Chapter 24: The New Portrait

On the last Sunday of August, Elias set up the big camera on the lawn of the lake house.

He put it on the tripod at the bottom of the slope, with the water behind the spot where we would stand.

Teagan arrived at noon in her beat-up pickup, with a cooler, a speaker, and a silver reflector under her arm.

"I bought it at the camera shop in town," she said, holding it up.

"Why?"

"So you'd never have to hold one again." She grinned. "I'm holding it today, though. I'm in charge of the light."

Mustard sat on the porch rail with his tail around his feet, watching her.

He had claimed the lake house in July.

He ruled the screen door, the dock, and a patch of sun on the kitchen floor, and he had bitten a heron.

"Ready?" Elias called from the camera.

"Where do I stand?" Teagan said.

"Wherever the light is good."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I've got."

Teagan planted herself at the edge of the grass, holding the reflector high, and tilted it toward the water.

"Like this?"

"Perfect." Elias bent to the viewfinder. "Willa, in the middle. Pick up the cat."

I lifted Mustard off the rail.

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