Que Sera Sara?

My grandmother was big on old fashioned romance. When she was ill, I sent her this to cheer her up. Now I feel like telling you.

Sometimes the world hands you the most unexpected gifts. So you jump in with both feet and see where it takes you.

Once upon a time, a girl was finishing college and decided to work in a cute little bookshop. It felt pokey and quirky, like in that old Jimmy Stewart movie The Shop Around the Corner.

Once upon a time, a boy finished college and decided to move to Edinburgh because he’s heard it was nice. He got a job in a bookshop too, mostly because it was easy and he liked books.

They started on the same day. She thought he was a bit pretentious and snobby, he thought she was one of those loud, ostentatious Americans.

About six months later they were casual friends, going out to the pub after work or ending up at the same parties. They loved none of the same books and all of the same television shows. They both excelled at sharp, witty asides when stuck in uncomfortable crowds (which was often as they both adjusted to this new group of work-friends).

One night she wanted to see a movie that none of her friends did, and he said he’d wanted to see it too. It wasn’t until the lights went down that she wondered awkwardly if this was a date.

It wasn’t, but it was the first time they’d really hung out together. It was actually rather nice.

After that they’d do all sorts of things together. Go to the theatre. Get midnight ice creams. Get caught in the rain. Light bonfires. Watch clouds.

A few months later they decided to take a roadtrip. Both of them were new to Scotland and had a hunger to see its wild places. They drove past castles and through mountains. They stormed towers and stalked sheep. They danced on black sand beaches and forded streams in their bare feet.

They talked about everything and nothing on the long winding drives and became very best friends.

When they returned to the city, she dropped him off and then she stood alone in her apartment, listening to the silence. Apart for the first time in weeks, she felt surprisingly lonely.

And then the phone rang. He asked if she had plans for dinner.  She smiled with relief.

They ordered pizza and watched the sunset and remembered all their crazy adventures, huddled in the window, grasping at the last rays of vacation.

It wasn’t always fairytale endings. The next six months would be rocky and messy and emotional for them both, but it was definitely the beginning of something special. Something neither of them had ever expected.

And now, there is this. The beginning of their next adventure.