rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_969307b9-1239-5cc6-96b9-0bc446dd97ea">Chapter Three
It was a beautiful night for taking pictures. April had her digital SLR camera on a tripod set up in the meadow and was snapping pictures of the outgoing senior class student-body officers passing a plastic toy torch. Someone held up a handmade sign that said “Class of 2017—we rule the school!” She stopped and scrolled through the images, then adjusted the shutter speed in order to make the shots clearer while allowing for the light from a full moon.
And speaking of that... She counted heads for the umpteenth time. There were supposed to be ten and she tallied eight. “Where did Trevor and Kate go?”
She looked at the group of teens and every single one looked guilty as sin. “Come on. You know my rules. No getting frisky and pairing off during this shoot. I know the seniors who just graduated don’t care. But listen up seniors-to-be, if you want me to take pictures next year you’ll tell me where they went. Otherwise this tradition will just be a sad memory.”
April looked at them and they stared back at her without speaking. “Anyone? Now would be a good time to speak up. You really want to spoil the fun for the other classes coming up behind you?”
“You’re right. We don’t care.” That was Mike Espy, a good-looking football player who’d received a football scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles. “I can’t wait to get out of this two-bit nowhere town. It’s big-city excitement for me.”
“Oh, don’t be such a jerk.” Patty Carnegie, a pretty blonde cheerleader who was looking forward to senior year and being captain of the squad, gave him a withering look. Then she met April’s gaze. “They took a walk.”
Red alert. That was code for finding a place to be alone and unleash all the teenage hormones raging through them. Will was out there somewhere. She knew because they’d come here together in his SUV. Part of her had expected him to back out, but he’d been right on time.
She wondered if he’d felt the same way Mike did about not being able to shake the dust of Blackwater Lake off his shoes fast enough. That didn’t really matter now, though. She had two unaccounted-for teenagers who could be getting into trouble on her watch.
“Look who I found wandering around in the woods.” And there was Will, walking the two wayward kids back to the group.
There was a lot of good-natured hooting and hollering but Trevor and Kate looked unrepentant. “We had to try,” he said.
“And I have to tell you not to do it again.”
April shot Will a grateful look. He shrugged as if to say he didn’t blame them. Kids would be kids. She and Will had been there once upon a time when his father the sheriff had broken up one of their make-out sessions.
The windows of Will’s seen-better-days truck had been fogged up and they felt like the only two lovers in the world. Right up until the moment there was tapping on the driver’s door. April quickly adjusted her clothes and Will rolled down the window. Hank peeked inside and ordered him to get her home on time. She never knew if Will’s dad had said anything to him privately. Hmm.
“Okay, you guys, let’s finish up.” April took her place behind the camera again.
“What should we do?” Lindsay was a junior and incoming student-body treasurer.
“Just be yourselves. Hang out. Pretend I’m not here,” she advised.
“You just told us not to do that again,” Mike reminded her.
Everyone laughed and she snapped a great picture. “I told you not to go walking alone in the woods. Now I want you to relax, have fun. If you think about getting your picture taken, you’ll freeze up and be stiff. So act as if I don’t have this camera trained on you to record this moment in the history of Blackwater Lake High School.”
“Go Wolves,” someone called out.
“Let’s hear it for the blue and gold,” a boy said.
Spontaneously the kids started a cheer. “Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate?”
“Kennedy,” everyone hollered.
Then a chant started. “April! April! April!”
She smiled, watching them have fun. The innocence of youth that she was capturing forever. She got some great unstructured shots, more than enough to provide the yearbook committee with outstanding choices.
“Okay, you guys. Listen up. This is a wrap.” She grinned at all of them. “Great job. Sheriff Fletcher will make sure everyone has transportation home.”
A couple of the girls hugged her and expressed the appreciation of everyone, then hurried off with the group to the dirt area where they’d parked cars. Will brought up the rear and the moonlight allowed her to appreciate what a very excellent rear he had. That reaction was a direct result of pent-up big-girl hormones because she hadn’t had a real date for a while.
She heard the sound of cars starting then driving away while beginning the task of packing up her equipment. It had been fun as always and her threat to discontinue future photo shoots was an empty one because she enjoyed it as much, if not more, than the kids. Maybe because her senior year in high school had been the happiest time in her life.
When the car noises faded she saw Will walking toward her. The anticipation filling her at the sight of him wasn’t too much different than what she’d felt when they’d been together before. Flirting with a toad would be a challenge. But for the purposes of this plan to put him behind her, April knew it was good to be attracted.
“Mission accomplished.” He watched her pack up her cameras and lenses and put them in their protective cases.
“Everyone got off okay?”
“Yes. And I have to say it was like herding cats.”
“I know what you mean.” She looked up at him and her heart stuttered. At some point she was going to have to get a handle on that reaction, but it probably wouldn’t happen tonight. “Seriously, Will, thanks for your help. I’m really glad you were here for backup.”
“I didn’t do much.”
“You did a lot. Not just anyone can stand there and look intimidating, but you pulled it off spectacularly.”
“It’s a gift. Then there were those two who just had to defy authority,” he said.
“And you got them safely back to the herd. Bless you.”
“Happy to help.”
“I appreciate it.” She had packed everything up while they talked and now folded the tripod. “I’m all set.”
“Let me get that for you.” He easily picked up everything that would have taken her two trips to haul.
“Thanks.”
In silence they walked back to where his SUV was parked in the dirt area. He opened the rear liftgate and stowed her equipment while she climbed into the passenger seat. Moments later he slammed the door then settled behind the wheel and turned the key in the ignition. The dash lights illuminated
