When Kaya Perry graduates college, the last place she wants to go back is Layton, the town that she left behind. She left that place with bad memories and no friends, so there is no way she's looking to go back. So it's really a bummer when the job...
Sorry for the late chapter! Had a stressful couple of days.
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"Did you know Julian had been looking for apartments?" It was mid-January, and Julian and Kaya had continued to grow their friendship. Without the elephant in the room that was Alison, they'd gotten much closer than Kaya thought they ever would be. After telling her that he'd gotten an apartment, he had shown Kaya pictures of the apartment and shown her the decorating ideas he had. He had also told her that he had gotten into Haven University's online bachelor's program and was going to school for computer science and business.
The man was truly turning his life around and Kaya was proud of him.
Ty rolled out of the bed and padded over to his closet to pull out some pants. Kaya had spent the night at his apartment after she'd gotten back to her regular work schedule. So many emails had piled up while she was on vacation that the majority of her day had been doing admin work. By the time she'd finished setting up appointments for shoots and gotten an editing schedule together, it was late and she didn't feel like going home to a full house. So she went over to Ty's, who'd given her an enthusiastic welcome filled with kisses and food.
"Yeah," Ty answered, rummaging around in the closet for a clean shirt. One thing that Kaya had noticed about Ty was that although he was one of the most organized men that she knew, he absolutely hated doing laundry. "He wanted to keep it a secret until he found something."
"Oh."
"Mhm." Ty then went to his dresser and pulled out a pair of socks. "He felt bad that he'd been living with you, and taking up your space. His parents haven't really been happy with him since he'd broken up with Alison, and their business had been slow because the Harts rescinded their support. People have been going to Gainey for their car issues."
"But..."
"I know," he said, sighing. "His mother did check on him after it all went down, but then he said she started telling him to get back with her. He didn't want to hear that, and he hasn't spoken to them since."
"That's...really sad. I can't imagine not talking to my mom, aunt, or uncle."
"He's okay," Ty said, turning to look at her. "He was never really close with his parents. They've put a lot of pressure on him in the last couple of years and it's taken a toll."
Kaya watched him finish getting dressed before climbing out of bed herself when he went to go shave and brush his teeth. She had to be to work in an hour and watching Ty get himself ready to go to work was going to cause her to be late.
She picked out an outfit and then headed to Ty's other bathroom to take a shower. She and Ty were officially dating at this point, and it was still so new to Kaya. Before this, she'd never had a boyfriend. Dating Ty was so different from being his best friend. Yes, they were still close, but now they had grown even closer. He was more attentive than ever, much more observant, and Kaya found herself loving it.
And she'd changed a bit too. She was now more aware of him, more attuned to his feelings, and found herself much more drawn to him than she'd ever been before. Sure, Ximena and her friends teased her about it after their initial shock when she'd told them about her and Ty, but Kaya wasn't expecting to be so intimate with him.
He was in the kitchen when she left the bathroom, making breakfast biscuits for the two of them. He didn't hear her come in, so she just watched him. He'd made dough for the biscuits the night before and was just preparing them to be baked. She thought about when she'd last done this—watching him cook. It was when she realized that she liked him.
She made a noise and he turned around, a smile on his face.
"Hey."
Kaya set her canister filled with lemonade on her desk and powered up the desktop, inwardly cringing as dozens of emails popped up. There were emails of thanks, commission requests, and correspondence from people that both she and Ty worked with as well as a couple of emails from Lauren requesting her services in filming a video for her online portfolio. It seemed like every time she caught up on emails even more poured in and with much more frequency.
By the time Kaya had responded to them all, it was noon and she had to stretch for a bit before her meetings of the day commenced. She only had a couple, but she knew they were going to last a few hours.
While she loved owning her own business, Kaya sometimes hated doing admin work and the other tasks that came with having a business. It seemed endless, and there were times where she didn't want to do it. Sometimes she just wanted to be behind the camera. But this was something that she needed to do, and Kaya wasn't ready to take on an assistant yet.
She was lucky to be renting the studio from Ty because, all around, he only charged $1800 monthly for rent, including utilities. Add to the fact that she paid for an accountant, had a lawyer on retainer, and had to watch how much she took out for taxes, operating her business took a lot out of her.
Sometimes, she just wanted to just shoot video, but then she remembered that she was making money from something that she loved and that she could still be at a job wondering if she would be able to make it through the week because of nosy citizens and antagonistic coworkers.
After stretching, Kaya took a sip of her lemonade and checked her texts. Before starting her work day, she'd texted Ty that she'd arrived to work and would probably go back to her place after; he hadn't texted back yet. He'd told her that he'd be out of town for the next two weeks with Ximena, who was helping him photograph and film a Hindu wedding while checking out Appalachian State University, where she'd been accepted to on early admission. Ximena had surprised Kaya by graduating a semester early in December, intending to work for a few months to save up money until she could get her own apartment when she went to college instead of living in the dorms.
Kaya had been pleased that, although Ximena was wary of moving almost five hours away from Santiago, Ximena had been excited to go check out the college. When Ty told the teen that he was going to be a photographer for a wedding in Boone, North Carolina, Ximena leapt at the idea and was packed within the day, with a campus tour booked. Kaya had never seen Ximena move that fast for anything.
Kaya walked around the studio for a bit, cleaning as she went, and got ready for her meetings.
She was done by eight that night, and when she got home Santiago and Julian had cooked dinner and left a plate in the microwave and a note that they were going to see a movie. With the boys gone for the night and her house to herself, Kaya treated herself to a soak in the tub and then a face mask before finally allowing the thoughts that she'd kept at bay roam free.
She was happy for Julian, she really was, but she couldn't help but notice that they'd heard almost nothing from Alison since she and Julian had broken up. It made Kaya wonder what was going on. She wasn't usually one to dwell on people that had done her wrong unless she was directly confronted, but it had been suspiciously quiet lately.
She checked her phone for notifications and saw that Ximena had taken some photos of the area and sent them to Kaya. She checked them, smiling, and noted that ever since Ximena had been working with Ty, she'd made a small hobby out of photography and it was paying off. Even if Ximena didn't get a creative degree, she still had something that could take her mind off of things.
