They Said She Was Strong So They Never Had To Choose Her novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: Market Rate

At the coffee shop they decide I should sleep in town and shoot for them, so I quit the trip, learn my three thousand dollars bought Kenzie's ring, and hand Tanner a five-thousand-dollar invoice he pays in front of everyone; outside, Kenzie's travel account turns out to be built on my photos.

In the morning I printed the booking confirmation at the library and put it in my bag.

Then I texted Ford.

Coffee at the corner place. Ten o'clock.

I meant to end the trip in person.

When I pushed the door open, all four of them were already in the booth by the window.

Kenzie had a latte in both hands and her head bent close to Ford's laptop.

"The cabin only has two bedrooms left?"

"One with twin beds, one with a king," Ford said. "If all five of us go, somebody's on the pullout in the living room."

Tanner looked at me before Ford finished.

"Greer sleeps like a rock. Give her the couch."

Clay frowned.

"It gets cold up there at night. There's no heat in the living room."

For one second I thought somebody had remembered my knee.

Then Clay kept going.

"Greer could stay at a motel in the town at the bottom and drive up before sunrise to shoot for us. That's easier anyway."

Kenzie grabbed my hand.

"No way. We're five friends. We are not sending Greer to a motel."

She chewed her lip.

"What if Greer and I share the king and you guys take the twins?"

"You're a light sleeper," Ford said. "You wouldn't get any rest."

"Greer kicks," Tanner said. "She'll knock you out of bed."

They remembered Kenzie slept lightly.

They had forgotten my knee seized up in the cold, since the night on the ridge.

I pulled my hand back.

"There's nothing to figure out. I'm not going."

All four went quiet.

Kenzie's eyes filled.

"Is it the room? I'll take the couch, I swear."

"It's not the room. I've got work."

Tanner snorted.

"See? I told you she wouldn't care about something this small."

Clay went back to the map.

Ford kept looking at me.

"You're really not coming?"

"Really."

"What about the photos?"

"Hire a photographer up there."

His forehead creased.

Kenzie made a small sound and pressed a hand to her chest.

All three of them turned at once.

Tanner dug in her purse for her pills. Clay cracked a water bottle. Ford crouched in front of her and counted her breathing.

I got up and went to the counter for a napkin I didn't need.

From my bag I took out the album.

Four years of the five of us, printed and bound, for the trip.

I'd been up until two most nights in May finishing it.

I flipped it open on the counter.

Prom. The lake. The Fourth of July on Tanner's roof.

I was in almost none of it.

I was always the one holding the camera.

I carried the album back and set it on the table.

Then I set the booking confirmation on top of it, in front of Ford.

"Explain this."

His face changed when he saw the payment line.

"Greer, let me explain."

"I gave you three thousand dollars two weeks ago."

He looked at the table.

"Kenzie really wanted the cabin at the top, and the budget for four wasn't enough. So I used it to upgrade."

"So I paid, and I'm not on the booking."

"I was going to ask you to put in a little more so all five of us could go. I just hadn't found the right time."

That money was two summers behind the counter at the camera shop.

He'd told me he needed it for a surprise.

At sixteen, on the ridge, he promised to take me to the Rockies to see real stars.

I'd thought my birthday was the surprise.

My eyes went to Kenzie's hand.

On her ring finger was a white gold band.

"Can I see that?"

She held it out without thinking.

Engraved inside were four sets of initials.

Hers. Tanner's. Clay's. Ford's.

"Was this my money too?"

Kenzie went white and tugged the ring off.

"Greer, I didn't know. They said it was a graduation gift. To remember our friendship."

Tanner shot to his feet.

"How much? I'll send it right now. Leave Kenzie out of it."

"Fine."

I took one more sheet from the back of the album.

"Four years of shooting, editing, and printing. Senior photos for all four of you, prom, every birthday. Market rate is five thousand dollars."

Tanner stared at it.

"What is this, a bill?"

"If I'm not a friend on the trip, I'm the photographer. Photographers get paid."

A woman at the next table put down her muffin to watch.

Tanner's ears went red.

He pulled out his phone and sent it right there, stabbing the screen.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

"Happy?"

"Thank you."

I put the album in my bag.

Ford stood up as I turned for the door.

"Greer Pennock."

He'd never used my full name in his life.

"Do you really have to be this calculating?"

I didn't turn around.

"Somebody had to keep count."

Outside, the sun was too bright.

I sat on the bench by the bus stop and opened Kenzie's travel account.

I'd never really looked at it.

I'd always been busy taking the pictures.

Forty-one thousand followers.

The top post was from yesterday, a sponsored one, with an outdoor gear company tagged in the corner.

It was my photo.

The sunrise over the lake, the one I'd climbed a fire road at four in the morning to get.

Under it, Kenzie had written: People always ask who shoots my stuff. Every photo on this page is mine.

← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend