Barcelona

It was a few minutes after he was served coffee that Gracie entered the breakfast room. She greeted Nico who introduced her around the table as he had the previous day. She smiled sweetly at Ben and sat down a two seats from him toward the end of the table - in the same seat she had occupied the day before. Ben pretended not to know her - and only glanced over once as she was reaching up to tie her hair up. He could see the sly smile on her face and knew for whose benefit she was adjusting her hair.

They ate in silence as the Australian family hogged Nico's attention. It was all for the best. Finally, as Ben got up to leave, he turned to Gracie and smiled. As he did so she pushed a folded up piece of paper across the table toward him. Without calling attention to his actions, he lifted the corner of the paper and saw that Gracie had written out her phone number, email and the address of her soon-to-be apartment in Barcelona.

With little fanfare, they smiled at one another as Ben pushed his chair in and turned to depart. He shook hands with Nico, thanked him profusely and headed for the door. He looked over his shoulder as he left the room and saw Gracie give him a smile and a little wave.

He left the B&B and climbed down the steps to the street, a huge smile on his face. His trip had been great so far. But Barcelona was clearly the highlight. And now he knew he'd be back.