A second aside - continuing the previous aside to the road trip of the year

They met again two months later on the street of a city hundreds of miles north and a sea away.

This time she knew him and wasn’t looking for anyone else and was happy to sit on the steps of the museum and talk.

They spoke about the island, about her home, about how they each knew Daniel and they spoke about the circus.

Then she said –“I’m thinking of going to the party, do you want to come?”

He hesitated; he didn’t really want to go to the party but he wanted to go on being with her.

“Not really”, he answered and she made no movement to leave.

So they talked some more.

The evening started to fall.

“What would you like to do?” she asked.

He hesitated; he knew but he didn’t know how to say it, and never had before.

Then he remembered the first time they had met on the island and how she had been so confident and open.

“What I’d really like to do is go back, cook for you and make love.”

“I’d like to too” she replied, “but there’s no need to cook.”