Dining Al Fresco

It was a warm evening and the couple had just been taken to their table by the waiter. They hadn't eaten here before but had passed it several times on their way as they had walked hand in hand on their strolls. A friend of theirs had recommended it also and that is generally a good sign considering the friend.

He looked at her as she picked up the menu and again though how beautiful she was. The candle on the table lit her face, the streetlights highlighted her hair. He had fallen in love with her before he had ever spoken to her, perhaps before he had even met her. For him, it was always her although there had been many others prior. Once she walked in though, things changed rapidly.

She felt him watching her but didn't look up from the menu as she knew she would blush. He always had that effect on her, even after so long. Instead, she just ran her eyes across the options hoping something would jump out and say choose me while she thought about the man who sat opposite. He was not her type at all, so rough in his approach to people and life yet, gentle when required. She wondered what side she would experience in her life.

The waiter took their choices as he placed the glass of wine and carafe of water on the table. She had chosen a risotto, he the fish. She hoped that the risotto was better than his dish though experience told her it wouldn't be. He always seemed to make his choice above hers and, he always teased her for it. He also always swapped their plates.

They ate slowly and soaked in the atmosphere and didn't mind the laughs coming from a group of 3 couples dining several metres away. Next to them sat a couple much like themselves. Quietly talking to each other and trapped in their own little bubble. The difference was that they were at least in their seventies and had perhaps spent near their whole lives together. They looked content, happy, at ease and as each looked at the couple they wondered, would that future be theirs.

After looking at the older two she asked him what he wants from this life, what he would like to do in this world, experience, travel, be. She wanted to know if what she sees in him is mirrored in his words, in his voice and in his gestures. She asked and then took a sip of water to moisten her dry mouth.

He began, as he so often did, with silence as he considered the question and ordered his thoughts to turn them into a story that weaves its way from a start to finish without time to order the flow. Time was irrelevant to the story for him it seemed, it was the experience of the narrative that drove it on, captured her heart and gave her imagination wings to fly wherever he asked her to fly.

He spoke of living the world, breathing it in, conquering life's mountains and doing it all. At times he became animated and his arms would raise up and his voice would raise with it but in the next moment fall back to become near a whisper but, she did not know if this was reality or in her imagination. When she listened to him she would become lost in the words, part of the story herself and feel the wonder of adventure yet untraveled. All this time, there was a shine in his eyes.

As his tale wound down they fell into a soft silence and she noticed the excitement leave her body like the winds in a sail and the ship come to rest on calm waters. A moment more had passed and she felt the nerves gather again as she watched him sip at his wine.

He looked at her and he could see the struggle as she tried to get it off her chest. He let her squirm just a little more and then just her lips parted to speak, he interrupted her flow and continued his story. He said there is so much to see in this world and so much beauty to experience, lives of struggle and hardship included. So many discount the difficult but that is where the truly exceptional lays and no matter what happens... we will face it together.

She looked at him and the sparkle was there and realised she had been played. She knew that he had crafted a tale of adventure and risk and excitement for her and her alone. She knew he wanted that life to be sure but she knew it would not be so, at least in the way he had described. She took another sip of water and then set about to confirm what she had always felt.

"The three of us together?"

"Of course. Should we order dessert?"

Taraz
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