Page 34 of I Want You

Solange watches them for a few seconds and then smiles.

“You can tell you’ve been working side by side.”

Harper glares at her.

“Go get that belt, come on.”

Victoria stifles a laugh, and Harper watches her out of the corner of her eye. The problem with knowing each other for so long is that those automatic reactions don’t disappear just because a divorce is final. If anything, they’re even sharper now.

Shortly afterward, music fills the studio—a slow, enveloping electronic beat that fills the space. The crew disperses, and the model strikes her first pose, following Harper and Victoria’s directions as if they were both in charge.

Julian sighs from the set.

“Are you going to let me work?” he grumbles, making a move as if to go order a coffee. “Let me remind you that I’m the photographer.”

The next burst of shots is exponentially better. Harper smiles, satisfied, and points at the screen with her index finger.

“Take fourteen. That’s the cover,” Harper and Victoria say in unison.

Julian lowers the camera and looks at them.

“Okay, this is getting scary. At this rate, I’ll finish the shoot before lunch, and that goes against my work ethic.”

“Just keep shooting, Julian,” Victoria orders, regaining her composure. “Less chatter and more photos.”

The shoot flows smoothly for the next hour. Until the model’s pose starts to look forced.

“Let’s take a ten-minute break and use the time to change outfits,” Harper announces.

The set returns to its usual murmur. The makeup team swarms around the model, and background noise fills the space once more. Harper leans against the table, reviewing the carousel of images they’ve taken. Victoria stands beside her, so close that their shoulders are practically touching.

“I still think the same thing,” Harper says as she scrolls through the thumbnails with her mouse. “Shot fourteen is unbeatable.”

“Yeah,” Victoria agrees. “Although number twenty has a more… melancholic feel to it, don’t you think?”

“Maybe, but people prefer the ones with more impact. This is where you can really see how well we work together.”

Victoria is silent for a few seconds. The usual stiffness fades from her face, and she sighs, looking down at the floor before looking back at her ex-wife.

“Yes… and that’s why I know I made a lot of mistakes, Harper. I know I got too caught up in my own vision. That I isolated myself at work so I wouldn’t have to deal with what was happening to us outside of it, but now I feel like…”

“This isn’t the place to talk about this. Eleanor could show up at any moment.”

Julian returns to the set, adjusting the camera strap, oblivious to the emotional rift that has just opened up barely a couple of feet away from him.

“Ready to continue? Because time flies.”

*

The second part of the shoot is a visual spectacle. The dress demands a much more visceral approach. Victoria suggests harsh overhead lighting to highlight the contours, while Harper removes unnecessary jewelry and accessories so that all the attention falls on the drape of the silk. The chemistry between the two is back on track.

Harper tries to focus on the photos appearing on the screen, but when she looks up at the upper level of the studio, her gaze falls on the gallery surrounding the set.

Up there, leaning against the railing with a cup of tea in her hands, stands Eleanor Sterling.

The woman is watching them from above. Harper doesn’t know how long she’s been standing there. But Eleanor isn’t smiling, nor is she showing disapproval; her face is a mask. A mask that no one could decipher. Her analytical gaze rests first on Victoria, then on Harper, and finally settles on the ridiculous closeness that had just existed between the two of them at the control desk.

Harper feels the morning’s excitement and the heat of their flirtation freeze instantly. Eleanor never does anything by chance. And that inquisitive gaze fixed on them can only mean one thing: that her plans have only just begun, and any misstep could cost them absolutely everything.