Page 29 of An Italian Wedding Adventure

‘Doing okay?’ he called back from where he was waiting for her, his foot propped casually on a limestone outcropping. ‘We’d obviously take it more slowly with your wedding group.’

‘I’m fine,’ she lied, just seconds before her foot slipped and she clawed at the rock face to stabilise herself. Andreas made no attempt to help her. She remembered that from when they were together. She’d pictured him coming close to show her the handholds when they climbed, but he’d just yelled at her like a drill sergeant and then expected her to get the hang of it.

‘This last part is the hardest.’ He gestured to the path, which swerved steeply across the rock. He hefted himself up the first few steps, using his hands.

‘Let me take a picture for the file,’ Sophie called out, retrieving her phone from her pocket. He straightened and peered down at her as she snapped the shot. He looked so at ease with nothing but air at his back, his posture perfectly balanced with the angle of the rock. He wasn’t smiling, but there was an energy to him that was compelling, even in a photo.

With a flash of embarrassment, she remembered looking up a spread in a mountaineering magazine when they were first getting together. Despite the stunning photographs of dizzying drops and dramatic landscapes, she’d only seen bright-eyed Andreas, calmly fitting into the world around him. She wasn’t sure she was prepared to have a whole folder of photos of him on her own hard drive, including the one she’d snapped in the car, capturing every rough detail of his face and his slightly sheepish expression.

She shook herself, needing to stay in the present, not only to take her next steps safely, but to ensure she didn’t fall under his spell again. That he still had this effect on her, even though she was older, wiser and more assertive, was concerning.

Scrambling over the rocks after him, gripping the steel cable that was bolted in at the most dangerous parts, she glanced down once and immediately regretted it, forcing her gaze back to the safety of the stone. This might have been ‘just’ a hike, but she suspected it could be adventurous enough for most clients.

There was only sky when she looked up. Hauling herself to the top using the cable, her knees scraping on the rough limestone, she emerged onto the narrow summit puffing and groaning. She didn’t have a chance to catch her breath. Every angle of the 360-degree views was awash in colour, bursting with drama.

Patches of blue sky were interspersed with swollen clouds. The weather system was visible and fluctuating wildly, moisture hanging over the lake like a bubble. Straight ahead, a tall summit cross rose towards the clouds from the highest point – a protrusion of rock that seemed to hang suspended. Behind the cross, nothing, just a sharp drop-off and then the distant water and the miniscule clay roofs of the towns far below.

Inland to her right, another summit ranged even higher, with steep, wooded ridges and an outcropping on top. Sophie stared at the peak that seemed almost close enough to touch, but she knew it would be a long and hard climb to reach it.

‘Monte Pizzocolo,’ Andreas supplied for her. ‘Probably a little difficult for your wedding party. I’ve done the alpine route up there once with a group of trainee mountaineers. Want to try it out one day?’

He must have been teasing, but she couldn’t tell from his tone. Clutching his arm, she urged him in the direction of the cross. ‘Stand there for me, just in front of the cross.’ She held her phone up to adjust the camera settings, testing several angles. ‘It’s marvellous,’ she commented absently. ‘I can picture a wedding here.’

Bride and groom would face each other with the stunning backdrop of the lake. She could see it already, even with only one person in the shot – the wrong person.

‘I didn’t know you were the photographer as well as the celebrant.’

Her gaze shifted from the image of him on screen to the real Andreas. ‘Your face is ruining the shot.’

‘I’m sorry?’ he replied belligerently, crossing his arms.

‘I’m trying to create an idea of how the ceremony would come together up here. You look like a cranky adventure guide, not an elated groom.’

‘I amnotpretending to be a groom for you!’ His voice was scratchy.

‘You don’t need to pretend. Just look a little less scary, hmm?’

He bared his teeth in something that looked more like a visit to the dentist than a smile.

‘Okay, forget the smile,’ she grumbled. ‘Look somewhere else. I’m just trying to get a feel for it.’

Despite her grouchy subject, the familiar shiver up Sophie’s spine told her she was on the right track. This was a part of the job she loved: putting together a picture of the client’s hopes and dreams about their big day and finding a way to make it happen.

Lily and Roman would love this place. It would be a little tight with twenty people, but they could hold their short ceremony in front of the summit cross and it would be just as beautiful as they imagined – perhaps more beautiful.

‘Sophie, stop! Watch where you’re walking!’

Trust Andreas to snap her out of her wedding daydreams. She glanced at her feet to discover she’d strayed into a patch of uneven rocks. Another step and she might have tumbled over – and then down the side of the mountain.

‘Damn it, a whole wedding party up here sounds like a nightmare!’ He swiped off his cap and ran a hand through his hair.

‘I was just thinking it looks like a dream.’ She snapped one more picture with his mussed hair in honey-coloured waves, his expression wry as he looked into the camera. If only she had an excuse for him to take his shirt off— Sophie bit her lip to stop a smile at that thought.

A scraping sound distracted them both and Sophie glanced down to see a hand and then a bright-red helmet emerge from the cliffside near the cross. The climber whooped as she hauled herself up, two ropes attached to her harness. She called down to someone below before turning to give Andreas a polite smile.

‘Ciao, amici,’ he said, his grin wide as he chatted with the woman in Italian. Sophie caught a few words, but she was too tired to concentrate on the meaning. The woman’s climbing partner emerged and both of them shook Andreas’s hand firmly, the conversation animated with sweeping gestures at the wall of rock and the wide view.

Sophie was trying not to begrudge him those smiles that he wouldn’t give her when the woman turned and asked in Italian, ‘Did you want to get a picture of your boyfriend? I’m in your way. I could take a picture of you both if you like.’

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