Free A Damaged Trust by Amanda Carpenter

her reaction to the sight of Gabe’s car contradicted this. She ignored the rush of excitement and the pounding slug of her heartbeats quickening, and quite deliberately put off going into the building where Gabe was. Instead, she retrieved her camera, an expensive but rather older model that had been for years one that she knew like an old friend, familiar and reliable.
    After checking to see if she had the film in the camera started properly, she took off to explore the buildings on her own. Soon she was lost in a world of her own as she concentrated on the angle of the buildings and the position of the sun. At one particularly tall building whose roof jutted high and intersected the morning sun’s rays, she stopped. She tried several positions and distances, but she couldn’t seem to line up the building to satisfy what her mind had envisaged. She got a glimmer of an idea and sprawled flat on the ground, trying to shoot straight up. She wasn’t close enough. Scrambling up halfway, she scooted a few feet on the ground and plopped down again.
    As she focused the camera on the high jutting roof that was a silhouette in the bright sun, a dark figure appeared in her camera’s field and she started. “I hadn’t realised you were here,” it spoke quietly in the tones of Gabe’s deep voice.
    Caught by the sight of the man’s outline dominating the hard angles of the building, Carrie cried out, “Don't move!” Gabe, caught by surprise, held very still. Excited, she began to take pictures, rolling to one side to get a different angle of him and to capture his profile. “Look out toward the mountains, straight ahead,” she ordered, preoccupied. Patiently he complied. The lines of his body, powerful enough at a normal angle, were greatly emphasized as she crouched at his feet and stared up. The natural outward jut of his shoulders from trim lean hips was a perfect foil for the contrasting building behind. It was a beauty of a picture.
    “Okay,” she said at last, standing up in one quickly graceful movement, her face flushed with pleasure and hair tousled from her exertions. She was beaming from ear to ear. If she didn’t get another good shot that day, it wouldn’t matter to her. She was fairly sure that she had got the best possible combination of man and object already locked into her camera’s film.
    Gabe was smiling faintly, indulgently, at the look on her face. “Can I move now?”
    “Of course. Oh, Gabe, that was gorgeous!” she enthused, falling into step beside him and tucking her arm into the curve of his. He squeezed gently. “It couldn’t have been better if I’d planned it myself! I even had the right film in the camera—black and white. Perfect for the picture’s composition!”
    He chuckled. “You’re making me excited too! I can’t wait until you develop the pictures.” After consulting his watch, he added, “But now it’s time for a coffee break. Do you have any idea what time it is?”
    When she shook her head, he told her it was nearing ten o’clock. She was shocked. “You’re kidding! I could have sworn that I got here just half an hour ago.”
    She squinted up at the sun. It was beating down in fierce, scorching waves of heat, and she suddenly realised how sweaty and tired she felt. “I have a better idea than coffee,” she offered quickly. “Emma put some lemonade in a thermos for us, with lots of ice. Let me go and get it.”
    And with that, she ran lightly over to her small car and reached in the back. Gabe waited until she caught up with him before walking on into the office building. Carrie followed, glad of the sudden coolness that the inside of the building afforded. When they reached the room where Gabe had temporarily set up shop, she sank into a seat with a sigh.
    “Whew!” she blew out, wiping her forehead with one hand. He took the thermos from her grasp and found two paper cups, pouring the cold liquid into them and handing one to Carrie. She took it with