Page 55 of Serenade Me

The backdrop of the mountain is dramatic and serene all at once.

I feel Marius’s hand squeeze mine and I turn to smile at him. He smiles back and drops a kiss to my forehead.

I’m in heaven.

The train ride is short, too short. It takes about five minutes to reach the end of the pathway leading around the mouth of the lake.

Everyone but me jumps out, including Marius, he takes off on a run. He finally comes back to the train once he realizes I haven’t gotten off.

“What are you doing? Come on!”

I shake my head, pouting. “I don’t want to! I want to go again!”

He shakes his head and reaches for my hand. “Stay on what?”

“Ugh, fine. I admit it, your stupid train ride was fun. I want to go again!”

He laughs and leans in, “We can ride it again on the way back, how ‘bout that?”

“How much does it cost?” I ask, before realizing how stupid the question is.

“Who cares, I’ll buy the whole damn train for you, if you want, Anca. Anything in the world you want, I’ll make sure it’s yours.

And as much as it was said to placate me, I can’t help but smile at the sentiment. I let him help me down off the train, and I’m glad he made me disembark when I see what’s there.

Compared to the epic field of thick green grass that lays out in front of you like a carpet on the other side of the lake, this side is flanked by a gorgeous, romantic garden, filled with different flowers of every colour, of every fragrance.

The garden is covered in new blooms, pops of pink, orange, purple, blue in every bush, every corner.

“I love it.” I sigh, running my fingers through the bushes. “I especially love that there are no dahlias.” I say, not meaning to.

“You don’t like dahlias?” Marius asks.

“No, they remind me…of a different time.” I say and bury my face in a rose hoping to change the subject.

“See that tree over there?” Marius points to a tall birch in the middle of the garden. “Last time we came here a group of kids kept throwing their ball up there and getting it caught. They kept coming over and asking one of us to help them get it down.”

“And did you?’

“Well, not me, I’m not tall enough.”

“So, Jez.”

He laughs, “Yes, Jez would go over and shake the whole tree. The ball would come tumbling down and then 10 minutes later they’d come over and ask him to help again. Finally, he just went over and joined them, playing goalie and catching the ball and stopping it from even flying up there.”

I laugh, easily imagining him doing that. He’s always been good with people, with kids. With me. My face drops a little, at the memory of his face as we drove off before. The last thing I want to do is to make him sad or worry.

“Hey,” Marius nudges me, sensing the sudden change in my demeanour, “let me show you something.”

I follow him, his fingers entangled in mine. We walk across the park and over to a bench in the far back. He leads me around it and then points to the back of it. There are a bunch of carvings, ragged initials dug into the wood with a pen or sharp nail, some circled by a lopsided heart shape. And then I see it, “M ‘98” I read. That’s it, no other initials, and definitely no heart outline.

“That’s you.”

“Yeah. I came here for the first time with my parents over twenty years ago.”

“That’s cool.”

“Yeah, it’s my favorite city in the world, after London of course. After the first time, seeing how much I loved it, they’d bring me here all the time.”