After a couple of hours or so, they pause to have some food. Riki’s brought some cheese and bread and a nut mix. “I made it myself,” he says as he pours the nuts into a bowl. “Almonds, cashews, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, roasted with some honey and sea salt.”
“Lucky I don’t have a nut allergy,” Sana says, popping some in her mouth. The mention of “allergy” brings Marshall unexpectedly to her mind, and her mouth feels dry at the thought.
Riki must have thought the same thing, because his expression has turned somber.
Sana takes a gulp of water and sighs. “The whole thing with Marshall . . . I still can’t believe how everything went down. It’s been a crazy few weeks, huh?”
“Yeah. And after all that, he died from a bird allergy. I mean, how weird is that, right?”
“For reals.” Sana hesitates. “So do you think Vera’s right? That somebody killed him?”
For a long moment, Riki doesn’t say anything as he stares into the distance. “I really can’t say.”
“I mean, there was the break-in, which is too much of a coincidence, so it must be related to Marshall’s death, which means he was definitely killed, right?”
“I guess, but nothing was taken. The police haven’t found any evidence or anything, so I have no idea what to think.”
Sana gnaws on her bottom lip. “Do you . . .” She hesitates, grimacing, then goes for it. “Do you think maybe Oliver did it? He was the only one who knew about the bird dander allergy.”
“True, but maybe Julia knew too? She was married to Marshall, so she could’ve very well known. It’s the kind of thing you’d tell your spouse, right?”
“Good point.” Sana sighs. “I hate to think of either of them as the killer, though.”
“Same here. You know, for a while there, I thought I—” His voice wobbles, but he takes a breath and continues. “I thought I’d done it. I punched him the night he died, and I thought that maybe . . .”
Sana’s guts twist painfully. “That’s a terrible burden to have to bear.”
Riki nods, then he laughs. “Yeah, well, as Vera said, she could’ve told me that it wasn’t possible because my arms are apparently too noodly to kill someone with a single punch.”
“Oh my god, that is so Vera.” Sana chuckles. Too easy to picture Vera saying that. “I also thought I might have had something to do with it too, for a while. That day he died, I’d gone to see him and I scratched him on the cheek. I’ve never attacked anyone like that before. I was so horrified—”
“Same here,” Riki says, compassion thick in his voice. He reaches out and places his hand on top of Sana’s, and the warmth of it calms her harried thoughts. “He had a way of bringing out the worst in people, didn’t he?”
Sana nods. “I think that was what hurt so much. That it was the moment I realized that the world is cruel, and I felt so stupid for not realizing it sooner, because, duh, how obvious is that? And I felt like it was more my fault than anyone else’s. That people like Marshall are always going to exist and always do what they do and it’s my responsibility to protect myself, you know? I felt so ashamed to have fallen for his scam.”
“I’m sorry,” Riki murmurs, casting his eyes down.
Is it just Sana’s imagination or does he look incredibly sad? Her chest tightens and she squeezes his hand. “Hey,” she says, gently, “it’s not your fault. He did the same thing to you.”
“Yeah, but—” Riki bites his lip, like he’s struggling for the right words, and something about this moment, when they are both being so sincere and exposing their wounds to each other, touches Sana’s heart.
Without thinking twice, Sana leans over, closing the space between them, and pushes her lips against Riki’s in a soft, sweet kiss. Whatever Riki was about to say is immediately forgotten as his hands go to Sana’s back and he pulls her closer to him, both of them losing themselves in this single perfect moment.
THIRTY-ONE
JULIA
Julia still finds it hard to believe her eyes whenever she opens up her spreadsheet. Her spreadsheet. Yep, she’s one of those people with a spreadsheet now, a spreadsheet filled with the names of clients. Julia hasn’t been able to stop saying “spreadsheet.” She says it at least seven times a day. “Oh, let me add that to my spreadsheet.” and “Let me check my spreadsheet.”
Julia’s also got a calendar, oh yeah, she’s real fancy now. A calendar that is shockingly filling up really fast, and not just with things like “Get Emma’s favorite cereal,” but with appointments like “April Woolson—maternity shoot,” and “Heather + Rikuto—engagement shoot.” Every time she gets a new booking, Julia skips to her computer and adds it to her calendar, and Vera breathes down her neck, squinting at the screen, and tells her, “You need to charge more. Rule of the thumb: Increase your price after every three appointment.”
Julia stares at her in horror. “What? I can’t do that; that’s not ethical.”
“Hah! Of course it is. Is not price gouging, is respecting yourself as photographer.” Vera stabs a finger into Julia’s chest. “Do you think you improve with every session?”
“Well, yes, of course, but—”
“So after three session, are you the same photographer as before? You remain stagnant?”
“Well, no, but—”
“So then why your price remain stagnant?”
After a few moments of stunned silence, Julia admits to herself that Vera does make sense. And the real reason why she hasn’t increased her prices isn’t a business decision; it’s more a decision made from a lack of self-confidence. And so she does what Vera says, increasing her fees by ten percent after every three bookings. And she’s at eleven bookings right now, just mere weeks after she did Cassie’s headshots! Some days, Julia still pinches herself, not daring to believe her good luck.
“Is not good luck,” Vera snaps when Julia makes the mistake of mentioning it in passing. “No such thing as good luck in business. You make your own luck.”
True, but Julia is grateful anyway for the opportunity to have worked with Cassie. Although Cassie’s platform is far from viral, the TikToker is a hard worker, posting three to five videos every day. Each time Julia checks on Cassie’s profile, the follower count continues to grow. And Cassie convinced Julia to create a TikTok account as well as an Instagram account before she posted her headshots and tagged Julia with a rave review. That post alone scored Julia three more customers, and the three customers had spread the word on their TikToks, which led to even more business. Sometimes, Julia wonders if she’s accidentally stumbled into someone else’s life.