Developed by Stal Lionne Page A

the OPEN sign around to CLOSED just as he reached for the door. Both of them stopped for a moment to look at each other through the spaces of the Venetian blinds, letting whatever might have been flashing through their minds take its course.
    She opened the door a crack and talked through the space.
    “We’re closing,” she said. “I can help you if you’re just dropping off though. Cool?”
    “ That’s not going to work for me dear,” he said, taking off his hat and wiping the sweat from his forehead that he just realized was there. “I’m going to need some of your time if you want to help me out. If not, I’ll have to find somewhere else to go, though by the looks of things in this city, this might be my only chance.”
    Standing there with his hat in his hand, A sher looked to Jessica Preston like the men she always watched late at night on Turner Movie Classics that she wished would step through the screen and teach the rest of the man-boys out there how to act and dress.
    “ Well, I’ve got plans tonight,” she said, smiling at how much she wanted to blow them off and open the door from the man who seemed to come out of the past for her. “Though, I suppose I should help out someone in need. That kind of thing usually ends up coming back around, right? That’s what they say.”
    “I don’t much listen to what people say,” Asher said , looking at Jessica enough to let her know he was looking, but not enough to have her slam the door in his face.
    “ How much film do you have?” she asked. “I haven’t shut the machine down yet.”
    “I’ve only got one roll ,” Asher told her, noticing her shape that didn’t come across at first but now was starting to show its form.  “I need someone who knows what the hell they’re doing though. These are important.”
    “That’s the hardest thing these days, isn’t it,” she said, opening the door a little bit more. “Finding a person who knows what they’re doing. Me – I know what I’m doing in here. Come on, I can get those done for you in about an hour.”
    She opened the door and let him walk in, though not allowing much room to move past her. “Now, you better have interesting pics for me, keeping me away from my plans. I spend all day in this shop developing and touching up pictures of people refusing to get old. I hope you’ve got something stimulating in that bag of yours for me.”
    “Ev eryone’s looking for excitement, huh,” Asher said, finally able to take a good look at her. “What’s your name?”
    “Jessica,” she said, extending her hand with an open palm and motioning towards the bag. “The film –“
    “Asher.”
    “The film , Asher. You know, this is exactly why people use digital cameras these days. Makes things much faster.”
    “What about taking your time,” he said, handing her the film and allowing his finger to touch the bottom center of her palm. “There’s something to be said about letting what’s going to happen, happen. Don’t you think?”
    She smiled, and he saw her for the first time. Her skin appeared young and untouched, but her eyes looked older than his .  Her tight black stretch pants outlined her tender legs and shapely backside, while her tight ring armed t-shirt reached just to the top of her pants, showing off all of her curves and movements. Her clothes wrapped around her like they were part of her body. She had on a pair of maroon, low cut Doc Martins with tiny ruffled socks shooting out of the top. Her hair was pulled back so that she had a ponytail coming off the back and bangs that reached down to her eyebrows. Her lips were freshly painted because she thought she was about to go out.
    Being a photographer, Asher ’s eyes clicked over every inch of her. She was for sure the cleanest thing he’d seen in awhile, and part of him felt bad that he was the one that would be dirtying her up with the crime scene photos that he had just handed her.
    Now it was her time to look at him.