‘I love storms,’ he said from his position near the patio doors. ‘What’s your favorite part?’ ‘The flash, then the boom—it’s nature’...s firefight.’ ‘That makes it sound beautiful. They used to scare me, when I was alone,’ I said, embarrassed to admit my fear. ‘There’s no reason to be afraid. If you respect the storm and take the right precautions, you should be safe.’ He hadn’t looked at me when he spoke, instead watching the violence outside. Winds whipped at branches and limbs and tore leaves. Will you come to Osuna on Monday?" Yes, of course. We will need to plan our trip and you must begin packing your things. It's only seven days before we leave for Bellwald." I will be so happy to be with you, Richard. You will love my parents." I already do. Your mother and father have made me very welcome."My parents returned from Madrid on Sunday afternoon and I greeted them.The welcome was muted by my mother when she discovered I had gone to Switzerland about a job at the hotel. She had. "Shhhh, no. I love you, you know I do. I just don't know how to give you what you need. It's not in me." I know, it's ok. I don't expect..." again the heaves took me. I'd never felt like this for a girl before. It was overwhelming."Hey," she touched my lips with her finger and it calmed me a bit. "It's ok. I can give you something. Just not all of it." Wha-what do you muh-mean...?" I was confused and trying not to make it harder on her. She was being so loving. It almost made it. "When they were in the bar, Jacqui looked around and saw a bored nude girl winding herself uninterestingly round the pole on stage. The music was years out of date, and she wasn't moving in time with it but that didn't matter because nobody was watching her. Jacqui thought that even without training she could do better than that."I hope you can do better than that," said Martha glaring at the girl on stage who immediately tried a little harder, without actually achieving anything."I hope so,.