Rock and A Hard Place (Cascade Brides Series) (10 page)

Chapter Eight

Faith was fuming by the time Shane dropped her off at the office.
She watched him go into Bascombe Productions to ostensibly speak to
Merle. Instead of following him, she detoured to her house and
clumped inside. The echoing quiet didn't cool her mood any. After
retrieving her camera, she flung the backpack onto the couch. Faith
turned on her laptop and uploaded the day's photos, acutely aware
they weren't as good as what Shane would've come up with.

Once the upload was complete, she kicked off her boots and headed to
the shower. Even hot water and a good scrubbing couldn't erase her
angst at Shane and his assumptions about her life. Faith got
dressed, dried her hair, and then padded into the kitchen for
dinner. Her cupboards weren't much help. Same with her refrigerator.
She glared at the wilted lettuce and leftover TV dinner congealing
on the wire shelf.

It looked like she'd have to go to the grocery store. Faith peeked
out her front window and scowled. Shane's Jeep was still parked out
front. As she stood trying to figure out a way to sneak out
without being noticed, she saw Shane emerge from the office,
followed by Merle. Edging away from the window slightly, she watched
as they climbed into the Jeep and left together.

Apparently that social butterfly-slash-ranger was making good on
having his uncle over to dinner. Which meant Shane would be showing
off his photos. Faith stared unseeing as the Jeep disappeared down
the road. Once she realized they were gone, she grabbed a pair of
sneakers by the door and shoved her feet into them. If she was going
to be replaced, at least she wanted to be well-fed. In moments she
was on the road to the local Shop 'n Go grocery store.

Inside, the fluorescent lighting bounced off freshly-waxed floors
and tinny Muzak sounded from ceiling speakers making her anger morph
into a vague sense of depression. A few lingering shoppers compared
products or shuffled after their grocery carts. She recognized
several of them, but didn't know their names.

Faith picked up a plastic shopping basket and headed to the freezer
section. She stared at the selection for several minutes, knowing
the bright colorful photographs didn't truly depict the hard, frosty
contents she'd see when she got home. Her depression grew. She
turned from the glass doors and wandered over to the deli. A woman
from her church turned down her aisle, sorting through coupons as
she went. Faith smiled at her when she looked up, but the woman's
attention flickered right past her as she went by. Faith's smile
faded.

I do have friends. This is a small town where everyone knows
everyone else. Just because I haven't memorized every person's name
doesn't mean I don't have any friends
. She grabbed a mini pizza
and orange gelatin salad from the deli case and headed for the
checkout line. The teenage clerk—who also attended her church and
was here nearly every time Faith shopped—smiled absently, her
attention on the cute bagger. The bagger grinned and flirted
shamelessly back at the clerk.

Faith lifted her lips. “How's it going?”

The girl—her nametag said Tina—pulled her attention from the
bagger and looked at Faith. “Hey.”

“You staying busy tonight?”

The girl stared at her— the only customer in sight. “It's
actually been a little slow.”

“Oh.” Faith cleared her throat, trying a different tack. “You
go to Gateway Community Church, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I go there, too.”

“That's great.”

The bagger held out her plastic grocery bag. Faith took it,
chastising herself for putting herself forward to a couple of
love-sick teenagers. She left without attempting to befriend any
other hapless passersby.

On the way home, Faith mentally went through the people she knew at
church. She helped with several of the functions and in the nursey
on a regular basis, but she could admit she hadn't pursued
relationships outside of the building. And people rarely asked her
to do anything strictly social. Maybe it was because when they did,
she always had an excuse to beg off. She reminded herself the peace
and quiet of her lifestyle was by choice. Life had been so chaotic
in her childhood. So out of control.

So, it's not that I don't have any friends, it's just that I
choose to be alone. And I like it that way. When I'm ready to start
a social whirl, I'll put myself out there and start making
connections
. Faith made a face. The social scene wasn't too big
in a small town.

When she was home, she arranged pizza and orange salad on a paper
plate and turned on the news. Her favorite news anchors, Joe and
Tracy, reported the daily events of Wheeler County.

Joe and Tracy. See, I know people
.

***

The following day at work, Faith barely made it through until
quitting time. She'd spent the evening before sniffling—must be a
cold coming on—and today had been drudgery. The photos from Bear
Creek had turned out only so-so. She tried to find 'hidden
qualities' and tried to 'change context', but recognizing it was one
thing while applying it was quite another. Instead of art, she had
average photos of flowers and a creek and a chipmunk. Big whoop.

She'd even played around with some image editing. The end result
seemed sophomoric to her eyes. Maybe she
should
pick up some
photography courses. But the only place that offered classes was the
satellite campus of the local community college. If she went there,
it would come out that she hadn't graduated. Faith blew a lock of
hair from her eyes and felt her features droop.

The bell above the door made her jump. She twisted in her chair and
saw Shane walk into the lobby. Her heart lurched in her chest. He'd
seemed much less attractive when she'd been thinking dark thoughts
about him. Now, here he stood, watching her with his shiny brown
eyes.

“Hello, Faith.”

She noticed his usual smile wasn't in place. That was probably her
fault. “Hi.”

He checked his watch. “Merle called and asked me to come in before
closing time. Do you know what that might be about?”

Faith shook her head. “He was gone most of the day and only just
got back half an hour ago.”

“Well, he said it involved both of us.”

She blinked. “Huh.”

The man himself popped his head out of the back office. “Shane,
you're here! Why don't you come on back.” He turned his head
toward Faith. “You, too.”

Faith eased out of her chair and followed Shane across the office,
wishing she could duck into the bathroom and check her appearance.
Not that mattered. Shane wouldn't be interested in a person like
her. And of course, she was fine with that.

When she walked into Merle's office, he stood behind his desk, his
hands shoved in his jeans pockets. His white mustache was stretched
over a wide smile. Faith flashed a look at Shane, found him doing
the same at her, then redirected her attention to the boss, her face
hot.

“I can't tell you two how tickled I am that you're striking up a
friendship,” Merle said, to Faith's surprise.

Had Shane not mentioned the disaster of yesterday?

“And knowing you work together well—”

Hah.

“—I propose a project. It has come to my attention that the
governor is holding a contest for a photograph that best represents
the state. The winning photograph will be on every phone book,
website, and tourist pamphlet the state puts out for the next year.
I'd like you two to work on it together under the auspices of
Bascombe Productions.”

Faith didn't say anything, nor did Shane.

Somewhere a cricket chirped.

Shane lightly cleared his throat. “Since I'm a government
employee, doesn't that make me ineligible?”

Merle shook his head. “Only state employees are prohibited from
entering. Not a problem as you're a federal employee.”

Oh, great
. Faith looked at Shane, feeling last night's
despair climb back onto her shoulders.

“And if your photo finals, or even wins, that would be a wonderful
feather in the cap of this company.”

Faith cleared
her
throat. “Um, why don't Shane and I work
separately and submit an image each, thereby doubling the chance of
a win?” She didn't look Shane's way to see how he took her
suggestion.

“Actually, I've already considered that, and you working together
is the way I prefer it. But if you don't wish to be a team, by all
means, enter the contest separately.”

Faith swallowed and tilted her head slightly to gauge Shane's
reaction out of the corner of her eye.

“I agree with your idea, Merle,” he said. He turned to Faith. “I
look forward to working with your niece.”

She sent him a wry look, hoping Merle didn't notice. Was he
attempting to score points with his uncle? Or...

Faith compressed her lips and studied her boss. Had Merle seen the
impressive quality of Shane's images and knew she wouldn't have a
chance at winning unless they worked together? Her blood pressure
mounted at the thought.

“Well?”

She pulled in a surreptitious breath, avoiding any eye contact with
Shane. What choice did she have? If she refused, she might deny
Bascombe's a win. “All right.”

“Good!” Merle said, rubbing his hands together. “I can't wait
to see what you two come up with!”

Faith sent a tight smile Shane's way, then headed back to her desk.
She stared at her computer monitor, struggling to rein in her
conflicting emotions. On so many levels, this was humiliating. But
she'd seen it coming. Merle couldn't just come out and say he didn't
want the fate of the contest to rest on her inferior shoulders when
there was true talent at his fingertips.

“Faith.”

The softly spoken word caused her to spin around. Shane stood
nearby, his gaze watchful.

“Do you want to get together for dinner so we can come up with a
direction for this project?”

Faith glanced past him to Merle's office. His door was closed. She
lowered her voice. “We both know why Merle wants it this way, so
let's not pretend. Just go home, choose one of your photos and turn
it in.”

Shane put up his hands. “Okay, I don't know what you mean by 'what
Merle wants'.”

“Are you serious?” she hissed. “He's seen your work and can't
trust me to do this right!”

His brows snapped together. “That's ridiculous!”

“No it isn't.”

He took a step closer, close enough for her to see sparks shooting
from his eyes. “Merle
has
seen my work. You might be
surprised to know he wasn't all that impressed. He prefers straight
shots without editing or any 'hocus pocus' as he called it.”

Faith looked up at him, shocked. When she thought about it, she
realized Shane might have something there. Merle didn't want works
of art. He just wanted eastern Oregon represented in the raw. She
bit her lip. “Then why does he want us to do this together?”

It was Shane's turn to stare at her for several moments. “Like I
said before, he's concerned with how much time you spend alone.”

Faith rolled her eyes.

“Listen, tomorrow is Saturday. I won't be able to work on this
during the week, so let's get this going sooner than later. Have
dinner with me tonight and we'll come up with a plan. Hopefully then
we can head out tomorrow and get something on film.”

“You mean on an SD card.”

He smiled suddenly. “It was just a figure of speech.”

Faith regarded him through her lashes. While Joe and Tracey had
their appeal, she could admit it would be nice to not eat alone.
Anticipation inexplicably extinguished rancor. “Okay, let's do
this.”