Perfect Mementos

Her eyes lingered over one photo. In it, she had just pulled back from the kiss. Austyn’s head was lowered. He was looking at her with a smile that was so gentle and so…loving. It made Kira’s heart melt. Kira hadn’t noticed the look back then. She didn’t know Austyn’s usually stern face was capable of making such a tender expression. She looked at the shutterbug. ‘What are you going to do with these photos?’ The girl was shamefaced. ‘I’m a student majoring in photography. I came here looking for inspiration for a portrait assignment. I thought you and your boyfriend looked so good for the camera, so I… I was going to ask for your permission to use the photos. But if you don’t like it, I’ll delete them.’ Kira pointed to three of the shots. ‘Delete those with our faces in them. But you can keep these two.’ The last two were wide shots that didn’t capture their faces. The girl perked up. ‘Really? Oh, thank you, thank you so much!’ Kira returned the phone to her. ‘Can you send these to me?