She took a lick of her strawberry ice cream and smiled at him. He reached across the table and held her free hand. She liked the way his hands felt- strong and comforting. Her eyes followed their entwined hands up his strong arms and back to his loving smile. She looked into his eyes; one winked back at her. Her resulting giggle made him smile wide. He looked out the large glass window of the ice cream shop at the sky. Evening was setting in and there was a storm on the horizon. The rain would be a welcome change from the hot days of the past months. He took another lick of his ice cream and admired the way her blonde hair fell softly upon her shoulders and down her chest; he smiled again.
"So what do you want to do now?" she asked leaning closer to him over the table.
"Hmm....We could try and go to the park before the rain gets here." He replied.
"That sounds good to me. Can I take my ice cream with me?"
"Of course."
He stood and took a last lick of his ice cream before throwing away the leftovers. She stood and took a gooey bite of hers as they walked out the building towards the car. As they did, he extended an elbow to escort her as if he were a proper gentleman in his shorts and sandals. She took it and grinned as they made the rest of the way to the car. The ride to the park passed in a contented silence that can only come from deep love and understanding. He parked the car in a gravel lot adjacent to some baseball fields. There were still a few kids playing at the late hour. He grabbed the blanket they had a bought at the shop earlier in the day and they walked off towards the trees surrounding the playing fields. She dropped her ice cream in a trash can as they walked and then hugged his free arm. Her embrace made him walk just a tad faster.
As they walked he thought of the summer they had spent together and the joy it had brought him. He had never felt the comfort and happiness that this woman had brought him. He felt cheated to have not experienced this love earlier. She felt the same and knew that what they had was special. It was not even a question of thinking and evaluating; she could simply feel it in her heart. They knew their love was real.
They reached the trees but realized that the undergrowth was too thick to go through. They walked along the edge of the forest looking for an opening but none came. After a few minutes of walking and searching they came upon a stream that separated the thick forest from a large field and, beyond that, a thinner forest that looked like a better spot to lie down. The stream had steep banks on each side that rose waist height above the water. He decided to cross and proceeded to leap onto a rock on one side of the stream and scurry over to the other side. She gave him one of those cross looks that girls often give when they are put in potentially embarrassing, yet entertaining, situations. She jumped down and made it up the bank- much to her own satisfaction.