The gravel crunched under the tires of the car as we pulled into the circular driveway. The sunshine lit up the greens of the yard like fire, while the trees and hay fields surrounding the house reflected an emerald glow. It was just the start of summer, so the weather was about as good as it gets in the north of Europe.
I grabbed both of our bags from the trunk and followed Anna up the stone path to the house. As we reached the second step, the door swung open, and another blonde-haired girl stood in the doorway. Anna's sister, Amalia, greeted us with a massive grin.
It had been a few years since I'd seen her in person, having just moved back to the country, and the sight of her took me back. The resemblance between her and Anna was striking. Both were shortish, blonde-haired girls with big blue eyes set in round faces. Anna was a few centimeters shorter than her younger sister and, while still slender, carried a little more weight. Amalia, a serious athlete at the time, had a leaner, more muscular build, and it showed.
"Amalia!" Anna yelled, rushing up the stairs to wrap her in a big hug.
"Hello, hello," I said, giving her a one-armed shoulder hug while still holding the bags in my other hand. "Long time no see."
"I'm glad you guys are back. I wish I could have come to visit you in America."
"That whole Covid thing kind of got in the way, didn't it?"
Anna and I had met while studying at university in the States--her on an exchange year, me in the latter part of my bachelor's program. Sharing the same first language and coming from the same city made it easy to connect in a foreign country. Who would've known? Her being beautiful certainly didn't hurt my motivation to talk to her. We hit it off quickly, and hanging out soon led to dating before we even knew what to call it. We'd traveled back to Europe for the holidays together and I met her family for the first time.
When Covid hit, Anna decided to extend her stay as classes moved online. She moved in with me to get out of the dorms. By the end of the second school year, we decided to look for an apartment together back in our home city.
Anna still had a few semesters to finish at university, and I had just started a job at a small web design firm. It wasn't my dream job, but it was a good place to work, and it paid the rent.
Her mom came over from the stove to give both of us a hug. "Dinner will be ready..." She checked the timer on the oven. "In an hour or so." She gave us another hug before turning back to her cooking.
"Papa is out feeding the cows in the second field. He should be back soon," Amalia said.
"How was the drive?" their mom called over her shoulder.
"It was fine once we got out of the city," Anna said, motioning for me to follow her. "We're just going to dump our stuff upstairs. We'll be right back."
We tossed our bags on the floor in Anna's old bedroom and headed back downstairs for some coffee and tea. We took our mugs out to the covered section of the porch, where Amalia and their dad were sitting at the table. Anna and I visited with them until dinner.
Amalia talked about what her plans were for her upcoming nineteenth birthday, how she was looking forward to finishing high school that year and had been playing football exceptionally well. She might even move to the city we lived in to play for a club there and finish school. She didn't really want to leave her friends and move two hours away, but it was a great opportunity.
At dinner, we talked about how happy we were to be back in Europe and about some of the things we now missed about living in the States. We also chatted about our new apartment and how my new job was going.
Afterwards, we spent some more time hanging out and talking. It had been almost two years for Anna, and I was still new to the family, so there was plenty to catch up on. As the conversation lulled, we busted out a game of Uno, and then Amalia suggested watching a film she had downloaded and had been wanting to see.
We all settled on the couches in the family room upstairs and put on the movie. It wasn't anything remarkable, but I never say no to a rom-com.
"Night," her dad said as soon as the credits rolled, heading straight downstairs without another word. Her mom gave a slight smirk, said goodnight, and followed him down.
Amalia sat with us for a while, chatting. We put on another show for background noise, but she soon excused herself. Being the night owls we are--and still somewhat adjusting to the time change--Anna and I stayed up watching the series we had started, curling up together under a blanket.
