Mike & Savy Ch. 05

I ordered a bottle of wine. I love Spanish wine, where the arid climate results in a generally lower yield, making each bottle more distinct. We ordered escalivada and esqueixada for dinner, two dishes noted in Catalan cuisine.

Before our food arrived, I tried to say what I knew I had to.

"Ana..."

But she put her hand over mine and stopped me. "I know."

She smiled softly at me and laid her head on my shoulder. When dinner was served, we ate quietly. Afterwards, we sipped our wine and simply took in the weather, the view, and each other. Our time together now had a definite end. We sat there for hours, taking in as much of the evening as we could. The memory would have to last.

When the restaurant began cleaning up for the evening, we left and walked arm-in-arm back towards her building. I had prepared myself to say goodbye to her, but as I stepped away, she took my hand and guided me up to her apartment. Inside, she disappeared into her room momentarily and came back with a CD, which she dropped into her stereo. A soft Spanish guitar filled the room. She walked to me and slid into my arms. We held each other and swayed slowly with the music.

When the music ended, we simply stayed with each other for a moment, then she took my hand again and lead me to her bedroom. We disrobed slowly. I watched as she slid the dress over her shoulders and it fell to her feet, then she stepped out of it. Soon, we were naked before each other. We slid into bed and lay facing each other.

She moved closer to me and we kissed.

I could feel the warmth of her body against mine. We didn't need to seduce each other. We had chosen to be there, in spite of the circumstances. She rolled onto her back and I slid between her legs. I guided myself into her. We moved slowly with each other until she kissed me and moaned softly. We came together.

The next morning we woke up. We lay face to face and when our eyes met, she moved closer and pressed herself against me.

__________

May passed quickly.

I finished up my classes and both the foreign language and physics departments threw a going away party for me at a large restaurant across town. Matteo and I were as good as ever. We still ate lunch in the cafeteria most days and debated the impact of a recent neutrino experiment. Isabel, now showing her pregnancy, was more melancholy. She had been the one to effectively set me up with Ana and it was obvious that she had really wanted it to lead to something long-lasting.

And Ana. We stayed together almost every night. There was little to say between us. It was simply an understanding that this would be a memory that we would share across time and space. My last night in Spain, we sat on the beach until the sun rose over the water. The last time I saw her, she didn't cry and neither did I. She simply kissed me, held her hand to my cheek, and then walked away.

When I had left the United States, I only had a vague sense of what I was leaving behind and no sense of what I was going towards. Now I was going back to the States, knowing what I was leaving behind in Spain, but with no more clarity about what lay ahead.

__________

My plane touched down at BWI. Jeff had offered to pick me up, but I told him I'd be renting a car and driving to Salisbury to see my mom. I picked up my car and threw my bags in the back, then hit the road. The sun was already down as I crossed the Bay Bridge. I was back on the Eastern Shore. This was home.

I pulled into mom's driveway. I had been away for a year and a half, not since the night my life collapsed. Everything was still so familiar.

I grabbed the smallest of my bags from the back seat; I could get the rest in the morning before returning the car. I was exhausted and needed to sleep. I turned my key in the lock and stepped inside to a dark house. It was late and mom was undoubtedly asleep. I quietly made my way upstairs and tossed my bag on my bed before heading back down to the kitchen to grab a quick snack. I was rummaging in the fridge when I heard the familiar creak from the stairs.

I heard a soft voice behind me. "Mike."

I turned around, expecting to see mom.

My eyes focused in the dark and I stopped breathing.

"Savy..."

End of Chapter 5.