She Lost Him, but She Found Herself. (Sally Jackson x Poseidon)

CHAPTER 2

A week later I'm at the local Farmer's Market, tote bag in hand, scavenging the different stands of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and handcrafted jewelry.

I head to my friend Vanessa's fruit stall. There's always a variety of options: strawberries, blueberries, oranges, peaches, raspberries, grapes, melons, and cherries. Her family takes pride in fruit farming.

"Sal!" Vanessa exclaims, immediately pulling me in for a hug, "how have you been?"

"I'm good," I reply smiling back, "still working at Bella's, nothing new really." Vanessa and I both live busy lives but mine has been pretty routine the past how many weeks.

"That's good to hear. Nothing crazy has been going on with me either, I'm still working on my photography business."

"How's that going?" I ask.

"So far my only subjects are still just friends and family. I made my own website though! I'm offering to take vacation photos for visitors at any of the popular tourist attraction spots. I'm hoping to appeal to the destination wedding goers too."

"That's great! I hope you get some business soon," I reply, genuinely happy for my friend.
Vanessa's photography is wonderful and I really hope she can get her passion project to take off. I love watching her eyes light up when she talks about her hobby.

"You know, the offer to be one of my models is still on the table," she gives me a smug smile.

"I told you Vanessa, I don't know if I can do that," I say, getting shy. I'm not exactly a put-myself-out-there-person. Ever since I moved to Montauk I've been trying to blend in best I can. I don't want to attract any attention being the new girl with a horribly depressing past.

"I still think you'd be the perfect model Sal," Vanessa replies, deflating in excitement.

"She's right, you would be."

I turn in the direction of the male voice intruding on our conversation, only to be surprised it's Caspian from the café.

"What?" I can't help but blurt out what first comes to mind.

"Nice to see you again too," he jokes.

"Sorry, I was just surprised to see you," I say nervously.

"You two know each other?" Vanessa looks between us raising a brow, then her expression quickly turns into a smug smile.

"Sort of," I say.

"Yes," Caspian responds.

We look at each other.

"Not very well," I add, "he got a coffee at Bella's a bit ago."

"I'm Caspian," he holds out his hand.

"Vanessa," she smiles and takes his offered hand. Instead of shaking it Caspian brings the back of her hand to his lips.

"Nice to meet you," he says.

I can tell Vanessa's trying not to swoon. Caspian doesn't seem to notice the effect he has on her.

"Excuse me?" A middle aged woman interrupts the moment to ask Vanessa something about the oranges. She moves down the counter to point and explain something about their origins.

Caspian and I are left alone, "you're a flirt," I tease.

"What do you mean?"

I look at him and try not to laugh incredulously, there's no way he didn't do that on purpose.
"You just kissed her hand like you're Prince Charming and met Vanessa at a royal ball."