Chapter 66: A Lesbian love affair

Although I usually like to keep my Sundays strictly for rest I needed to complete a photobook I promised, ready for sending to the printers. It contained the wedding photos of one of my favorite and loyal customers, and although they will have been married 25 years in a few weeks, the husband wanted me to finally make the photobook of their matrimony they could not afford 25 years ago. It was meant as a surprise for his wife who he still very much adored.

All I had to work with were a bunch of negatives of photos that their friends and family had shot during the ceremony and the party afterward. That meant that I had to digitalize them with a scanner, which was easy for the black and white ones, but not so easy for the color negatives, which have a tendency to turn rather red over the years. For those, I needed to adjust the colors before I could turn them into a positive image, which could then be used in the book. In the end, it took me till Monday evening to finalize the book the way I wanted it, and finally, I was able to send it to him for approval so I could send it to the printers.

In my mail, I urged him to speed up his perusal, check it overnight, and give me the green light by Tuesday morning. So that Tuesday morning at 9 am I was waiting anxiously in my computer room for his reply, when the doorbell to the shop rang, announcing a customer. I hurried to the front to see who it was this early in the day.

I saw a rather nervous lady waiting for me, I even thought she was wringing her hands when I walked in. She was looking at some of the photos that I had on display in the shop, together with a few of Bethany’s paintings. She seemed rather interested in some of the nude shots of Dawn and Linda I had grouped together in a corner.

The ones I had on display were rather tasteful, just hinting at nudity and not featuring the models’ faces. ‘Strange,’ I thought as she didn’t look like the type to be interested in photographs of nude women. I immediately set myself the challenge of figuring out why she was specifically perusing these pictures. She was so engrossed in studying them that it startled her when I greeted her.

“Good morning madam, how can I be of assistance to you?” I asked in a very friendly manner.

After the initial shock of my familiar greeting, I saw her relax a little.

“Yes, good morning sir, I presume you make portraits?”

“Yes, of course. The name is Lew, by the way, and yes, I do all kinds of portraits, children, animals, couples whatever you like. Are you thinking of having portraits taken of yourself, or someone close to you? A family member, or a pet maybe?”

“No, no, not of myself, I’m Ida, by the way, and what I would like is to buy maybe a voucher for a portrait session I could give to someone close to me. Is that possible?”

“Of course it is, but you could also bring the person in question with you and we can take the photos then.”

“No, no, I want her to come on her own.”

“So I gather it’s a woman you wish to give this present to, any particular occasion, a birthday maybe?”

“No, no not exactly I just would like to have some portraits of Caroline.”

“I see, and does Caroline know why you want these portraits of her?”

“We are close friends, we play tennis together, and I like her very much. That’s the only reason I want to give her this photo session as a present.”

Although I couldn’t immediately put my finger on it, somehow, my lesbodar started blinking. Taking a closer look at the woman in front of me, I had a feeling she had a hidden agenda that she wasn’t immediately ready to share with me. I needed to find out more before I agreed to whatever it was she had in mind.

“I couldn’t help but notice you were looking at the photos of some of my nude models, do I conclude that your friend would like to pose for nude pictures?”

“I don’t really know if she would go for that, but I heard that is more or less your specialty?”

“Whoever told you that?”

“Nobody specific, I just heard it on the grapevine.”

Ida really kept her cards close to her chest, well I don’t mind, I love a good game of poker, guessing the cards of your opponent. Especially the game of strip poker this whole thing could maybe turn into. Perhaps it was strip poker she would like me to play with this friend of hers. Was my lesbodar maybe on the blink and did she expect me to talk Caroline out of her clothes and fuck her? After all, I didn’t know this Caroline, for all I know she’s an overaged virgin friend whom she wants to help out.

“So you heard it on the grapevine, I wonder what else you heard about me on that grapevine?”

“No, no nothing else, only that you have this reputation of being able to talk women out of their clothes and photograph them.”

“And is that what you want me to do, talk Caroline out of her clothes and photograph her?”

“Euh, not exactly; but if she were willing to pose in her underwear or in the nude I wouldn’t mind ... provided it’s done in a tasteful way of course,” she added after realizing she had just shown me one too many of her hidden cards.

“Coming back to my request, do you offer the possibility of these gift vouchers?”

“Indeed I do, it doesn’t really matter to me who pays for the photo session, and if you want to offer this to one of your friends, I’d be only too happy to oblige. I cannot guarantee that the outcome will be exactly what you had in mind, but I will get you some nice professional photographs of her.”

“What do you mean about the outcome not being exactly what I have in mind?”

“I’m referring to the nude part, I can guarantee good, sharp, or soft-focus pictures in any shape or size, but I can’t give you any guarantees concerning the willingness of the model to shed any of her clothes partly or even completely.”

“I understand, but will you try?”

“I will of course; oh by the way what is your friend’s age?”

“Oh, Caroline is 39 and will turn 40 in two weeks’ time. I want to make this significant birthday as painless for her as possible, proving that turning 40 doesn’t change the fact that she is stunning and will remain so.”

“So it is a gift for her birthday?”

“OK, if you must know, yes it is.”

“Would you mind telling me your age?”

“I’m already 42.”

“Really, well you absolutely don’t look it, I had estimated you just hitting 30, going by your slim figure.”

“Thanks for the compliment, but you won’t be able to talk me out of my clothes, mister.”

“That’s a pity, I was just thinking of offering you a session at a reduced price if you buy that one for your friend.”

“I don’t have any plans in that direction.”

“Why, if you offer your friend these photos of herself, maybe she would appreciate having some of you as well.”

“Let’s see the ones you take of her first, then maybe we can talk about some of me.”

“Well don’t blame me for trying, when I see a beautiful woman I always want to take her picture.”

When I see a beautiful woman I always want to take her picture.”

“Oh boy, that’s another thing I was warned about, that you are great at flattering women and making them do things they might regret later on.”

“Ida, shame on you! I wouldn’t do any such thing. Who dares to spread those kinds of rumors about me? I would never make a woman do things she doesn’t want to or dream about,” I said with a big smile on my face, making it clear I was pulling her leg.

“OK I’ll take your word for it, now can you give me that voucher, and do I pay upfront?” Clearly, she didn’t pick up on the hint, probably too preoccupied with her mission.

“I do require a base fee to cover my cost for the time of the shoot itself, but I prefer to take the photos first, then you decide, based on the proof prints, which ones you like and how you want them, I can make a photo book, or you can have simple standard-size prints or large ones for display on a wall, like the ones you see here in the shop. After that, we’ll figure out how much it’s going to cost you in total.”

“I see, but what do I tell Caroline then, that she should just come here?”

“Nope, she might not want to, I’ll give you a voucher on paper, this will probably convince her it’s not a scam and make her feel obliged to come. You can even gift wrap it so that it really looks like a birthday present?”

“Yes, that sounds excellent.”

“I don’t want to sound negative Ida, but that’s the first time that I’ve heard you say yes.”

“Is it?”

“Yes dear, and I appreciate it, let me print the voucher for you.”

I printed a nice-looking voucher, with some portrait sample photos, some of them of nudes, and including the address of the shop, phone number, and opening times, indicating that it would be advisable to make an appointment for a portrait session. I hoped the nude photos on the voucher gave Caroline an idea of what might be expected of her during the session.

“Do you have any idea when your friend Caroline will come to the studio?”

“I hope she does in the next couple of days, but I’ll urge her not to wait too long.”

I handed the A4 size voucher to Ida after putting it in a same-size envelope to keep it safe. She held on to it as if her life depended on it and walked out of the shop. I wondered if and when I was going to meet the mysterious almost 40-year-old Caroline.

I didn’t have to wait very long, two days later an unknown woman walked into the shop.

“Good afternoon sir,” she said as I greeted her. She was a stunner, with short blonde hair, very similar to Dawn’s current hairdo. Deep penetrating blue eyes, the cutest nose you can imagine, and cheekbones to die for. She wore a mid-calf trench coat, keeping her figure virtually hidden, but still, with the sash of the coat pulled tight around her waist, I suspected she had an hourglass figure.

“A friend of mine gave me this voucher for a portrait session in your studio,” she said in a rather manly fashion.

“Ah, I guess you are Caroline, Ida’s friend,” I replied, my lesbodar immediately going into overdrive.

“Yes, Ida gave me this thing and wants me to have a number of portraits taken, I don’t know why.”

“Allow me to say that Ida confided in me that it’s a present for your upcoming birthday.”

“Oh God don’t remind me, I hope she didn’t tell you my age?”

“I’m afraid she did...” Before I could continue Caroline cut me off.

“That woman, she calls herself my friend, but she goes around telling everybody that I’m turning 40 next week and she knows how much I hate that.”

“Oh, I can relate to that...” Again she cut me off.

“How could you know, you’re not a woman and I think your fortieth birthday is already long gone.”

“Yes it is, I turned 60 a few months ago and I too felt very bad about it and didn’t want any celebrations, I even went so far as going abroad to escape any festivities, but in the end, you don’t feel it, believe me, it’s all in the mind, it’s only a figure.”

“Yeah, but it’s a figure I don’t like to hear.”

“OK I won’t mention it again, and for the record you are only 39 today, shall we do something far more pleasant then and go to the studio?”

Caroline followed me into the studio and again I got the by-now traditional number of aahs and ooohs on how big and light it was. I started by asking her to remove her coat, telling her that with lamps it could get rather warm in the studio. She had no problem with that. I suggested doing some shots in front of different backdrops which I also suggested she could choose herself. From her choices, I would hope to be able to see how far I could get her out of her clothes partly or completely.

We started with the garden setting, with her taking a seat on the park bench, looking as if she was taking a rest after a long walk in the park. After removing the bench I handed her a basket containing a number of plastic flowers and a big straw hat, creating the illusion of her having picked flowers in a garden.

Trying to make conversation and find out a bit more about her I asked, “From the way you pose here, do I gather that you like gardens and flowers?”

“Oh yes I do, I’m so proud of my small garden on the balcony of my apartment, I even try to grow some vegetables, well just a few tomatoes, they taste so much better when you grow them yourself.

“And what else do you have there?”

“Oh, mainly flowers and one redcurrant bush in a big pot, I only wish I could grow more.”

“Sounds great, not many people grow things on their balconies. Shall we move to a different setting now, maybe one you are also familiar with?”

I moved her to the office setting, and again she was very enthusiastic about it. She took up a position behind the desk and pretended to be a secretary, which as it turned out, she actually was.

“I see that you feel very comfortable in this setting Caroline, do I understand that you work in an office?”

“Yes, I’m an executive secretary, so yes I feel right at home, although my office is not so nice as this setting and I definitely don’t have an antique desk. This looks more like the office of a bank manager.”

“You mean someone like your boss maybe?”

“Yes, but not in a bank, but in an insurance company.”

“I see so you work in an insurance company, have you worked there long?”

“I started when I was 21, straight out of college, so close to 19 years ago.”

“Interesting, I was also 21 when I started in the company I worked at for 42 years.”

“I still have a long way to go then to reach that number of years.”

“Oh believe me it’s over before you realize it, time flies when you’re having fun, and I had lots of fun when I worked there, travelling a lot, especially the final 18 years when I traveled constantly and got to meet lots of people all over Europe and even in the States and the Far East. Although travel was sometimes a burden with strikes in the airports or by the airlines or missed connections. It’s no fun when you arrive in an almost empty airport, in the middle of the night, knowing that your connecting flight has gone and you have to spend the night or what’s left of it in a hotel, as you usually want to catch the first flight out the next day. Have you traveled a lot?”

No not really, it’s no fun when you’re single, I would love to go on cruises but as a single, it’s so expensive.”

“What about your friend Ida, can’t you travel together with her?”

“It never came up we’re not that close.”

“Strange that she offers you a photo session then.”

“Yeah, I have no idea where that came from.”

“She must like you a lot though.”

“Probably.”

“OK, now I’d like you to move to another backdrop, I’ve got this scene of a lady’s boudoir and I would love you to take a seat in this chaise longue so we might take some more enticing pictures?”

“What do you mean with enticing pictures?”

“Well you could perhaps undo a few buttons of your blouse and show a bit more cleavage or if you really wanted to get in character, strip down to your underwear and pretend you’re preparing for your lover?”

“Absolutely not, who do you think I am, one of your nude models or one of these secretaries that sleep with their boss?”

“No dear, but...”

“No, but, I’ve had it with this photo thing, if you want to photograph nude ladies, I suggest you go to the red light district and hire a sex worker there to model for you.”

She got up, grabbed her coat, and walked out, clearly very cross. I was wondering if I would ever see her again. Well in the end she was not my customer but Ida was, she was paying for the shoot so the next day I called her.

“Hello Ida, I’ve got the proofs of the pictures I took of your friend Caroline here, would you care to come and look at them and make your choice?”

“Oh, hello Lew, how did it go?”

“There are some very nice pictures, I only hope they will be to your liking, when can you come to take a look at them?”

“How about Friday?”

“OK, what time?”

“Is 5 pm possible? I could come after work.”

“Friday at 5 it is, I close at 6 so no problem, see you then.”

That Friday right on the dot of 5, Ida walked into the shop, clearly very curious to see the photos I took of her friend Caroline.

“Hi Ida, you are very punctual, I like that in a person.”

“Hello Lew, please don’t keep me waiting I’m so curious to see the photos.”

“Maybe a word of warning, they may not be exactly what you had in mind.”

“What do you mean with what I had in mind?”

“I’m very sorry but I was not able to talk your friend Caroline out of her clothes. In fact, when I suggested something in that direction she walked out, very angry.”

“Oh dear, I was afraid that something like that would happen.”

“But tell me, why do you want pictures of your friend in the nude?”

Ida broke down in tears. Now if there is something I can’t have is a woman in tears, so I rushed to her side and put an arm protectively around her shoulders trying to comfort her. It immediately became clear to me that my lesbodar was still working fine, Ida was desperately in love with Caroline but was probably afraid to tell her. I wondered why, it was crystal clear to me, the moment I met her that Caroline was also rooting for the other side. Maybe Ida was too shy to declare her love for her friend or was it her lesbodar that wasn’t working properly? With my hands on her shoulders, I held her at arm’s length and looked into her eyes.

“You are in love with Caroline aren’t you?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Why else would one woman want nude pictures of another woman, unless she’s in love? Wy don’t you tell her?”

“I’m not sure she would accept it, I don’t know if she’s gay.”

“Oh she’s gay all right, believe me, she’s as gay as they come.”

“Then why is she always so standoffish?”

“Has it ever occurred to you that she might be as afraid as you are to come out as a lesbian?”

“Do you think?”

“I’m sure darling that this is exactly the problem, you are afraid to openly declare your love for her, and who knows, maybe she’s not sure about her own feelings. Could it have anything to do with her upbringing? Or yours for that matter?”

“For me, that’s certainly the case. From the time I reached the age for dating, my parents always asked me if I didn’t have a boyfriend, or when I was going to have one.”

“So maybe she’s in the same pickle as you are, a family that doesn’t understand a woman can be gay.”

“Do you think so? What should I do?”

“Tell her you’re in love with her.”

“And what if I’m wrong and she rejects me, I couldn’t live with that.”

“I can’t vouch for her being in love with you, but I can guarantee you that she is definitely into women.”

“Oh Lew, you are the first person to see me as I am and who gives me advice, so please what do I do now?”

“You know what, why don’t you bring her back to the studio, and stay, I’m sure that between the two of us, we’ll be able to talk her out of her clothes and it would be the perfect setting for you to declare your undying love for her.”

“Oh, would you do that? I’ll pay for the extra session.”

“No need, she’s a stunner, and I love taking pictures of stunners in the nude.”

“If you’re right and she is gay like I am, she won’t have sex with you.”

“Why do you think I would want to have sex with her?”

“Euh, your reputation?”

“What about my reputation?”

“Word is that you talk women out of their clothes and then fuck them.”

“You forgot two words in your reasoning dear.”

“What word would that be?”

“Hetero ... single women dear I strictly fuck hetero or occasionally a bi-sexual woman, I strictly stay away from lesbians or gay men.”

“So where’s the fun for you in photographing gay women.”

“Let me put it this way, gay women usually come in pairs, and what can be more fun, than photographing two nude women instead of one?”

“So you think I’ll be posing in the nude as well?”

“What do you think is going to be the best way to talk Caroline out of her clothes?”

Total silence, except for the cogs of her brain going at warp speed. And finally, it dawned on her, I could see the understanding coming into her eyes.

“By me getting naked first for a joint photoshoot?”

“Bingo, you have just found the winning combination, Ida.”

“God Lew, you have probably just changed my life.”

“Maybe, but remember the proof of the pudding is in the eating, why don’t you call Caroline and set up a new session? I only hope that she will be willing, especially after she walked out on me, clearly very angry, the last time.”

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll trick her, when would be a good time for you?”

“You know, normally I’m closed on Sunday and Monday, but for you, I’ll make an exception, why don’t you bring her for tea on one of these days, give her a cock and bull story about me wanting to apologize for trying to get her in the nude, offering a joint photo session with yourself included at no extra cost.”

“Great idea, Sunday we don’t have to work so how about, say two pm for tea?”

“Excellent, I’ll get some pastries from the local bakery, anything in particular that you know Caroline likes very much?”

“Oh, she loves a Merveilleux.”

“Great that’s one of my favorites too, another thing on which she and I see eye to eye. Now when you come on Sunday, please use my private entrance at the side of the building, we’d better start with the tea in my apartment, a question of thawing the ice a bit?”

When Ida walked out of the shop, she looked completely different, she even had a little bounce in her step. I only hoped that she would be able to get Caroline back into the studio after the disaster of last Thursday. Once I had them there, I think I had a good plan to get them both in the buff and who knows even having sex. God, I’m turning into a matchmaker and perhaps, even a porn producer.

Sunday afternoon, at two pm the bell at my apartment rang. I buzzed them in, Ida was leading the parade up the stairs and she did have her friend Caroline in tow. From what I could see it was not entirely voluntary that she was here, so I’d better tread carefully and launch a charm offensive. When they reached the top of the stairs I took Ida in a bear hug.

“Good afternoon Ida, good to see you, and you brought your friend Caroline with you, I’m so happy about that. I do owe her an apology for my behavior earlier this week.”

Caroline still looked rather angrily at me.

“Dear Caroline I hope you will allow me to apologize most humbly for presuming you would allow me to take more alluring photographs of you, it’s sort of become second nature to me, assuming that women like to pose in more provocative attire, so please come in.”

Caroline walked into the apartment and of course, was immediately charmed by my living quarters, especially when she saw the roof garden through the big window, which had begun to take on its spring look with lots of flowers already.

“Oh my God Lew, this garden looks amazing, I would never have guessed you had this kind of display on top of your studio. If only I had as much space on my balcony.”

“Yes, you told me you had a garden on your balcony, even growing some veggies and berries.”

“Nice of you to remember, and by the way, I do need to apologize to you as well for walking out as I did, how can I ever make up for that?”

“That my dear is easy, after we’ve had some tea we could all three go down to the studio and do another photo shoot, and this time I want your friend Ida to participate.”

“Oh thanks, Lew, I know Ida was upset when I told her I had walked out and I definitely don’t want to lose her friendship over something like this.”

“Excellent, let’s have tea and cakes first.”

When I put the pastries on the table, Caroline was pleasantly surprised by my choice.

“Oh God Lew, you have bought my favorite pastry, how...” she looked at Ida and continued, “You told him!”

“I’m afraid I’m guilty dear Caroline, yes I told Lew this was your favorite, and guess what, it’s his as well.”

“Well, well Lew, it seems we have a lot more in common than I thought, Merveilleux, gardening, I wonder what else we have in common.”

“Maybe we’ll find out later,” I said tapping the side of my nose with my finger.

“She looked at me questioningly and then at Ida.”

We spent a pleasant half-hour in my apartment, having tea and pastries accompanied by conversation, finding out we had lots more in common, even cruising came up. Caroline was surprised to hear that Ida also wanted to go cruising but had the same problem as she had, being single. I could see that Ida was getting more nervous by the minute when I suggested we go down to the studio. Caroline on the other hand had no problem with it anymore.

I was only curious about how Ida was going to convince Caroline to shed some of her clothes. From what I could see, the former came prepared, she wore a blouse and a mini-skirt, and from what I could see there was no bra under the blouse. She looked like she had rather small boobs, so was able to pull this off, which made me wonder if she had gone all the way and come commando.

Caroline wore a nice flowery dress to mid-thigh, buttoned up the front with a bra clearly under it. I guessed with her rack she needed to, my guestimate was minimum an E-cup. From under the dress, a pair of toned legs emerged, lightly tanned which gave me the impression she was a regular customer at a tanning salon. I hoped to see later on if, like most frequenting these types of establishments, she was tanning in the buff.

The studio was known territory for Caroline so she didn’t react, contrary to Ida who’d not seen the studio before. To start things off, I suggested again the flower garden backdrop with both of them sitting on the bench. They were each sitting on one end of the bench, right leg crossed over left.

“Come on girls, you’re friends, it looks as if you’re afraid of each other, please sit a bit closer, just imagine you went on a walk in the park and you’re resting a bit enjoying the sunny weather.”

Ida looked at me and silently mouthed, “Thank you.”

But still, although they were sitting closer they both looked rather stiff and unnatural.

“Girls, you are friends, telling each other your most intimate secrets, please act a bit, Ida put your hand on Caroline’s knee as if you’re confiding in her. Caroline put your hand before your mouth looking astonished by what Ida is telling you. Now that got a giggle out of both of them, but they complied. Ida’s hand was on Caroline’s upper thigh, on top of the dress, but I nevertheless had managed to get them to touch each other.

“Now Caroline, imagine Ida has just told you about a very frightening adventure she has had, and you want to console her. Put your arms around her, and Ida rest your head on Caroline’s shoulder.”

OK, I had them touching some more, now for the next step, what could I imagine to get them to actually kiss each other? Maybe I just needed to continue with the story I was already telling them.

“Great girls, Ida you’re so happy that Caroline understands and wants to console you, you feel an irrepressible urge to give Caroline a kiss.”

Ida lifted her head and gave a peck on Caroline’s cheek.

“Come on Ida, you can do better than that, that’s the kind of kiss you give to your great aunt for Christmas, put some soul in it, and give Caroline a kiss on her lovely lush lips, they’re just begging for it don’t you see?”

I was thinking well Ida if you don’t go for it now, I’m done playing Cupid. A bit hesitant at first, I watched them look at each other, not really knowing what to do, but in the end, Ida went for it and kissed Caroline full on the lips. Now that opened the floodgates. When Ida pulled back after the initial kiss, Caroline took the initiative and resumed kissing her, and this time I could clearly see some tongue action in the process. They were quickly holding each other’s heads, going for broke, kissing and kissing like crazy. I couldn’t help to capture this budding love affair and continued snapping away. After a good 5 minutes of exchanging saliva, they stopped and looked into each other’s eyes.

“Oh Caroline, I love you, Ida said, I’ve loved you for so long, but I never dared to tell you.”

“Ida dear, I love you too, and like you, I never dared to tell you either, now I understand why you wanted the photos of me.”

“Yes dear, I wanted to decorate my apartment with photos of you so that you would always be near me.”

“I understand now, but why photos in a state of undress, or was that just a perverted idea of our photographer?”

“No darling, it was my idea, Lew had nothing to do with it. I know he has a reputation that could lead you to that conclusion but no he had nothing to do with it, although he is nevertheless very interested in photographing us together in the buff.”

“Well, why don’t we thank him for bringing us together by doing just that,” Caroline said, jumping up and starting to undo the buttons of her dress.