Page 74 of The Meeting
“Um, hello,” a voice said from the front door, which they had left open.
Kailynn and Chase pulled away. Kailynn’s face flamed. Maddie stood at the door, looking a little uncomfortable for interrupting them.
“Hey Maddie,” Kailynn said. She gestured to Chase. “This is my boyfriend Chase.”
Maddie gave him a nod and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you as well. I was just leaving.” He stepped to the door and past Maddie. “I’ll see you tonight,” he said to Kailynn before walking out.
Kailynn waved and closed the door behind him. “Sorry about that. He’s not normally here in the morning. So…” She gestured around here. “Welcome to my home office. I know you’ve already been here, but let me give you a tour.”
She motioned to the kitchen. “Here’s the kitchen. I have a pot of coffee made up and an extra mug sitting out with cream and sugar. If there’s something you’d like specifically, let me know. Also, I have some bottled waters in the fridge. Feel free to grab one if you want it.”
Maddie nodded and held up both a travel coffee mug and a water bottle. “I’m set for the day. But thank you.”
Kailynn smiled and led her down the hall. She pointed out the bathroom and then took her into her office space.
“It doesn’t look like much, but this is the office.” Kailynn hadn’t taken Maddie to see the space before. She had conducted interviews at her kitchen table and hadn’t thought to show Maddie around when she was there last—not that there was much to see.
“I have you set up here in the corner. I got you the computer yesterday, so it was just set up last night. Chase was wonderful enough to do it for me. If there’s anything you need for your office space or for the computer, please ask.”
Maddie set her items down on the desk. “This is great, Kailynn. Thank you.”
Kailynn smiled and stepped away to walk to her own workstation. “It’s a bit chaotic in here. I just moved everything here yesterday from my last workspace. I still need to spend some time organizing.”
“Would you like some help with it?”
“Um.” Kailynn looked around. “Right now I’m okay. I need to sort everything back into my piles based on the project. I have so many unfinished projects going on that I had lost inspiration on. One thing I’m hoping for is to get the ball rolling with them again.”
She continued, “But I have these designs that need to be uploaded to the website. My old partner used to take the photos of the designs and post them online to market them. Toward the end, I was taking the photos. If you feel comfortable doing it, though, I prefer that you do.”
Maddie nodded. “I can definitely do that.” She stood up and picked up one dress Kailynn had recently finished. “This is beautiful.”
“Thank you.” Tears suddenly pricked her eyes. A ball of tension she didn’t know she was holding in her chest instantly relaxed. After being around an unsupportive business partner for so long, she hadn’t realized how much she valued opinions of those around her. Despite knowing she was a talented designer, it was nice to get feedback without having to ask for it.
Maddie walked over to a mannequin in the corner of the room. “May I?”
Kailynn nodded.
Maddie positioned the red dress on the mannequin and pinned it in the back to show how it would fit on someone. Then she grabbed the digital camera off the table and started snapping photos.
Kailynn leaned against the desk and watched as Maddie repositioned the dress and the mannequin, adjusted the lighting several times with lamps around the room and the dimmer switch on the main light, and took more photos.
“Where did you learn all of this?” Kailynn asked.
Maddie shrugged. “I come from an artistic family. I learned a few things in the process.”
“You are Wonder Woman.”
Maddie laughed. She stood and took the dress down. “You know, it would be helpful to get photos of real people wearing the clothes as well. It won’t make or break anything since any store who buys it will take their own photos for their catalogues or website, but in my experience, it has helped product move faster. Also, there are better lights we could get for taking the photos. It would help a little with showing the details.”
Kailynn nodded. “Okay, those are great ideas.” She sat down at her laptop and pulled open Amazon, where she typed in a search for lighting specifically for photography. “What do you think would work best?”
Maddie walked over and looked at the screen before pointing at a product. “Personally, I think these would work fine, but it’s up to you. Photography lights will always be better than a desk lamp.”
Kailynn dropped a few in her cart to look at closer later before turning back to Maddie. “Anything else? Is the camera okay.”
“The camera is fine. We don’t need anything fancy for what we’re doing. The only other thing I would suggest is maybe get some photo editing software. I don’t have to edit the photos, but I know how if you want me to. I could brighten them a little to help with the details if the lighting doesn’t quite capture it right since some fabrics light up better than others.”
