I Sat on My Stepfather's Lap All Match, and Mom Was Filming novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: No Phones in the Frame

Lainey's POV

Gabriel looked at the deed for a long time.

Then he picked up the gold pen and put it down again.

"I'll read it first," he said.

"Of course, darling. Read it all day."

My mother kissed the top of his head.

I kept my fork moving, and I tasted nothing.

Under the table, Gabriel's knee pressed against mine, hard, once.

The doorbell rang at ten.

Nico stood on the step in a linen jacket with a camera bag over one shoulder and a small tripod under his arm.

"Signora Bradbury," he said. "I am a desperate man, and I need a favor."

"Nico! What kind of favor?"

"My network is making a short film about the families behind the great strikers. The wife who waited at home. The ones the crowd never sees." He bowed his head. "I thought of you the moment I saw this house."

She put a hand on her chest.

"Me? On television?"

"Ten minutes, in the den, with the trophies behind you. The cameras love a woman who looks like she belongs in the picture."

I watched her face, and I watched what it did.

She had been planning a party for weeks, and she had never once said no to being looked at.

"I'll need to change," she said.

She was gone up the stairs before he finished thanking her.

Nico turned to me and lowered his voice.

"Her phone. Where is it?"

"In her pocket. She never puts it down."

"She will."

He set up the tripod in the den in four minutes, and he arranged the armchair, and he moved the lamp.

My mother came down in a cream silk blouse with fresh lipstick, and she sat with her knees together and her hands folded on her phone.

Nico lifted the camera and frowned into the screen.

"Signora, I am sorry. The microphone is very sensitive. It hears every buzz, every little tremor from a telephone. I cannot have it in the room."

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