eyed cornflower blue stare, her youthful innocence, her sweet,
sad voice out of her mind.
Jim looked at her as though she’d just asked him if he
would like to drink a tall glass of his own urine. “I can’t
imagine not doing what I’m doing.” His voice held a gentle
reprieve, but Adalynn ignored it. “You just need to give
yourself time.” He said that in a softer tone. “I know it’s been
a few years, but a loss like that, we feel it our whole lives.”
Adalynn couldn’t tell him that wasn’t exactly what was
bothering her. But like most people, Jim thought she was
someone else. He didn’t know her. Did she even know herself
anymore?
“I’ve been thinking about moving somewhere. Buying a
nice old house and settling down and doing boring
photography.”
“Not portraits and families, maternity, pets, weddings?”
She grinned. “Exactly. What’s wrong with a boring life?
What’s wrong with sleeping in your own bed at least a few
times a year? What’s so terrible about having a place to call
home? I could buy one of those fixer uppers. Get people on
my social media all excited about how it’s going. Maybe film
it and make money that way.”
“You don’t have any need to make money. You have enough
for a lifetime. It’s not about that. It’s something else.” Adalynn
squirmed under Jim’s scrutiny. Lucky for her, Jim was more
old school in his thinking than most. “But you’re a woman,
you’re single now, and you’re still young. You want a family.
You want to make something stable, a home. Women do have
a tendency to nest.” How Jim had managed to evade getting
canceled over his opinions, she had no idea. He probably