Winter Hearts

On the Same Page

They reached home and Siana parked further down the road where she found a space. She felt unready to be apart from Leo, and could sense that he wanted to be with her as much as he could today too, from the way he hung back by his car door as she locked up. They looked at each other across the hood of the car, a new meaning in their gazes.

Things had progressed beyond what she thought were preliminary stages of a relationship. They were heading towards an important milestone, and she wanted her eyes and heart open along the way there.

Life is no longer coming towards me, I am going towards it, she thought, feeling buoyed by the thought of it.

"Can we go for a walk?" she asked. He nodded, reaching a hand towards her as he walked to the front of the car. She took it, and they naturally turned towards the sea.

She grasped his long fingers and felt his thumb rub against the underside of her hand, sending a warm trill of excitement up her arm. He walked slightly ahead of her with his long gait, and she watched his profile as he stared ahead. The sea breeze was coming in and because they were in a a wider part of the street approaching the fork in the road, the wind gusted this way and that, and whipped his longish hair across his forehead and cheekbones.

They walked past a square corner house whose yard was filled with cats, some of which were basking in the warm afternoon sun along the top of the high wall that ran in front of the house.

Greek cats seemed to her to be especially fat, cute and lazy, though many were bad-tempered. These wall-topping cats were docile, well-fed and used to attention. They purred loudly as she came closer and reached out towards them.

"They're cute," murmured Leo, watching her let a little, sweet-faced kitty play with her finger. "Do you have a cat?"

Siana paused, not knowing whether to say that she already had her hands on her most favourite of cats, Leo.

She smiled, squinting up at him in the sunlight, waiting to see if he knew that's how many people saw him.

Nothing. He was waiting expectantly.

"I love cats. But I don't have one. My mum thinks she would be doing all the cleaning and caring for me because I'm too busy. So, no cats."

"Is she right?" he looked down at her, serious, except for a tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Siana turned back imperiously to look at the cat which had caught her finger with its tiny padded paws and was gnawing at it with its teeny milky teeth.

"Maybe. Anyway, I go away every year so I suppose she would hate it for two or three months while I am away," she sighed, freeing her finger and petting the cat on its head before stepping back on their way. Leo followed, letting her lead for a moment before he caught up to her again in a stride or two.

"We go back in less than three weeks," Leo said, suddenly. "When are you supposed to return?"

"In the new year," Siana replied, solemnly. He nodded. They were both thinking of what they would have to consider when the time came to make some decisions about what they would do. But neither of them vocalised their thoughts. They turned to walk on.

Leo cleared his throat.

"What will you do now that you have finished school?"

"I'm already working. I have been for the last two years of college, teaching kids and also dancing with a couple of crews. I suppose now I could teach at a school or an academy, but I am happy with my place now."

"Where do you perform?"

"Mostly events, but sometimes tv recordings and competitions. My dance school, where I work at, always sends the teachers out for clinics and workshops, so I do a lot of networking on their behalf," Siana mused.