Wooing Miss Crowell | 3
~ Take a photo. ~
.: Outside Kelly's Diner :.
He walked up the walkway to the little diner for lunch and saw her standing by one of the tables, talking to a young couple that he'd never seen before. The man was tall and lanky with brown hair and the woman was similarly lanky with curly blonde hair and a wide smile. She had a camera in her hands and the three of them were chatting away about something.
As Johnny drew closer he noticed a stroller standing by Nadine. In it sat little Jake Spencer, happily kicking his feet in the sunshine. He stole a quick glance inside and sure enough, there was Elizabeth with her other son, placing an order.
He ambled up and smiled at the three of them, his eyes lingering on Nadine. The nurse wore a pale blue sundress and had her hair up in a ponytail, and looked as cool and comfortable as anyone could on an eighty-five degree day.
"Hey."
If he wasn't imagining it, her eyes actually lit up a little. "Johnny, hey. Have you met the Parkers?"
"Can't say that I have," he said smoothly, extending his hand to the man first. "Pleased to meet you."
"This is my friend Johnny," Nadine said, and he crinkled his nose at that pesky word, "Johnny Zacchara. He lives in Crimson Pointe, which is the next town over, but he's here all the time because he has property in Port Charles and is on our hospital board."
The couple smiled at him.
"Johnny, this is Bill Parker and Marion Parker, Mary for short." She looked back and forth between them as they all shook hands. "The Parkers just moved to Port Charles two weeks ago. They're on Cherry Blossom Lane in the Branch Brook subdivision there."
"Oh, I know that area," he replied. "You picked a good part of town – that's where all the other young families are. Patrick and Robin bought a house there a month ago, right?"
Nadine nodded. "Yup – you guys remember Patrick Drake and Robin Scorpio, right? They bought a house there shortly after they got engaged but haven't really gotten around to moving in."
"Carly and Jax are down the street," Johnny continued. "They own the Metrocourt, that big hotel on Main street."
"We stayed there when we first came to town," the woman smiled. "We were still trying to find a good place and didn't really have our bearings. It's a lovely hotel."
"Carly and Jax used to stay there but after they got married, they moved into their house on Cherry Blossom," Nadine explained. "They have kids – two boys. It made more sense."
"Of course."
"And…correct me if I'm wrong, but don't Elizabeth and Lucky live there?" Johnny mused, gesturing to the stroller where Jake was looking up at him. "This little guy's parents."
"They do," Nadine replied brightly. "Elizabeth rents a house just across the street from the Parkers, actually."
"Oh, we've come to know Elizabeth very well over the past two weeks," Bill smiled. "She brought us lasagna on our first night in the new house, and she's introduced us to a lot of the other families on the street. She's a wonderful neighbor."
"A very nice woman," Johnny agreed, his eyes moving back and forth between the couple. "So…what's with the camera?"
"This? Oh." Mary blushed slightly and held up her camera. "Bill and I are kind of into scrap booking."
"Bill's a photographer," Nadine filled in. "And Mary is a journalist. She's worked at the Washington Post and he's shot for W magazine."
They brushed off her praise. "It was just some filler work," Bill explained. "I only handled a couple spreads on a contract basis."
"We're hoping to parlay our experience into positions with the Port Charles Gazette," Mary shrugged. "I have the experience in human interest pieces – I'm sure I'd fit into the features section, or the arts and entertainment, and Bill's got a portfolio full of great shots. We'll see how it goes – keep your fingers crossed."
This seemed to amuse Johnny, and he contained a smirk as he reminded himself to have one of his men do a background check on these two. "We will."
"How's your scrap book coming so far?" Nadine wanted to know.
"Oh, it's great," Bill replied. "We were thinking of contributing some of the shots to the town newsletter. I heard they're always on the lookout for pictures. We've got a bunch of the new house, some of us with the neighbors, that sort of thing."
"We thought we'd come down here and take a few pictures of Kelly's, just for fun," Mary smiled.
Johnny smiled back. Yeah, he was going to have to get someone on that background check sooner rather than later. No one took pictures of a diner just for fun. "Sounds like a plan."
"We'd love to get one of you two," Bill offered. "Some new friends to add to the book."
"Sure, why not?" he agreed affably, loosely looping an arm around Nadine's waist. Though puzzled, she leaned in, too. "How's that?"
"One more for safety," Bill replied, taking another. "Let's get little Jake in on this, too. He and his brother are so photogenic, you know."
"Oh, don't let me forget." His wife was tapping him on the shoulder as Nadine picked Jake up out of the stroller. "I have to give Elizabeth the prints of the pictures we took of all of us at their house. She said she might want to frame a couple."
"We can drop them by later," he suggested, focusing the lens. "We'll be dropping by tonight for dinner, anyway."
Jake was fussing, so Johnny took him from Nadine and held him so that Jake's back was against his chest and his little feet swung freely. The irony of the moment wasn't lost on him. It was actually kind of funny, the thought that if Jason Morgan came strolling around the corner and saw this, he'd shoot first and ask questions later.
But again, Johnny had always been told that he had a morbid sense of humor.
"That's lovely," Bill smiled, snapping a picture of the three of them. "One more for safety."
Johnny saw Elizabeth taking her order from Mike and handed Jake back to Nadine. "I'd love a copy of those, if you don't mind."
"Of course not. I'm sure I can get them to you."
"Why don't you give me your card?" he suggested. "That way we can stay in touch."
Bill plucked a card out of his wallet and handed it over, but Johnny caught the uneasy glance that passed between him and his wife. "There you are."
"Thanks." He pocketed it quickly. It didn't really matter: he had the resources to find Bill and Mary Parker even if they didn't give him any information to go on. He just wanted to see how they behaved when asked to present identification, and his questions had been answered. "You know, I can take one of the three of you if you like."
The couple exchanged glances and Mary nodded brightly after a moment's pause. "That'd be lovely. We'd like that."
Elizabeth chose that moment to come out of the diner and Johnny turned, enjoying the panic-stricken look on her face.
"Elizabeth, there you are." He waved her forward. "Apparently, we're taking pictures. Get in the shot."
She gulped and looked around at the rest of them, but couldn't very well refuse such an apparently harmless request. So Elizabeth set the bag of take out down on the table and, tightly gripping Cameron's hand, squeezed into the shot. Nadine remained holding Jake, and Johnny expertly framed the shot and snapped the picture.
"One more for safety," he said dryly, watching Bill and Mary look at Jake. "Okay, how about one of just Elizabeth, Nadine and the boys?"
Bill and Mary were amenable to the idea and moved out of the shot. Before the girls could protest, Johnny was already framing the shot. Elizabeth forced a tight smile and fidgeted when he was done.
"Bill? Mary? How about one of just you two?"
As he knew they would, the young couple declined politely. "Oh, that's fine, we don't want to bother you anymore. We have tons of pictures of just us."
"Thanks," Bill repeated, taking the camera from Johnny. "I'll make sure to get you a copy of the ones of you and Nadine."
Johnny nodded as the two excused themselves and walked away, and Elizabeth couldn't get away fast enough, either.
"It was good seeing you two," she said, hastily grabbing her bag and Jake's stroller. "We have to be going. Cam? Cameron, come on."
Nadine waved at them as they left, then turned to Johnny. "Guess it's just us."
"Looks that way," he agreed with a smile. "Have lunch with me?"
"Sure," she chirped, taking a seat at one of the tables behind them. "Funny running into Bill and Mary. They seem nice."
He clicked his fingers on the edge of his chair. "Sure do."
"Although…" Nadine wrinkled her nose. "I don't know, I don't want to be mean or anything, but it's a little weird, the way they take so many pictures. Isn't it?"
Johnny smiled, realizing she'd picked up on it, too, although she had no reason to be overly suspicious like he was. "Not mean at all. And yeah, it is a little weird.
"But who knows?" He leaned back in his chair and stretched out his legs, happy to be having a leisurely lunch with her in the shaded courtyard outside Kelly's. "It might be somewhat instinctive for them to always want to snap pictures. Bill is a photographer, after all."
