Page 26 of Safe With You

When I pointed at my phone, she mouthed, Seriously?

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m coming,” I called.

“So you do know how to listen.”

“I heard that,” Maya shouted from behind the café counter.

“Good!” Naomi shot back.

The bookstore had changed without me realizing it. The rows of chairs were almost full now, conversations layering over one another until they became a comfortable hum, broken every few seconds by the hiss of the espresso machine or the clink of ceramic mugs against saucers.

My gaze drifted toward the front of the room.

Ellis had started working.

He moved through the bookstore with an ease that surprised me.

There was nothing rushed about him.

Nothing performative.

He wasn’t directing people into awkward poses or asking anyone to smile for the camera. If anything, he seemed determined not to interrupt whatever moment was already unfolding.

He paused near the café, lifting his camera just as Maya slid a latte across the counter to one of our regulars.

Click.

A few steps later, he crouched near one of the lower shelves, photographing a little girl who had settled cross-legged on the floor with a picture book spread across her lap.

She looked up when she heard the shutter.

Instead of taking another picture, Ellis lowered the camera just enough to show her the image on the back of the screen.

Her entire face lit up.

I found myself smiling before I even realized I was doing it.

He looked up, like he could feel me watching him, and our eyes met across the room.

I should’ve looked away, but neither of us did.

Then the corner of his mouth lifted, just slightly, and something warm settled low in my stomach.

I would’ve expected someone photographing an event to focus on the stage. Instead, he seemed more interested in the people who had come to experience it.

“Luna.”

Naomi’s voice snapped me back.

“If you keep staring into space, I’m introducing you as tonight’s featured poet.”

I blinked.

“I was not staring.”

“Mhm.”