The Art of Loving

[29] Big City Life

The four of them sat outside on the small terrace, enjoying the sun with some cool drinks, the cake that Ellie's mother had made, and of course also some of Ruth's biscuits. The conversation consisted mostly of Ellie and her parents catching up, occasionally Brian added something to the conversation or Ellie's parents asked him a question to which he replied. But for most of the time he sat there, munching away on the pastries as he listened to Ellie and her parents.

For a while Ellie had been a little confused by that, but then she remembered that she had done the same when Brian had taken her to meet his parents, so she decided not to pressure him so he would be as comfortable as possible.

When they were all done with their piece of cake and the glasses were close to being empty, Katherine turned to Brian and Ellie once more. "So do ye have any plans for yer time here?"

Brian glanced at Ellie, so she was the one who replied. "Well, I thought 'at we could take a quick walk tae the beach now and then see what Henry's up tae later, but I thought 'at possibly if I ask him nicely Henry might let us borrow his car so we can take a trip tae Loch Ness... then we wanted tae go tae Ballater and Pitlochry because his grandparents still live there, and then see what happens."

"'at sounds like ye's going tae be busy," Katherine said, nodding with a smile. "As always ye're welcome tae take my car during the days."

"Ta." Ellie smiled at her mother. "What exactly is the plan for your birthdays? We did nae want tae plan anything fixed because I was nae sure what you'd be doing.."

"We's gonna have a small get together on Saturday. So it would be nice if ye two could be here for that, and if ye have nae fixed plans yet ye can help with the preparations Friday afternoon. But apart from 'at ye're free. We both have tae work Wednesday, so I do nae mind if we move my birthday celebrations tae Saturday as well," Ellie's father explained the plans to them.

The four of them stayed on the terrace for a bit longer before Ellie could convince her father to help her mother in the kitchen so that she could start showing Brian around the city and neighbourhood. Her efforts were successful, so Brian and Ellie helped to carry everything back inside, but then they went upstairs to get their cameras. Yes, not just Ellie wanted to bring her camera, but also Brian. So far he had left it up to Ellie to take pictures of their adventures, but not any longer. Not because he didn't trust Ellie to take good pictures but because that way they would have even more memories - and pictures of Ellie, which was very rare.

"Should I bring anything else except the camera?" Brian asked, placing the strap around his neck securely.

Ellie shrugged, changing the lense on her camera. "Not really... a cardigan maybe, it could end up being chilly. But apart from that I think ye're fine." She smiled at him and placed the strap of her handbag on her shoulder before she picked up her camera again. "Ready?"

"I think so, yes. Let's go." Fiddling with the watch on his wrist Brian walked out of Ellie's room again, waiting for her to close the door before they went downstairs. Ellie shouted a short goodbye before the two of them left the house and were on their way to the seaside.

The walk was neither long nor particularly exciting, the only more or less interesting thing that happened was that Brian immediately made use of the opportunity he had to take a few pictures of Ellie. She led Brian through a narrower passageway, a very short one, and then they could see the sea.

"Oh wow.." Ellie looked at Brian and saw a smile on his face. "This is such a nice place.." It was a grassy area with a planked wooden walkway leading towards the city centre along the water. "You have a few pictures with this view in your room, right?"