TWO WEEKS IN TO JAMIE’S visit they went to the coast, for no other reason than that they could. Jamie dove gleefully into the surf. Nerea sat on the beach under a big umbrella, reading or watching the sun and the sea accentuate the fine cut of Jamie’s muscles like some youth depicted on an ancient amphora. He was so lovely, an artist’s dream and a middle-aged woman’s fantasy. But for Nerea, unaccountably, he was also real. The two of them stayed up each night nearly until dawn talking and listening to the sound of the waves on the shore.
It was a wonderful few days, but there was a melancholy to it that Nerea couldn’t put her finger on until they were packing up what little they’d brought to return home. There was beauty in falling in love with someone new and making them a part of her li
