I pushed the patio doors open and sucked in a deep breath of fresh air. No car fumes or horns, no construction equipment, and no signs of a life Madison would live. I felt completely free for the first time in years, and it was wonderful.

Kent had landed some big role in a new movie, so he was gone. I'd seen the tabloid reports and photos of him leaving town, plastered with sketchy headlines about running from heartbreak. All lies, of course; not that anyone cared about the truth. When they started filming the movie, Kent got a bit of spotlight attention for it. I'd seen the photos online of him on set, giving his gorgeous female costar a rude expression. After that, I stopped looking and focused on getting my life in order. I needed to move on.

I turned around and faced my new kitchen. This place was the fresh start that I needed, and I would make it all my own. There were little improvements to be made overall, but nothing that needed to be done immediately. Since I'd moved in last week, I spent more time unpacking and rearranging than actually living. Today, I planned to clean and enjoy an afternoon reading in the afternoon sun.

I logged into my phone, pulled up my Spotify account, and started my favorite playlist before fetching a bucket to scrub the kitchen floor. Several songs and half of the floor later, a car rolled into the driveway. I glanced at the clock and frowned. I hadn't told anyone my new address, besides my parents. They wouldn't be visiting for a while, and the mailman didn't come on the driveway. Even delivery trucks parked on the street.

Shaking my head, I focused on my scrubbing again. Maybe I'd heard wrong. It was probably the neighbors or their friends.

Footsteps crunched on the patio behind me. Weird... I would have thought deliveries would come to the front door. Maybe they heard the music and thought to come around back.

"I like your new place."

I froze as the familiar voice washed over me. My heart jumped, but my head blared loads of warnings at me. This can't be happening. I'm dreaming, right? I'm totally dreaming...

I slowly pivoted on my knees to see if my suspicion was correct. When my gaze met his, I sank back onto my heels and forced myself to breathe. I guess this was happening.

Kent leaned against the doorframe and looked out at my cute little backyard. "When you said you wanted to live here someday, I didn't think you meant this soon. It suits you, though. The quiet seems more like you."

"I heard you started filming your new movie," I blurted out before he could say anything else. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." He nodded, nothing more.

I took a slow breath. This was getting awkward, and I wanted answers. "How did you find me?"

He turned to face me, hands in his pockets. "I went to your office. You can imagine my surprise when they told me you'd resigned. So I went to your apartment. Again, I was surprised to see that you had clearly moved. Thankfully, the new tenant was friendly and said you'd moved to a place on the edge of town. Then I remembered when we drove by this place and you said you wanted to live here someday. It was my first guess."

"That's a lot of effort to track me down," I noted, staring down at my hands. "Why did you go to my office? Isn't your schedule super busy with filming?"

"I saw your photos online."

He really didn't need to say anything else. I knew that he was probably shocked or mad. I did publish 'private' photos of him after all. He probably wanted me to delete the other ones in case I had any ideas about publishing those too.

"Ally."

My head whipped up. He crouched in front of me and clasped his hands together. I could see his pulse beating furiously in his neck.

"I accused you of terrible things, and you still go out making me look like a totally normal guy to the public. You had photos that could have truly made your career, and you gave the vultures something else. You were completely selfless, even after I was a jerk to you. Why?"

I sagged a little and cocked my head. "Why do you think? Kent, I only intended to publish the photos that you saw online. When I was assigned to take incognito photos of you, that's what I was envisioning. I wanted the world to see the version of you that I see. Those other photos... that was just me being a hopeless flirt. Those photos were never going to see the light of day."

He scooted closer and cupped my face in his hands. I leaned into his touch and closed my eyes. If this was a dream, I wasn't ready for it to end.

"I don't deserve you, Ally," he murmured in that husky voice of his. "I'm sorry that I doubted you. I'm sorry for making you feel like a tabloid leech. Can you please forgive me for being a snobby celebrity and believing the worst?"

I opened my eyes to find him pleading with his. He stared at me like I was the most precious thing he'd ever seen. My heart ached for him, and I couldn't keep fighting.

"I forgive you," I whispered. "I'm sorry that I didn't just tell you the truth from the beginning. It would have saved both of us a lot of trouble."

For a minute, we sat there with our foreheads pressed together. Enough had been said, so silence was the most appropriate follow-up. The road to complete healing had only just begun, but at least we were willing to walk it together. I didn't know where we'd end up. His career would take him away for weeks or months at a time to who-knew-where, and he would always be a target for the paparazzi leeches. That sad truth would always be part of his life as long as he remained an actor. Just because I gave up my career didn't mean he should have to give up his.

"What do we do now?" he finally spoke up, breaking the silence.

I sighed. "I don't know. You still have your movie to finish shooting."

"...and you're settling into your new home here," he added.

"Maybe we step back a little and try starting over," I suggested. "We can talk and text while you finish this movie, and we'll see where we're at when you're done."

"As much as I don't like the idea of backing away from what we have, I think you may be right. I'm going to be pretty busy the next few weeks, so I'll only have time for texting and phone calls. But the moment the director calls a wrap, I'm jumping in my car and coming straight here to you."

A smile tugged at my lips. "Okay. Deal."

He let out a breath and pressed a kiss to the tip of my nose. "Click."

I pulled away and stared at him. "Click? What's that for?"

He tapped his temple with his index finger and smiled. "I was taking a mental picture of this beautiful moment together. If it was your actual camera, it would have clicked. So, I just took a mental picture to preserve the moment."

I smiled again. "I love it: point, focus, and click."