Selena stood before the mirror and took a moment to savor contentment, perhaps even her first sense of joy that her recovery was complete. From this distance and angle, she looked good. The red silk dress was a perfect fit and a stunning contrast with her black hair. The make-up gal had done a great job of accenting her dark eyes, and the scar was barely visible. Amazing what a good Hollywood plastic surgeon could do.
"Hey, babe, you about ready to wrap here?" Biff sauntered up beside her.
"Yeah, we're done. Right, Micky?" she asked the fashion photographer with whom had spent the last three hours.
"It's all good, hon," he replied, packing up his gear. "This was the easiest shoot I've had in a year. I hope we'll work together again soon."
Selena turned to Biff. "It went really well. Mick's a genius. We might even make the cover this time. Not bad for an old scar-face, eh?"
A flicker of something--annoyance, jealousy, pity, maybe even frustration--passed over Biff's face before he answered. "You're beautiful. Now go get changed so we can get out of here."
Biff didn't like hanging around other photographers' shoots. He said it made him antsy, like he should be working harder. Selena didn't understand why he would feel that way. If anyone was going to be uncomfortable, it would be the other guy. How intimidating would it be to have the country's hottest celeb photographer dropping by to pick up his girlfriend?
In the months that they'd been in L.A., Biff Monroe had struck it lucky and established himself as the portrait photographer of choice for Hollywood's elite. He'd made a pile of dough, spoiled Selena rotten, and could pretty much write his own ticket. She knew for a fact that he had enough work lined up to keep them in an upper tax bracket for years to come.
An hour later, Selena and Biff were sitting at a table on the patio at Yabu in West Hollywood. She could tell something was bothering him. He had been too quiet and now he was studying his water glass like he'd never seen the stuff before.
"What's going on?" she asked in a tone that she hoped let him know whatever the trouble was, she would help him work through it.
He met her gaze. "We need to go back."
"To Pine Lake? Are you serious?"
"I'm totally serious."
"But why? We've got it great here. There's nothing for us in Pine Lake." So much for helping work through this one, she thought. The last place on earth she wanted to go was anywhere near her father. She was done with him. And with Pine Lake.
"There's family."
"Yeah. Exactly. How can you forget what happened?"
"Your father can't hurt us. Not now. And that's not the family I was talking about. I need to find out what's going on with my mother that she would run off to Vegas and marry Matt Wilson. What the hell was she thinking?"
"I agree that's kind of a shocker, but he always seemed okay." Selena paused for a minute before adding, "And what about our work? I'm just getting started again."
Biff shrugged. "That's what airplanes are for. We can travel when we want to work, but I want us to live in Pine Lake."
"OMG."
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