As many readers of "The Arrangement" know, the character Riley is based on someone I met on a cruise ship this spring. Though we didn't have an "Arrangement" or any sexual contact whatsoever, we did have several frank conversations, and she was the inspiration for the story.
One of my greatest regrets is that I don't have any pictures of her. It would have looked inappropriate for us to take photos together, and she doesn't seem to have any sort of online or social media presence that I can find. (It's probably for the best that I'm not in touch with her, to be honest with you.)
But, it makes me sad that I'm sort of forgetting what she looked like, and I've been trying to find an illustrator to add some artwork to "The Arrangement." (My previous effort, with "Second Life" avatars, was not very satisfactory.)
Flipping TV channels yesterday, I happened to see a Disney Channel actress who looks very similar to "Riley." So similar, in fact, that I actually exclaimed "oh my god" out loud or something along those lines when I saw her.
Her name is Devore Ledridge, she's 15 years old (as Riley was when Mark met her!) and you can see some pictures of her here:
https://www.google.com/#q=devore+ledridge
In many photos, she has straight hair, whereas the inspiration for my story's Riley was wavy. But in this one particular picture, she looks so much like my "Riley," that it makes my heart ache:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7fHSfRIZpHA/VyVqEKvOh2I/AAAAAAAAOeQ/c9tveZuctvk3Md17Lc3jNXQOj7TTjMx7gCLcB/s1600/devore-ledridge-1.jpg
If I can find an illustrator to work with me on some images, I will of course post those here when done.