The walk wasn't long, but the narrow, winding streets often made it seem so. Particularly on evenings like this. Jeff walked quickly over the damp cobblestone path, a small introspective smile on his face, making him look a little like a Cheshire cat. He had a destination and a goal, and he was intent on getting there quickly.
Waiting in the little bungalow, non-descript by Spanish standards, quaint and charming by anyone else's, the bungalow sat pushed tightly between two 3 story apartment buildings, both with the same whitewashed, somewhat disheveled appearance as the bungalow they crowded. But although it was not a glamorous spot, it is the place that Both Jennifer and he felt most at home these days. It was homey and comfortable, made even more so by the loving hand of Jennifer.
His pace quickening as he neared the Spanish love nest, Jeff began to look forward to the evening ahead, and the surprises in store. Jennifer didn't often surprise him after 3 years of marriage, but occasionally she got an idea in her head and a twinkle in her eye. Most often these surprises included an evening out at the opera or a play, or a night in a café chatting and reminiscing. They inevitably lead to the little bungalow, and an evening of gentle love making.
Jeff loved those evenings. After 3 years their love had grown and he would never have thought it possible, he felt closer now to Jennifer than he ever had. Sometimes he wondered if that intense feeling of love would ever end.
Jeff thought of their first meeting, in a small restaurant in Rome. Bumbling along the street, both lost and oblivious to each other's plight as they crossed paths over and over again. Up one street and the next, down another, they continued to run into each. Little did they know they were both looking for the same small restaurant. When they both finally arrived there at the same time they had looked at each other sheepishly and laughed, eyes turned down to the ground. Both too shy to ask the other to sit with them for supper, the motherly patron of the establishment made the decision for them, placing them both at the only table in the place. The supper was wonderful, but the companionship was better, and borne from that meeting was a relationship that would last many long periods apart, yet love intensifying despite those distances.
So after six years of absenteeism they had decided to settle down, get married and move into a new neighborhood in Seville. She would teach English and he would settle for a job as an Engineer with a small telecommunications company. They would have a perfect little life in a beautiful little city in a wonderful country.
Of course it hadn't been that easy, but together it was never all that difficult.
