The Photographer (The Photographer's Saga) by Petra Durst-Benning

Author:Petra Durst-Benning [Durst-Benning, Petra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

“You are so beautiful.” Anton found it hard to take his eyes off Christel. “Your hair shines like spun gold in the sun.”

Paul Merkle’s daughter laughed. “I’m not some princess in a Grimm fairy tale.” She sounded defensive, but Anton saw her cheeks blush red with pleasure.

“You’re a princess to me,” he said firmly.

The pub owner’s son and the young woman had managed to sneak away for one of their rare rendezvous outside the village, where they could hold hands and walk along a rarely used path, always cautious that no one saw them. Anton’s mother believed he was at the mechanic’s, and Christel’s mother thought her daughter was visiting a girlfriend.

Anton kept an eye out for somewhere dry under the trees, someplace where they could sit. Then he would have been able to put his arm around Christel, and maybe she would have let him, and they would be one step closer to their first kiss. He knew exactly how her lips would feel and taste—warm and soft and sweet. But the grass, through which an occasional daisy already battled to raise its head, was soaked from recent rain and snow, and Christel would never have agreed to sit on it.

Anton forced himself not to think about Christel’s lips. As casually as possible, he asked, “Has your brother already had his confirmation photo taken?”

“No. Why? Confirmation is still two weeks away.”

“That’s true,” he said slowly. “But I’ve heard that the studio has a shortage of the glass plates they need for the pictures. Josef Stöckle’s niece has had to order new ones, and she doesn’t know when they’re coming. It’s bad luck, but she might not be able to take pictures of all the confirmands.”

“Mother would be horrified if there were no confirmation picture of Justus.” Christel looked at Anton, appalled at the thought.

“If I were you, I’d visit the studio as quickly as I could, or your brother will have to go empty handed.”

“What about all the others in his class?”

“If he really has to, then he should tell his best pals, too,” said Anton generously. “But you didn’t hear it from me, right?”

“Thank you,” said Christel with relief.

Anton put his arm around her as an experiment, and she let him. A little awkwardly, but nestled side by side, they walked on. It felt wonderful to hold Christel so close. She smelled almost as good as Josef Stöckle’s niece.

“The photographer also said she keeps an eye open for pretty young women who’ll sit for her.”

As expected, Christel stopped in her tracks. “Why would she do that?” she asked with as much indifference as she could feign, but Anton saw the excitement in her eyes.

“She’s in touch with a businesswoman who makes beauty products and often needs good-looking models for her catalog.” Anton looked at Christel with exaggerated pensiveness. “Now that I think about it, no one but you would even come close, would they?”

She gave him a little shove. “You flatterer! You know perfectly well you’re not supposed to say things like that.

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