Nana and Pops were in the kitchen with Mom. I squealed in surprise to see my maternal grandparents, and ran to give them hugs and cheek-kisses.
“How was the cruise?” I asked.
“Beautiful.” Nana sighed. “The Danube is magical, and I could absolutely spend weeks in Vienna if not months. I think we’re going to schedule a trip there this spring, because one day in port just isn’t enough.”
Envy twinged through me—only briefly though. Nana and Pops had worked hard and this had been their retirement dream. It was mine as well. I just didn’t want to have to wait for retirement to experience it.
Spain. I was going to plan a trip to Spain. And then I would save up the money to go even if I had to stop eating out with friends quite as much.
“What was your favorite place?” I asked Pops.
The man ran a hand over the sparse tight silver curls on his head and pursed his lips in thought. “I loved Vienna as well, and really enjoyed the stop in Melk. The Melk Abbey was amazing. I’d like to spend more time in Bratislava, so maybe we can add an additional week there after two weeks in Austria.”
“You’ll get to see it all after dinner,” Nana told me. “We’ve sent a slideshow of pictures to your mother so she can hook her laptop to the television and we can tell you all about our trip.”
I bit back a laugh, knowing that Dad and some of my siblings wouldn’t be thrilled having their football games preempted by The Danube Cruise Slideshow. Most of us loved it when Nana and Pops showed us the highlight reel from their trips. The football game viewing could be on hold until afterward, then caught up by fast-forwarding through the commercials.
“What do you think about Spain?” I asked my grandparents as I washed my hands to help Mom pat out hamburgers.
“Oooo, Spain!” Nana handed Pops a tray of seasoned chicken and shoo’d him out to the grill.
“Madrid,” Pops called back as he headed to the back door. “The museums, the history, the food. You should spend a whole week in Madrid.”
Nana blew out an exasperated breath. “Earl, the poor girl probably only has a week or ten days to spare. Better for her to sample as much as she can this time, and go back later for a whole week in her favorite spot.”
That was their travel routine, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to afford a second trip, so I wanted to focus on just a few cities or one region. And I trusted Nana and Pops far more than a YouTube vlogger or a Lonely Planet guidebook.
“What was your favorite spot in Spain, Nana?” I asked as I scooped a handful of seasoned ground beef to began to make a patty.
“You know I’m just as much of a history buff as Pops, and Spain is full of history.” A dreamy smile curved her lips upward. “There really are no bad choices, but my favorites were in the south. Grenada. You absolutely must see Alhambra. You need to get tickets early, and absolutely pay for a good guide. I’ve got a recommendation I’ll send to you. It’s magnificent. Built by the last Muslim rulers in Spain, it’s a beautifully preserved view into what life was like in the thirteenth century. Seville is wonderful, but if I had limited time and really wanted to immerse myself into the multiculturalism that was Medieval Spain, then I’d definitely go to Granada.”
“Over Barcelona?” Mom asked. “You and Dad raved about your trip there.”
Nana nodded. “Barcelona is a good choice. The Gaudi architecture. The Catalonian culture. I love Barcelona. And Madrid. And Valencia. And Seville and Toledo and Segovia, and many more. As I said, there are no bad choices in Spain. But ifI had to pick only one place to visit, it would be Granada and Alhambra.”
“Bah, you need to go to Poland.” My paternal grandmother walked into the room and grinned at Nana. The two women hugged, then sat at the kitchen table. “Krakow, Wroclaw, and don’t forget Gdansk if you want to see where your grandfather and I grew up. Warsaw is nice too, but it’s a big city and a little too much hustle for me.”
Nana eyed her with interest. “Why have Earl and I not been to Poland yet? We need to talk so I can find out all the best spots to visit and food to eat. We’ll go this spring, after we get back from Vienna.”
“My next trip will be to Poland,” I told Grandma, hoping I could eventually manage to save up enough for a second trip. “A…a friend and I had sort of an agreement and he gave me three choices of where to plan a trip. I picked Spain.”
“He?” All three women paused, their eyebrows practically at their hairlines.
I rolled my eyes. “I do have male friends, you know.”
“But none of them make you all flustered,” Nana pointed out.
“And you never use that weird tone when you refer to them either,” Grandma added.
Mom quickly washed her hands and sat at the table with us. “Spill the tea, Willa. Is this that Dean you were talking about before? If so, you’re about ten times more interested than you were last Sunday.”
It was only one good date following a week of casual, but super hot, sex. Not the sort of thing I wanted to bring up to my family, especially given my past with this sort of thing. But I couldn’t help myself.
“It’s not Dean. It’s someone else. And it’s far too early to know if this is going to work out or not,” I warned.
It didn’t matter. The three women leaned in like I was about to spill state secrets.
“We had a date last night, and it was magic,” I gushed. Note that I did not mention that date was preceded by a week of sex-only activity.
