ItM - Simon - 33

A Purpose and a Surprise

Sometimes I didn’t really know what had attracted me to Erin, but I was glad it did. She could be an amazing person when she didn’t even try, but someone rarely saw it because other people would ignore her.

The years working for Eleanor made her self-conscious but they also made her strong. I didn’t know of anyone else that could’ve survived 10 years of that hell without going insane or drinking heavily.

I wasn’t going to let anything or anyone take her from me. She’d become too important for me to let go of, even for a few hours.

I suppose every werewolf went through the same thing when it came to their mates. It was the animal instinct woven into every fiber of our bodies that drove us to crave close contact with the one that both soothed us and pushed our blood to boil.

For me, there was only her, and I’d lose my mind if she ever went out with some other guy. She’d been mine too long for me to be able to accept her being around other males.

~*~*~*~

Now that Erin had her greenhouse in the backyard, I was at a loss when it came to what I was going to do. I figured it was time for me to get a job before I got too comfortable sitting around watching TV.

I also figured it was time to tell Erin what I planned on doing before she started thinking that I was out dealing drugs or robbing people or playing the accordion in a polka band.

I wandered through the house looking for her, and found her out in her greenhouse, her hands elbow deep in a large bag of potting soil. She looked up when I closed the door and gave me a smile. “Hey. Were you looking for me?”

“Yup.” I walked over and leaned against the table, watching her lift soil into pots with bulbs sitting near the bottom. “Planting away, I see.” She nodded, chuckling, and reached up with her hand to rub at her cheek, transferring a smudge of dirt. I reached out and tried to brush it away. “What are you planting?”

“Scarlet red lilies.” Her hands went down into the large apron she was wearing, presumably to keep the dirt off of her clothes, and showed me a picture from a seed and bulb catalogue. “They’re going to have such a deep colour along the curve of the petal here, and at the top where it circles around.”

I nodded, and Erin turned back to her soil and her pots, her cheeks getting the faint pink colour that meant she was blushing. “I’ve been thinking about getting some books on breeding plants and flowers, you know? Just to see if I could make a new kind on my own.”

I grinned at her look and pushed a hand through her hair, leaning in to kiss her temple. “I think that’s a great idea, Erin. I know how much you like working in here, and it would keep you busy while I’m off at work.”

“You have a job?”

“Not exactly. I think it’s time that I get one before there’s a permanent ass print on the couch in the living room, or one on our bed from all those times we sit around watching movies. I don’t want to be one of those guys who lies around living off the money he got from his parents.”

Erin’s face fell and she went back to putting soil over the bulbs, then started packing it all down in the pots. “So, you’re tired of being cooped up in the house with me all day.”

“That’s not it at all, Erin.” I reached out slowly and took hold of her wrists, stopping her hands, and pulled her into my arms. “I just want to find something do to that I enjoy. You’ve got your plants in here now, and it’s all yours. I want something that’s all mine.” Pulling back, my thumb rubbed along the edge of her jaw. “Besides you, that is.”

She exhaled, looking thoughtful, then nodded, her face turning towards my stroking hand. “That does make sense, Simon, and I’m glad you’ve got some drive in you to do more than watch TV and spend time with me and actually work.”

“Spending time with you will always be number one on my list, sweetheart.” I kissed the side of her neck, smiling against her skin when she squirmed.

She pushed me away, quickly kissed me, and went around to the other side of the table to lift up the metal watering can. “Do you know what kind of work you’ll be doing? Maybe you could take pictures or movies for people, like at weddings and parties?”

I grimaced a little when she suggested it. “Well, I guess, but I’m more interested in making those little documentary films about average people and indie musicians and the like.”

“I know, but you have to start somewhere.”

Erin was right; I did have to start near the bottom rung of the ladder so one day I could reach the top where it read ‘director and filmmaker,’ even if I didn’t like it. And I wanted Erin to be proud of me like I was proud of her for doing a job that she hated so much.

I walked around the table and kissed her. “You’re so smart, my Erin. I think I’ll go out there and do just that.” With that said, I headed out of the greenhouse and for the garage so I could drive into town.

Of course, once I got there I was completely lost on how I was going to go about getting work as a photographer and videographer for parties and weddings.

I started walking through town and wrote notes on all the message boards I passed, writing down my name, phone number, and random things that I thought would look good to someone looking to hire a photographer.

Before I even got back to the car, three people called me on my cell phone.

So, I started a new job by taking pictures at people’s weddings and birthday parties, and some anniversary parties. After a week of working behind a camera, either film or video, I was surprised at the number of events that needed someone there to take pictures. There was even a fundraiser for some local Girl Scouts and a groundbreaking for a new building for a dentist’s office.

I suppose all these people wanted to remember the little things, and I couldn’t blame them. Remembering the little things was hard at the best of times, and there were lots of moments with Erin or with Mick that I wish had been captured in pictures or on film because I couldn’t quite remember every minute detail.

At least I enjoyed myself while I was working. The adults were cool, giving me a shot when all I could really give as qualifications was two years as a fine arts student, but the kids were the ones who made me laugh. It was almost like seeing what Mick’s kid would act like in a few years.

The kids were fun to watch as they ran around with cans of silly string or did amusing things during a wedding, like sitting down in the aisle and playing with the train of the bride’s dress. I suppose I’d never thought of kids as being funny to watch.

The people I met were also interesting. The brides and grooms were either thrilled that they were getting married or scared because they were afraid something was going to go wrong. The second group needed some calming down, and sometimes their family members would make things worse.

Sometimes I’d talk to them about things that weren’t related to the wedding to calm them down. It would work, because they just needed the distraction from the huge event that was happening behind them.

Now, it wasn’t like this was the highest paying job in the world, but I was getting paid, and I was putting the money away for those small every-other-day things, like film and camera tapes, and the gardening books for Erin.

She loved the books, by the way.

Being out of the house did mean I was away from Erin, but those were the hours in the middle of the day that she slept. She could handle being awake during some of the day, but the hours when the sun was at its highest made her weak and sleepy.

I figured it was better that I was away when she was asleep so she wouldn’t miss me too much.

Later on one week, I headed into town to get all the pictures that I’d taken developed. The girl behind the counter was nice enough to give me a discount because I’d dropped off about 20 rolls of film, and she let me stand around in the store as they were developed. Every time a roll was done she’d hand me the package and I’d flip through them, just to make sure they’d come out.

The first roll was shots of the new house, of Mick and Louisa and Erin. The first time I asked if she could be photographed she’d laughed and nodded, then turned back to what she was doing as I snapped a picture of the side of her face.

I turned to look out the large windows at the front of the store and saw a young couple walk past with a black umbrella. I was confused because it wasn’t raining outside, but these two were walking along with an umbrella over their heads.

Looking back at the girl behind the counter, I waited for her to come by with the next pack of pictures. “Do you know who the two with the umbrella are? The sun’s out and they’ve got an umbrella up.”

She looked outside, even though they weren’t there, and nodded. “Yeah, I’ve seen them around. It’s some girl and her brother. I think their names are Ainsley and Oliver. They just moved here about a week ago. They go for a walk through town every day. And they’re... you know."

I raised an eyebrow at her. “No, I don’t know. What are they?”

“They’re vampires.”